Bal Harbour vs Surfside vs Sunny Isles: Where $5M Goes Further in New Development (2026)
Three neighboring oceanfront towns on Collins Avenue, one $5 million budget. What our New Developments cards list in each, what resale data shows, and where the honest answer is “not yet published.”
By Haute Residence Editorial Team · Published October 6, 2026 · Last updated October 6, 2026
Bal Harbour, Surfside and Sunny Isles Beach sit a few minutes apart on the same barrier island, and buyers often shortlist all three. With $5 million to spend on new construction, they give very different answers. As of October 6, 2026, our New Developments cards list four new developments across the three towns: Rivage Bal Harbour, Ocean House Surfside, Bentley Residences Sunny Isles Beach and The St. Regis Residences, Sunny Isles Beach. Only the two in Sunny Isles Beach start at or near $5 million. This comparison uses our card prices and project pages, the MLS snapshots on our market pages, and MIAMI Realtors’ August 2026 city report, each with its date. Where no reliable figure exists, we say so rather than estimate. Confirm current pricing and availability with HL Real Estate Group.
Request current price sheets for new developments in Bal Harbour, Surfside and Sunny Isles Beach
What does $5 million buy in new development in each town?
In new development, $5 million reaches the entry level only in Sunny Isles Beach, where our cards list The St. Regis Residences from $5 million and Bentley Residences from $5.8 million. Bal Harbour’s only new-development card, Rivage, starts at $13.5 million, and Surfside’s Ocean House lists pricing on request. In those two towns, $5 million is mostly a resale budget.
Sunny Isles Beach. The St. Regis Residences, Sunny Isles Beach lists residences from $5 million, about $2,000 per square foot at entry, in two Arquitectonica towers on 4.7 oceanfront acres with 435 linear feet of beach, according to our project page. Bentley Residences Sunny Isles Beach starts at $5.8 million, also about $2,000 per square foot at entry, in a 63-story tower where the Dezervator car elevators bring residents’ cars to a garage inside the home. Both carry an estimated 2028 delivery. Our Sunny Isles Beach branded residences guide and the Bentley vs St. Regis Sunny Isles comparison cover the two side by side.
Bal Harbour. Rivage Bal Harbour is the village’s only new development on our board: 56 residences by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill with interiors by Rottet Studio, from $13.5 million, with estimated delivery in 2027. Our project page lists the smallest residences at 3,300 square feet. At $5 million, Bal Harbour buyers are looking at resale in the village’s established towers. Our Bal Harbour market page lists 84 active listings in its MLS sync of September 6, 2026.
Surfside. Ocean House Surfside is a 25-residence, 12-story oceanfront building by Arquitectonica. Our project page says the structure topped out in August 2026, with delivery estimated for 2027, and lists pricing on request. The smallest layout on the page is a two-bedroom of about 2,100 square feet of interior space. Until a price sheet is in hand, nobody can say whether that layout fits a $5 million budget. Our Surfside market page lists 37 active resale listings as of its September 9, 2026 sync.
How do the three towns compare side by side?
Sunny Isles Beach has more new-development product near $5 million, more resale inventory and the lower resale median. Bal Harbour and Surfside have one new development each, neither priced within reach of $5 million on our cards today, and both posted condo medians above $1 million in MIAMI Realtors’ August 2026 report.
New developments on our board (cards and project pages, checked October 6, 2026)
| Project | Town | Card “from” price | Card entry $/SF | Residences | Est. delivery |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rivage Bal Harbour | Bal Harbour | $13.5M | ~$3,500 | 56 | 2027 |
| Ocean House Surfside | Surfside | Pricing on request | Not published | 25 | 2027 |
| The St. Regis Residences, Sunny Isles Beach | Sunny Isles Beach | $5M | ~$2,000 | 174 | 2028 |
| Bentley Residences Sunny Isles Beach | Sunny Isles Beach | $5.8M | ~$2,000 | 216 | 2028 |
Confirm current pricing and availability with HL Real Estate Group.
Town-level context (resale and costs; sources and dates in each column)
| Measure | Bal Harbour | Surfside | Sunny Isles Beach |
|---|---|---|---|
| New-development cards on our board (Oct 6, 2026) | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| MLS avg closed $/SF, trailing 12 months, resale (our market pages) | $1,365 (sync Sep 6, 2026) | Not printed (page conflict) | $865 (sync Sep 6, 2026) |
| MLS active listings for sale (our market pages) | 84 | 37 | 575 |
| Condo/townhome median sale price, all prices (MIAMI Realtors, Aug 2026 report) | $1.575M | $1.27M | $593K |
| Condo/townhome months’ supply (MIAMI Realtors, Aug 2026 report) | 12 | 12 | 19 |
The resale rows mix buildings from every era, from 1960s and 1970s towers to the 2010s branded buildings, so they describe each town’s overall market, not new construction. Read them as context for the new-development row above, not as a benchmark for it.
How does new-development price per square foot compare?
Our project cards publish an entry price per square foot for three of the four new developments: about $3,500 at Rivage Bal Harbour and about $2,000 at both Bentley and St. Regis in Sunny Isles Beach. Ocean House Surfside publishes none. A town-wide median for new construction isn’t available from a dated source, so we don’t estimate one.
Entry figures are just that: the price per square foot where each building’s pricing starts. Higher floors, corner lines and penthouses price above them, so ask for the current sheet for the exact line rather than multiplying an entry figure by a floor plan.
Resale averages tell a different story, and they need care. Our Bal Harbour market page shows an average closed price of $1,365 per square foot across 74 closed sales in the trailing 12 months, and our Sunny Isles Beach page shows $865 per square foot across 391 closed sales, both from MLS syncs dated September 6, 2026. Surfside’s page currently shows two different averages, so we’re holding that figure until it’s reconciled. Because these averages include older buildings, the gap between resale and new-construction pricing shouldn’t be read as a premium for any single tower. Our resale vs pre-construction guide covers how to weigh the two.
How deep is each town’s new-development pipeline?
Thin in Bal Harbour and Surfside, deeper in Sunny Isles Beach. Our cards list one new development in Bal Harbour (Rivage, 56 residences, 2027), one in Surfside (Ocean House, 25 residences, 2027) and two in Sunny Isles Beach (Bentley, 216 residences, and St. Regis, 174 residences, both estimated for 2028).
That works out to 81 new residences across the two southern towns and 390 in Sunny Isles Beach, counting only projects with a card. Our Surfside market page also lists The Delmore as under construction, but it has no card or published price on our site, so it isn’t in the table. Our Bal Harbour new-development guide and Surfside market guide explain why sites there are scarce.
The resale side moves at a different pace in each town. MIAMI Realtors’ August 2026 city report shows 12 months of condo and townhome supply in both Bal Harbour and Surfside and 19 months in Sunny Isles Beach, across all price points. It also shows 77 condo and townhome closings year to date in Bal Harbour, 54 in Surfside and 431 in Sunny Isles Beach. Small towns produce small samples: Surfside’s median sale price was down 74% year over year in the same report, a swing that says more about which units happened to close than about values. September figures are due October 16, 2026.
What do HOA fees and insurance add in each town?
We don’t have a dated, published HOA or insurance figure per square foot for any of the three towns, so this comparison doesn’t compare them. Developers set a new building’s first-year dues in the proposed operating budget that comes with the condominium documents. Ask for that budget, the master-policy line and the reserve schedule for each tower.
Those three documents answer most of the carrying-cost question for a new tower. The budget shows the projected monthly assessment by residence. The insurance line shows what the association expects to pay for the master policy, which covers the structure and is built into dues. The reserve schedule shows what is being set aside for long-term repairs. Our HOA fees guide, the 2026 property insurance guide and our breakdown of what a $5M new-development condo really costs per year explain each line.
One cost is identical in all three towns because all three are in Miami-Dade County. The Florida Department of Revenue sets the deed documentary stamp tax in Miami-Dade at 60 cents per $100 of consideration, plus a 45-cent surtax per $100 on transfers other than single-family homes. On a $5 million condominium, that is $52,500. Your purchase agreement sets who pays it, so check the closing-cost section before you sign. For the safety and reserve rules that apply to new buildings, see our guide to Florida’s condo safety law and new construction.
What about rents and rental rules?
There’s no dated, published rent figure for new developments in these towns, so we don’t print median rents. Our MLS snapshots show active rental listings in all three: 35 in Surfside, 76 in Bal Harbour and 465 in Sunny Isles Beach. For a new tower, the rental rules in the condominium documents matter more than today’s rents.
Rental rules are set building by building. Our project page for The St. Regis Residences, Sunny Isles Beach describes the campus as having no hotel and no transient use, which is worth reading alongside the minimum lease term in the documents. Our pages for Rivage, Ocean House and Bentley don’t publish a rental policy. For any of the four, ask for the minimum lease term, the number of leases allowed per year and any approval process for tenants before you reserve.
Which town suits which $5 million buyer?
It depends on whether new construction is the priority. Sunny Isles Beach is the only one of the three where $5 million meets a new-development starting price today. Bal Harbour and Surfside suit buyers willing to buy resale at $5 million, stretch toward Rivage’s $13.5 million card price, or wait for Ocean House pricing.
Sunny Isles Beach suits buyers who want new construction on the ocean at a $5 million to $5.8 million starting point, and who are choosing between hotel-company service at St. Regis and an in-residence garage at Bentley. Estimated delivery for both is 2028. Our Sunny Isles Beach vs Miami Beach comparison covers the town itself.
Bal Harbour suits buyers who want the village setting and the Bal Harbour Shops, and who will either buy resale at $5 million or budget for Rivage, which starts at $13.5 million with estimated delivery in 2027. Our Rivage Bal Harbour guide covers its floor plans and questions to ask.
Surfside suits buyers who want a smaller, more residential town and a low-density building, and who are willing to wait for Ocean House’s price sheet before deciding. Resale is the other route, and our Surfside market page lists current listings by building.
For buyers weighing $5 million across all of South Florida rather than these three towns, our $5M–$10M market guide widens the view, and the due diligence checklist lists the documents to request from any building. Our Sunny Isles Beach market page and Bentley Residences buyer’s guide carry more detail on the northern town.
Compare Bal Harbour, Surfside and Sunny Isles Beach new developments with HL Real Estate Group
FAQ: Bal Harbour vs Surfside vs Sunny Isles at $5 million
Can $5 million buy new construction in Bal Harbour?
Not at current card pricing. Bal Harbour’s only new-development card, Rivage Bal Harbour, lists residences from $13.5 million, with estimated delivery in 2027. At $5 million, buyers in the village are shopping resale; our Bal Harbour market page lists 84 active listings and an average closed price of $1,365 per square foot over 12 months.
Can $5 million buy new construction in Surfside?
It isn’t possible to say yet. Ocean House Surfside, the town’s only new-development card, lists pricing on request. The 25-residence building topped out in August 2026 and is estimated to deliver in 2027, according to our project page. Its smallest listed layout is a two-bedroom of about 2,100 interior square feet. Ask for the current price sheet.
What does $5 million buy in Sunny Isles Beach new development?
It reaches the entry level of two branded towers. Our cards list The St. Regis Residences, Sunny Isles Beach from $5 million and Bentley Residences from $5.8 million, each about $2,000 per square foot at entry, with estimated delivery in 2028. Confirm current pricing and availability with HL Real Estate Group before comparing specific lines.
How many new developments are selling in each town?
Our New Developments board lists one in Bal Harbour (Rivage Bal Harbour), one in Surfside (Ocean House Surfside) and two in Sunny Isles Beach (Bentley Residences and The St. Regis Residences), as of October 6, 2026. Together they plan 471 residences, and 390 of those are in the two Sunny Isles Beach towers.
Are closing costs different between the three towns?
The deed documentary stamp tax is the same in all three because they are in Miami-Dade County: 60 cents per $100 plus a 45-cent surtax per $100 on condominium transfers, per the Florida Department of Revenue. That is $52,500 on a $5 million purchase. The purchase agreement determines whether you or the developer pays.
Can I rent out a new-development condo in these towns?
That depends on each building’s condominium documents, which set minimum lease terms and how often you can lease. Our project page describes St. Regis Sunny Isles as having no hotel and no transient use. HL Real Estate Group can request the rental rules for Rivage, Ocean House, Bentley and St. Regis before you reserve.