Building facts
- Address
- 9 Island Avenue
- Neighborhood
- Belle Isle
- Year built
- 1981
- Floors
- 26
- Status
- Completed
- Pricing
- Starting at $925,000
Verified 19 August 2026Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser1 source
Nine Island — photography to follow
Key Takeaways
- Not one owner who sold here since 2021 has lost money — 85 resales, zero losses, at a median gain of 188.8%. I have not measured that anywhere else.
- But half its original 1982 buyers did — of the 141 sell-out buyers who later resold, 49.6% sold at a loss and the median one broke exactly even — 0.0%. Everyone who bought after 1983: a 10.0% loss rate and +42.9%.
- Almost the whole building is a two-bedroom — 235 of its 268 homes, with 30 three-bedrooms and three four-bedrooms. 78 homes sit on one 1,440 sq ft floorplate.
- Current level is $798 per square foot — on 41 qualified sales over four years, in a band from $440 to $1,238, at a median price of $1,300,000. The four-year change is +6.0%.
- One March 2026 sale is not a market price and I have removed it — $50,000 for a 1,440 sq ft home — $34 per square foot in a building whose floor is $440. The same home last sold for $200,000 in 1992.
- The best outcome on the record is a 700% gain — a 2,079 sq ft home bought for $500,000 in May 1988 and sold for $4,000,000 on 29 August 2022.
Nine Island, by the numbers
Starting at $925,000. Source: the building record on this site.
9 Island Avenue, Miami, Florida 33139 | Neighborhood: Belle Isle
What is actually in the building
The county returns 269 folios at 9 Island Avenue. 268 are homes and one is a reference folio carrying no dwelling.
This is very nearly a single-product building. 235 of the 268 homes are two-bedrooms — 88% of the building — alongside 30 three-bedrooms and three four-bedrooms. There are no studios and no one-bedrooms. The floorplates repeat heavily to match: 78 homes at 1,440 sq ft, 40 at 1,190, 38 each at 1,778 and 1,837, and 20 each at 1,154 and 2,388.
The homes run from 1,154 sq ft to 5,769 sq ft, median 1,440. That top figure belongs to one home: 267 of the 268 measure 3,615 sq ft or less, and a single residence sits above a 2,154 sq ft gap. It is a different asset and I have not averaged it in with the rest.
For 2026 the county assesses the homes between $186,821 and $2,425,424, median $779,590.
The price record
| Year | Qualified sales | Median price | Median $/sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 17 | $1,350,000 | $787 |
| 2024 | 12 | $957,500 | $766 |
| 2025 | 8 | $1,725,000 | $863 |
| 2026 to date | 4 | $1,643,750 | $835 |
Across four years that is 41 qualified sales, a median of $798 per square foot in a band from $440 to $1,238, and a median price of $1,300,000. The four-year change is +6.0%.
One sale has been removed from that table and you should know which. On 23 March 2026 the county recorded a qualified sale of $50,000 for a 1,440 sq ft home — $34 per square foot, in a building whose genuine four-year floor is $440. The same home last changed hands for $200,000 in 1992 and for $226,000 twice in 1982. A price at eight percent of the building’s floor is not an open-market transaction between unrelated parties, whatever the county’s flag says. Left in, it would have made 2026 read $832 per square foot on five sales instead of $835 on four, and dropped the published band floor from $440 to $35. I have excluded it, said so here, and it is the only sale I have removed from this building’s four-year record.
On the shape of the record: the year-to-year path is $787, $766, $863, $835, and the annual samples are 17, 12, 8 and 4. The direction is mildly up and I believe it; the precise 6.0% I would not defend to the decimal. Eight sales in 2025 and four so far in 2026 are thin bases, and the median home sold swung from 1,334 sq ft in 2024 to 2,083 in 2025, which moves a median around on its own.
Turnover runs at one home in 26 per year, close to the median of one in 24 across the buildings in my Miami Condo Index.
Two cohorts, forty years apart, and opposite results
137 qualified sales closed here in 1982, and the county’s record for this building runs back to that year — 929 sales in total, 662 of them resales once the non-market prints are set aside. That is a long enough record to see two completely different ownership experiences inside one building.
| When they bought | Resales | Sold at a loss | Median outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| In the 1982–83 sell-out | 141 | 49.6% | +0.0% |
| After 1983 | 521 | 10.0% | +42.9% |
| All resales | 662 | 18.4% | +30.6% |
Half the people who bought this building new and later sold it got back less than they paid, and the median one of them got back exactly what they paid — 0.0%. That is a striking result for a 1982 vintage, and it is worth being precise about why it happened: most of those resales occurred in the 1980s and 1990s, within a decade or so of purchase, into a Miami Beach market that had not yet turned. It is not that a 1982 entry price was bad in the long run. It is that a 1982 entry price took a very long time to work.
The proof of that is the row the table does not show. Of the 85 resales completed in 2021 or later — from any entry year — not a single one sold at a loss, and the median gain was 188.8%. The four original 1982–83 buyers who held all the way to 2021 or beyond show a median gain of 498.9%.
The two ends of the record make the point on their own. The worst outcome is a 1,440 sq ft home bought for $237,000 on 1 January 1983 and sold for $134,000 on 1 September 1986 — down 43.5% in under four years. The best is a 2,079 sq ft home bought for $500,000 on 1 May 1988 and sold for $4,000,000 on 29 August 2022 — up 700.0% over thirty-four years, and the highest price this building has ever recorded.
Two caveats. Ten folios recorded a sale in the 1982–83 sell-out and have never traded again, so those outcomes are untested. And three further prices on the record are not market transactions and are excluded from every figure above: the $50,000 of March 2026 described earlier, a $70,000 sale of a 1,190 sq ft home in 2013, and a $100,100 sale of a 1,837 sq ft home in 1995.
Who this building suits, and who it does not
It suits a buyer who wants a two-bedroom on Belle Isle and intends to hold it. The ownership record for anyone who has sold in the last five years is the cleanest I have measured — 85 sales, no losses — and with 78 homes on a single floorplate you will never lack a comparable. At a four-year median of $1,300,000 you are buying into a small island building with a forty-four-year transaction record behind it.
It suits badly a buyer on a short horizon. The lesson of the 1982 cohort is not that the building is bad; it is that this building has rewarded time and punished haste. Half its original owners sold at a loss, nearly all of them within a decade of buying, and the worst single outcome took under four years to produce.
It also suits badly anyone who needs anything other than a two-bedroom. There are 30 three-bedrooms and three four-bedrooms in a 268-home building, and nothing smaller than 1,154 sq ft at all.
If you are selling here, price to your floorplate and ignore the building median. With 78 homes at 1,440 sq ft and 40 at 1,190, your exact comparable exists and a buyer will find it. Two specific warnings: the 2025 median of $863 per square foot rests on eight sales in a year when unusually large homes traded, so it flatters most listings; and if anyone quotes you the $50,000 March 2026 sale, it is $34 per square foot in a building with a $440 floor and it is not a comparable. Point them at this page.
Nine Island Avenue — Frequently Asked Questions
How many homes are at 9 Island Avenue?
The county records 269 folios, of which 268 are homes and one is a reference folio. The mix is 235 two-bedrooms, 30 three-bedrooms and three four-bedrooms — there are no studios or one-bedrooms.
What do homes at Nine Island sell for?
Over the four years to August 2026 the county records 41 qualified sales at a median of $1,300,000, or $798 per square foot, in a band from $440 to $1,238 per foot.
Are prices at Nine Island going up or down?
Mildly up — +6.0% over four years, from $787 per square foot in 2023 to $835 in 2026. I would treat the direction as real and the precise figure as soft: the annual samples are 17, 12, 8 and 4 sales.
Have owners at Nine Island made money?
It depends entirely on when they sold. Across 662 resales back to 1982, 18.4% lost money at a median gain of 30.6%. But of the 85 owners who sold in 2021 or later, not one lost money, at a median gain of 188.8%.
Did the original 1982 buyers do well?
Half of them did not. Of the 141 sell-out buyers who later resold, 49.6% sold at a loss and the median one broke exactly even. Almost all of those sales happened within a decade of purchase. The four who held until 2021 or later show a median gain of 498.9%.
Why does the record show a $50,000 sale in 2026?
Because the county flagged a non-market transfer as qualified. It is $34 per square foot for a 1,440 sq ft home, in a building whose genuine four-year floor is $440, and the same home last sold for $200,000 in 1992. I have excluded it from the price table and it should not be treated as a comparable.
What is the highest price ever paid at Nine Island?
$4,000,000 on 29 August 2022, for a 2,079 sq ft home. Its owner had bought it for $500,000 in May 1988 — a gain of 700.0% over thirty-four years.
Sources and further reading
Interested in selling at Nine Island?
Learn more about selling condo at Nine Island with Josh Stein.
Thinking about Nine Island?
I have sold South Florida property since 2002, more than $1 billion of it. Ask me for the recorded declaration, what has genuinely closed, or a straight answer on whether this building fits what you are after.
Josh Stein · Florida real estate sales associate, license SL3057661 · (305) 695-8257 · hello@joshsteinrealtor.comRelated coverage
Part of Miami Luxury Condos.