Miami-Dade’s Top-Grossing Real Estate Agents, Brokerages
Ask a top Miami real estate agent what their biggest deal was in the last year, and most will not be able to answer. But it’s not for lack of a great deal. It’s because they signed nondisclosure agreements.
The Great Wealth Boom was revived, thanks in part to the noise generated by the proposed wealth tax in California. California residents will vote on Proposition 40, which would enact a one-time, 5 percent wealth tax on billionaires, come November. The proposal, and polarizing politics nationwide, had something to do with Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin’s big purchases in Miami and Miami Beach between December 2025 and early 2026. It also helped fuel a wave of luxury home buys in South Florida, which have prompted those NDAs brokers keep mentioning.
Despite the market headwinds — including high interest rates and an inventory conundrum — many of the top residential agents in Miami-Dade County are having the best years of their careers. They operate in the top tier of the market, where pricing has hit triple digits (as in hundreds of millions of dollars). Buyers are willing to pay exorbitant amounts of money for waterfront homes, but the inventory of turnkey houses and desirable land is lacking.
“When [buyers] see what’s available, they’re in shock at how bad it is at $30 million, or how small it is at $30 to $40 million. You’re looking for a little bit more land, some more water frontage and a decent home. And then that’s when you start setting expectations,” said Dora Puig, owner and broker of Luxe Living Realty. “When they see how little inventory there is, and then you go off market, a lot of times they raise their budget. It’s an affluent buyer. If you can afford $30 million, they can probably [spend] $40 or $50 million.”
Puig, who ranked fourth in The Real Deal’s ranking of top agent teams, is having a shared experience. Brokerages are also reporting higher transaction volume, in part because prices have continued to rise. That doesn’t mean the whole market is doing well — anything older, not maintained and overpriced is sitting on the market or being pulled.
The top 20 brokerages in Miami-Dade County closed $23.4 billion in on-market sales in the 12-month period ending in mid-August, up from nearly $19 billion the previous year, according to TRD’s analysis. The top 25 agent teams sold about $8.4 billion in combined on-market dollar volume in that time, up from $6.4 billion in last year’s ranking. This year, TRD included residential land sales.
“Every single deal is a new competitive situation.”
The usual suspects made it on the rankings, and the top firms generally remained in the same positions. At the top were Coldwell Banker’s the Jills Zeder Group, Douglas Elliman’s Dina Goldentayer, the Carroll Group at Compass, Puig’s team, The Brokerage South Florida’s Joel Lusky and Zalmy Shapiro, Compass’ Liz Hogan Group, MR Luxury Group at One Sotheby’s International Realty, the Riley Smith Group at Compass, Jordan Karp, and the David Siddons Group at Elliman.
Compass held the top spot, followed by Douglas Elliman, Coldwell Banker, One Sotheby’s International Realty, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices EWM Realty, the Corcoran Group, EXP Realty, the Keyes Company, Luxe Living Realty, Luxe Properties and so on.
Factor in Compass’ acquisition of Anywhere Real Estate, which closed earlier this year, and Compass International Holdings now controls four of the top 10 firms, totaling $12.6 billion in dollar volume over the past year, or 63 percent of that combined transaction volume among the top 10 firms.
Eat what you kill
The top performers are all “busier than ever,” and “ever” includes during the post-pandemic craze. That boom shook up the list of top agents, and ushered in some newcomers, like Lusky. Lusky, ranked fifth with his partner Shapiro, said he isn’t door-knocking to find deals, but is figuring out other ways to get the off-market properties.
“The more information we have, the better we understand the market. The more access we have, the more successful we can be for our clients,” he said. “At least at the top of the market, where my partner and I operate, it’s such a small circle that information tends to flow freely.”
Lusky’s among the agents who said he was unable to discuss his largest deal.
Off-market sales, which were not included in these rankings, represent a big part of most, if not all, of the top agents’ deal volume. That’s because of the inventory issue. Agents are scouring the tax rolls looking for potential sellers, speaking with longtime homeowners to put together large assemblages that these ultra-wealthy buyers are looking for. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. Goldentayer, ranked second, spends her Sundays driving around neighborhoods looking for old houses.
She said the past year has been “probably the busiest season I’ve had, period.” She joked that her quality of life has taken a hit.
“During Covid, I was in my house. People were buying sight unseen. It was a unicorn time,” she said. “Now, I’m dropping off one billionaire and picking up another one,” she said.
The deluge of information has made every buyer and seller an expert, at least according to them. “It used to all be about your Zestimate. Now it’s all about what ChatGPT says. In the end, I’m better than ChatGPT,” Goldentayer said.
Clients are interviewing more agents than they used to, and testing their market knowledge.
“Every single deal is a new competitive situation. You eat what you kill,” said Ruthie Assouline, who leads the 19th-ranked Assouline Team at Elliman with her husband, Ethan.
Hogan, who jumped to sixth on the ranking from 13th the previous year, said that this will be her best year. “It’s a lot of grind, perseverance and a lot of work. I am working from 5:30 a.m. to 11:30 at night. I have the business, and they’re real buyers, so I want to get it done,” she said. “You cannot be complacent.”
Activity really picked up early this year and continued throughout the summer, giving brokers the ammo to say that Miami is no longer a seasonal market. Jordan Karp, ranked ninth, said business has been “nonstop” for him. Recent deals include the record $51.5 million trade of 270 South Hibiscus Drive this summer. Karp represented the seller, while Puig represented the buyer.
His hustler mentality has served him well. “I’m an obsessive, detail-oriented, follow-up methodical person,” he said.
Developers are also back in the land-buying game, competing with end-users who are “landmaxxing.”
“Developers recognize the shortage of luxury product in the $30 million-plus price range,” said Chad Carroll, who leads the Carroll Group at Compass, ranked third.
Carroll’s deals include the $40 million sale of a waterfront teardown on Palm Island in Miami Beach to the next-door neighbors, venture capital investor Ben Ling and his husband, Hedge Labs co-founder Chris Coudron. The sale marked the priciest on Palm and Hibiscus islands so far this year. Carroll and Jesus Adrian of the Chad Carroll Group represented the seller, while Hogan, ranked sixth, represented the buyers.
A number of buyers are having to raise their budgets. “The inventory is so thin that a lot of properties are not that impressive to the buyer,” said Eddy Martinez, of the Roland + Eddy R/E team at One Sotheby’s.
Because of this continued demand throughout the summer, agents expect more this season.
“Activity hasn’t slowed down, and I don’t think it’s going to, based on the demand we’re seeing,” said Mick Duchon, of the Corcoran Group, ranked 13th. “The activity and the transactions are starting to spread out because the pricing has appreciated so much.”
It marks the first year Duchon is on the list alone: He parted ways with his longtime business partner and mentor Eloy Carmenate as Carmenate pursues advising condo developers on new projects.
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The name of the game: Consolidation?
The brokerage business has been consolidating for decades, and that continued this year with the Compass-Anywhere deal. Compass International’s brands now include Coldwell Banker, Sotheby’s and Corcoran. Brokerage executives said the merger has made competition and collaboration friendlier.
There were other behind-the-scenes shifts: In September, Sotheby’s International Realty, which is under Compass’ umbrella, acquired the One Sotheby’s franchise business from the de la Vega family. The deal further strengthens Compass International Holdings’ market share in South Florida.
It was likely a smart time to close that deal.
“For us, the last 12 months have been the best 12 months of our history,” said Daniel de la Vega, president and CEO of One Sotheby’s. De la Vega is staying in that role even with the ownership change. One Sotheby’s ranked fourth, with $3.3 billion in sales over the past year.
De la Vega touted Compass’ tech — “hands down, the best tech in the industry” as an indicator of future success for One Sotheby’s and other brands now in the same family. Because One Sotheby’s is now owned by a corporation, the integration is being rolled out immediately.
“That’s a huge game changer,” de la Vega said.
Nancy Klock Corey, regional vice president at Coldwell Banker who also works closely with the Jills Zeder Group, said the brokerage is now “moving at the speed of light.”
“We always felt like we were perfection. We have the culture, longevity and highly skilled agents. We were missing the technology,” she said.
Duff Rubin, Coldwell Banker’s regional president, agreed. “We were not the fastest moving, and we relied on third-party vendors for tech.”
Jay Parker, CEO of Douglas Elliman Florida, said he likes where Elliman sits in the market. “Our ability to be nimble is a powerful differentiator,” he said, adding that there is no brand confusion with Elliman.
“There are people that want to drive an S-Class Mercedes, and there are people that want to drive Ferraris and Rolls-Royces,” he said. “They’re both great options.”
Mike Pappas, owner of the Keyes Company, the largest independent brokerage firm in Florida, said even with the mega-merger, the market is “still fragmented, localized and individualized.”
In addition to the national names, the Brokerage South Florida, Avanti Way Realty, Lifestyle International Realty, Jordan Karp LLC, and the locally owned Fortune Christie’s International Real Estate were also on TRD’s ranking.
While Compass’ culture and technology are spreading, the landscape of people leading brokerages hasn’t really changed. All brokerage executives TRD spoke with mentioned the focus on helping the agent succeed, especially in such a challenging environment.
“The majority of the business is being done by local firms, and even with these consolidations it’s still personalized and individualized to these agents,” Pappas said.
Coldwell Banker “still prides ourselves on bringing up new agents every day,” Rubin said. “It’s much harder because there is less inventory. Where we do see success is in joining teams and in second-generation and third-generation agents. The top agents are doing well because they’re able to differentiate themselves and they’re able to win the business.”
The strongest example is the No. 1 ranked Jills Zeder Group, which includes first-generation brokers Jill Hertzberg, Jill Eber and Judy Zeder, and the second generation led by Danny Hertzberg and Nathan Zeder.
Adam Vellano, Compass’ managing director and principal broker in Florida, acknowledged the difficulties agents face today, especially in the general resale market.
“If you talk to everyday folks, I don’t think they’re loving the economy. The average person isn’t really making more than they did a few years ago. It’s tough on people, and tough on the general real estate market,” he said. “The deals are harder to keep together, to put together.”
Agents have to be on top of their game, he said. The changes brought by a 2023 landmark jury verdict against the National Association of Realtors has also weeded out agents who can’t prove or show their value to potential clients, agents and brokerage leaders said.
But Vellano hinted that opportunity still exists for entrepreneurial agents just starting out.
“Where else can you run a business for $1,000 a year?” he said.
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