Some 540 million years ago, a “microscopic, bag-like sea creature” called the Saccorhytus wriggled between grains of sand on the seabed devouring specks of food with its massive mouth and waiting to evolve into the first fish. We now know Saccorhytus to be humankind’s first identifiable ancestor.
A couple hundred million years later, “we” emerged from the water in the form of the crocodile-like Tiktaalik. But it would be a mistake to say humankind has never looked back. Human beings love to gaze out at the ocean: science shows that a sea view calms distress more than a rural vista. One study found that the well-being you feel at the coast compared to the city equals “the difference between attending an exhibition and doing housework.”
How do you put a price on a 500 million-year relationship with a body of water? It’s complicated. The aesthetic value of a beach view is subjective and depends on the breadth, perspective and detail you can see from the house — and from where in the house you can see it. The home’s future value depends on whether the view is protected against new developments and its outlook as climate change raises the sea level over the next quarter-century.
To find a more precise answer, Casago trawled through thousands of beach-view property listings on Zillow to discover the premium you’ll pay compared to a regular-view home. And we identified the areas with the most and least expensive beach-view properties around the U.S.
The Method Behind This Study
Casago sourced Zillow sale prices for all properties in the coastal towns and cities of the U.S. Using an algorithm to account for other variables, we calculated the premium on buying a house with a beach view in these areas versus one without. We also isolated the ten most and least expensive places in the U.S. based on median price, and the most and least expensive beach-view home in the 12 key coastal states. For a more detailed methodology, please scroll down to the bottom of this page.
Key Findings
- You’ll pay 270.81% the price of a regular home for one with a beach view in Tequesta, FL — the highest premium in the U.S.
- There are seven areas in the U.S. where a beach view more than doubles the price of a home, and they are all in Florida.
- Fisher Island, FL, is the most expensive place to buy with a beach view, at a median price of $6,100,000.
- Eight of the ten most expensive areas with a beach view are in California.
Florida Village Nearly Triples Prices for Beach-View Homes
The chart below shows the 50 U.S. areas with the biggest markup when you opt for a home with a beach view over a similar one without the view. Nine of the top ten — and all of those where the price more than doubles — are in Florida, suggesting you’ll get more for your money elsewhere. Florida can be a great spot to recoup your outlay by renting out your beach-view home as a vacation spot. However, with one million Florida homes at risk of climate change-induced flooding by the end of the century, it’s important to work with an expert to ensure your investment has lasting power.
Racing ahead at a speed of knots, the Palm Beach village of Tequesta is the runaway area for beach view premiums. Buy here and you’ll pay nearly three times (270.81%) as much if you can see the sea. Many of Tequesta’s oceanfront residences are older buildings, and the area is amid a boom in renewal and modernization carried out with sensitivity toward the existing landscape.
California Areas Dominate Among Most Expensive Beach Views in U.S.
In terms of absolute price, Californian beach views dominate among the most expensive. Eight of the top ten areas for beach-view prices are in California, averaging over $3m each. California is already the third most expensive place to buy in general. With seven Californian areas among the 50 with the highest beach-view premium, living close to the water here can push the cost higher than in Hawaii or D.C., which are more expensive overall.
However, a Florida area trumps Californian prices to take first place. In absolute terms, beach-view property on the private Fisher Island is America’s most expensive, averaging $6.1m. Ironically, the island was briefly owned by the businessman, philanthropist and pioneer of affordable housing, Dana A. Dorsey, in 1917. However, it wasn’t until the 1980s that the historic island began to develop from a family estate into the bustling (if exclusive) resort it is today — becoming the “wealthiest zip code in the U.S.”
Our next chart shows the cheapest and most expensive areas in the 12 states with a significant beach-view market from which to draw conclusions.
At least in Florida, there are cheaper alternatives. Daytona Beach, for example, has Florida’s cheapest ocean views at an average of $239,000, although this is related to socio-economic issues such as high crime rates and run-down properties. In Delaware, you won’t find a beachfront area with prices under $1.12m. Delaware’s most affordable area for beach views, Bethany Beach, is all the same subject to one of the country’s highest beach-view premiums (72.87%), pushing the price into seven figures. However, local experts point out that there are plenty of more affordable homes in the area — with averages hiked up by a handful of luxury pads.
Beside the Seaside
The cost of buying a beach-side home comes down to more than a sea-view premium. Insurance can be higher, and maintenance costs, too. However, properly managed as a full or part-time rental, a beach-view home can begin to pay for itself. With so many variables — including the long-term prospects of the area in light of climate change — it pays to speak with experts and go into the investment with open eyes. You can explore our complete list of average prices and premiums across the U.S. in the interactive below.
Meanwhile, trends and preferences are changing all the time. For now, a beach-view home with a spot to dock your boat is likely to attract a greater premium. “The hottest real estate out there now is a boat slip,” says Filippo Incorvaia, a local real estate agent in Florida. “Miami is starting to rival Monaco for the prices, allure and nautical prestige.” If the top prices in our study don’t trouble you, perhaps it’s time to start thinking about a yacht for a second home that is a little bit closer to our aquatic roots.
Methodology & Sources
To find the locations where the beachfront properties carry the biggest premium, we created a long list of coastal cities and towns across the United States. We collected sale prices for the beach-view and non-beach-view properties (all property types) in each location by using the Zillow “Waterview” data field, allowing us to calculate the median price of beach-view properties.
We focused on the “Waterview” data field. If it contained any of these views (‘Ocean,’ ‘Gulf,’ ‘Partial Gulf,’ ‘Direct Ocean,’ ‘Ocean View,’ ‘Direct Gulf Front’), the property was considered beachfront; if it contained any of these views (‘Lake,’ ‘Bay,’ ‘River,’ ‘Canal,’ ‘Partial Bay,’ ‘Intersecting Canal,’ ‘Pool,’ ‘Intersecting Canals,’ ‘Pool/Club,’ ‘Pond,’ ‘Mangroves,’ ‘Creek/Stream,’ ‘Basin,’ ‘Partial River,’ ‘White Water,”Reservoir’), the property was considered non-beachfront.
Finally, we built a log-linear regression model for each city/town using the following set of independent variables: ‘has_ocean_view,’ ‘log_age,’ ‘log_living_area,’ ‘has_kitchen_appliances,’ ‘has_laundry_appliances,’ ‘has_garage,’ ‘log_lot_size,’ ‘bedrooms,’ ‘bathrooms.’ Price was a dependent variable in these models. The regression coefficients of the variable ‘has_ocean_view’ were then converted to the price premium if the statistical significance was higher than 0.9.
U.S. states that do not disclose home sale price data were omitted from this study.
The data was collected in January 2023.
