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Michael "Wiz" Wisniewski · The Complete Real Estate Team · Florida DRE #3301665
Ask The WizardPinecrest is Miami-Dade's estate answer: acre-lot homes under old oaks, the Palmetto school cluster, and the Old Cutler canopy. It suits wealthy families who want land and top schools, executives and athletes who want the domain behind the gates, and downsizers from Brickell towers who want the trees, with a median sale price that keeps it the county's most exclusive suburb.
In this guide
The short answer, with the numbers
Yes, for buyers who can play at the top of the county's market: Pinecrest is Miami-Dade's estate village, and it prices like one. Redfin's most recent snapshot put the median sale price at about $3.4 million, up 39.3 percent year over year on a small, high-value mix, with about 101 days on market on Redfin-cited May 2026 data and median square-foot prices near $779.
It suits the specific: families who want the Palmetto school cluster (with elementaries at 9 and 10 on GreatSchools), executives and privacy buyers who want acreage inside the county, second-generation Gables buyers moving up, and city-by-address buyers who still want a stocked barn for the boat and the herd.
The honest trade-offs: at this price point the list is short and negotiated carefully, property taxes and hurricane-grade insurance are significant lines, the county's estate market moves on its own calendar, and buyers comparing against Coral Gables or the Grove need real guidance on the pockets, which is exactly the strategy conversation Michael runs.
Miami-Dade County · The estate village of Old Cutler Road
Median sale price (all home types)
~$3.4M
Redfin, most recent monthly snapshot (up 39.3% YoY)
Median days on market
~101
Redfin snapshot via Pam Mayers Real Estate, May 2026
Median price per sq ft
~$779
Redfin (up 17.8% YoY)
Cost-of-living index
~118.9
BestPlaces, 2026 (US average = 100)
Every figure on this page carries its source and its as-of date, because a good advisor labels the data before he uses it. Jump to the Pinecrest Market Data Snapshot for the full grid.
The character of the town
Pinecrest is what Coral Gables becomes when the lots get bigger and the canopy gets taller. Incorporated in 1996 specifically to preserve its character, the village runs on acre-lot zoning: 10,000-square-foot homes on half-acre-plus parcels under live oaks, with a building code that protects the trees as fiercely as the addresses. Old Cutler Road, the canopy drive that bisects it, is the most beautiful road in the county.
Daily life is quiet by design: the village green, Pinecrest Gardens (the old parrot jungle converted to public gardens), the farmers market, and the Palmetto High Pirates' Friday nights. There is no downtown, and that is the point; the nearest malls and restaurants are a short drive in the Grove, Dadeland, or the Falls, while the village itself stays leafy and calm.
The market is the county's showpiece: estate sales with real negotiating room at the top, tear-downs on the good streets, and international buyers who treat Pinecrest as the domain address of Miami. Prices swing with the mix, but the scarcity is permanent: there is only one Pinecrest, and the oaks cannot be replaced.
The money line, sourced
The honest numbers: the index, the home values, the income range, and the one tax break that changes the math for relocators.
The index, honestly
BestPlaces puts Pinecrest's cost-of-living index near 118.9, but the housing line is the real story: BestPlaces lists a median home value near $1.7 million, and transactions run far higher.
BestPlaces, 2026
Home values
Redfin's snapshot put the median near $3.4 million (up 39.3 percent year over year on a small mix) with square-foot prices about $779; asking baselines on active listings ran about $987 per square foot.
Redfin, 2026
No state income tax
Florida levies no state income tax, a significant line for the executives, athletes, and second-home owners who buy here.
State law, applies in Pinecrest
The bottom line
Pinecrest is the county's most exclusive suburb, and the honest budget includes estate taxes, hurricane-grade insurance, and tree-protection compliance on any renovation. Michael works these lines with estate buyers routinely.
BestPlaces / market reports, 2026
| Category | Pinecrest | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Cost of living vs. U.S. average | ~19% above (index ~118.9) | U.S. average = 100 (BestPlaces, 2026) |
| Median home sale price | ~$3.4M | Redfin, most recent snapshot, up 39.3% year over year |
| Median price per square foot | ~$779 | Redfin, up 17.8% year over year |
| Median home value | ~$1,703,400 | BestPlaces housing estimate, 2026 |
| State income tax | None | Florida state law |
| Property insurance | High; estate-grade policies | Honest budget line for acre-lot homes |
The current picture, in numbers
Here is the honest, current picture, labeled by source and date. Pinecrest's median sale price ran about $3.4 million on Redfin's most recent snapshot (up 39.3 percent year over year on a small, high-value mix), with about 101 days on market per a May 2026 Redfin-cited report and median square-foot prices near $779. Active-listing asking baselines run higher, near $987 per square foot.
Three honest frames before the numbers: this snapshot is static and dated, not a live ticker. The estate market swings with a handful of sales, so monthly medians move hard. And the tax angle that sweetens every line below: Florida has no state income tax.
Median sale price (all home types)
~$3.4M
up 39.3% YoY, small sample
Redfin · 2026
Median days on market
~101
Redfin-cited snapshot
Pam Mayers Real Estate · May 2026
Median price per sq ft
~$779
up 17.8% year over year
Redfin · 2026
Active asking baseline
~$987/sq ft
listings, not closings
pinecrestaddress.com / Realtor.com · 2025-26
Inventory note
Short list
likely 100-200 active; estate homes turn on offer
Ask Michael for the current list
Cost-of-living index
~118.9
U.S. average = 100
BestPlaces · 2026
Redfin, 2026 · Pam Mayers Real Estate, May 2026
| Measure | Figure | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Median sale price | ~$3.4M | up 39.3% year over year |
| Median days on market | ~101 | May 2026 snapshot |
| Median price per square foot | ~$779 | up 17.8% year over year |
| Market posture | Seller-influenced | short list, careful negotiation |
luxurydade.com · county report April 2026
| Measure | Figure | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Months of supply | 7.6 | county-wide, April 2026 |
| Median price | $573,398 | county-wide, April 2026 |
| Single-family medians | ~$665K-$682K | county market notes, 2025 |
| Condo medians | ~$400K-$436K | county market notes, 2025 |
Read it honestly: Pinecrest is a boutique market: a short list of estate homes, tear-down opportunities on the premier streets, and buyers who negotiate like principals. Monthly medians swing because the sample is small and the properties are individual. For the freshest look at homes for sale in Pinecrest today, the snapshot above is the honest starting point; the current list and the real range on a given street come from a direct call.
The honest trade-offs, local read
The genuine upsides and the honest trade-offs locals actually talk about, every one grounded in the sourced numbers on this page. Pinecrest is a wonderful place to live, and it is not the right fit for everyone. That is exactly the conversation worth having before you move.
Pinecrest Elementary and Palmetto Elementary both rank among Florida's top 25 public elementary schools, and Miami Palmetto Senior High is a consistently top-rated high school. For families, the school stack is the single biggest reason the village commands its premium.
Quarter-acre to full-acre lots tucked under a canopy of mature live oaks is not a Miami-Dade norm; it is Pinecrest's defining feature. The village code protects the trees and the scale, so the canopy is an asset that compounds.
Downtown Miami is 15 to 20 minutes away, Coral Gables is next door, and Dadeland's shops and Metrorail are minutes south. Privacy at home, city access when you want it, the classic balance.
Pinecrest Gardens, the community center, parks, and a responsive village government give residents an unusually high level of civic service. This is a municipally run suburb in the best sense.
Supply inside the village is capped by geography and tree ordinances, and demand from wealth-accumulating families stays deep. Pinecrest is one of Miami-Dade's most stable, least volatile addresses.
Gulliver Preparatory and a cluster of other top private schools sit minutes away, so families who want the village's lifestyle with a different school choice are not forced to leave the neighborhood to get it.
A median in the $2.2 million to $2.6 million range prices out all but the well-funded, and the lower end of the market is smaller older homes on smaller lots. There is no 'starter Pinecrest' in the way smaller towns have.
Walk Score is firmly car-dependent, with a low transit score, and the estate lots make walking to anything except the school impractical. Kids ride bikes on quiet streets, but adults drive for nearly every errand.
Parts of Pinecrest fall in high-risk FEMA flood zones, so flood insurance is required there, and Miami-Dade wind premiums keep homeowners insurance heavy. Elevation varies street by street, which is exactly why Michael checks the address-level data.
An acre of oaks, hedges, and grass is a landscape budget. Landscaping, irrigation, and tree care in South Florida are ongoing costs that catch new-from-the-Northeast owners by surprise.
Pinecrest is residential first; the restaurants and retail sit on its edges along South Dixie Highway and in Coral Gables and Dadeland. The village's charm is the absence of commercial life, which is also its limitation.
Whether Pinecrest fits comes down to your street, your budget, and your season of life. Talk it through on a free 15-minute strategy call, or call Michael directly.
Where to look first
5 pockets buyers ask Michael about most, each with the honest read attached. The spread between them is the single most important thing to understand about Pinecrest, and the reason the right neighborhood matters more than the town name.
The historic center around the gardens and the village green
The original Pinecrest streets around the gardens: established estate lots, deep setbacks, and the most settled canopy in the village, with the village green and the market on the calendar.
Fits best: Families who want the village identity and the farmers market
Marquee double lots on the county's most beautiful road
The front-door addresses of Pinecrest: double lots, trophy homes, and the canopy tunnel that has sold Miami's elite for generations. The top of the village's market and the shortest list.
Fits best: Estate buyers who want the address itself
The school-cluster streets families circle
The quiet grid around Miami Palmetto Senior High and its feeders, where family lots, school runs, and the Friday-night lights make the village's family story concrete.
Fits best: Families zoned to the Palmetto cluster
Slightly newer estate sections toward the Palmetto Bay line
South Pinecrest's lots and homes, a touch newer and a notch more approachable than the Old Cutler row, with Howard Drive Elementary in the anchor schools.
Fits best: Buyers who want the address at the entry band
The village's western seam with the Gables border
The western edge where Pinecrest meets Coral Gables' eastern avenues, giving buyers both addresses within a street turn and a slightly broader price band.
Fits best: Buyers weighing Pinecrest against the Gables
Pinecrest is a village of individual estates rather than subdivisions, so a street-by-street map beats a neighborhood name. Tell Michael your size, privacy, and school needs and he will take you to the exact lots that fit, because in Pinecrest the lot is the decision.
Find Your Pinecrest NeighborhoodThe district report, with rankings
Pinecrest's school story is the county's most coveted: Palmetto Elementary at 10/10 on GreatSchools with a Niche A, Pinecrest Elementary at 9/10 with a Niche A, Palmetto Middle at 8/10 with a Niche A-minus, and Miami Palmetto Senior High at a Niche A ranking #64 among Florida public high schools. All five village schools sit inside the same M-DCPS cluster.
| School | Rating / rank | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Palmetto Elementary School | GreatSchools 10/10 · Niche A · #5 public elementary in Miami-Dade | GreatSchools / Niche, 2026 |
| Pinecrest Elementary School | GreatSchools 9/10 · Niche A · #4 public elementary in Miami-Dade | GreatSchools / Niche, 2026 |
| Palmetto Middle School | GreatSchools 8/10 · Niche A- · #153 public middle in Florida | GreatSchools / Niche, 2026 |
| Miami Palmetto Senior High School | GreatSchools 6/10 · Niche A · #64 public high school in Florida | GreatSchools / Niche, 2026 |
K-5 · 12401 SW 74th Ave
9-12 · 7460 SW 118th St
Rankings and attendance zones come from GreatSchools, US News, Niche, and PublicSchoolReview, all as of 2026 or the most recent published cycle, and they change. The School District of Miami-Dade County zones by address, so Michael always confirms the exact assigned schools for a specific address before you make an offer.
The drive math, by the numbers
Pinecrest never moved far from the city: Brickell and downtown Miami run about 20 to 30 minutes by car, the Grove and the Gables are closer still, and Miami International is about 25 minutes in light traffic. US-1 and the Palmetto frame the village, and the Dadeland rail head is about 10 minutes for the commuter minority.
The honest note is that Pinecrest is not a transit village and never pretended to be: it is a car, estate, and canopy place where the drive is short and pleasant because every mile is under trees. The south Dade hospital corridor and Dadeland's offices anchor the local economy.
To Brickell / downtown Miami
~20-30 min
Driving, US-1 / I-95
To the Gables / the Grove
~10-15 min
Driving, Old Cutler / Douglas
To Miami Int'l Airport (MIA)
~25 min
Driving, Palmetto Expressway
Match the town to your life
The buyer types Pinecrest fits especially well, each with the sourced reason attached. This is the audience range Michael works with every week as The Life Transition Specialist: buyers, sellers, retirees, families, and investors from the Treasure Coast to South Florida.
The Palmetto cluster (a 10/10 elementary, a 9/10 elementary, and a Niche A high) is the county's family trophy, and the lots give the kids a real domain.
The big-picture buyers: CEOs, founders, and professionals who want acreage, privacy, and the address within 30 minutes of the office.
The oaks, the gardens, the quiet, and no state income tax suit an affluent retirement; Michael, a Certified Senior Transition Specialist, helps plan the estate transition itself.
Multi-generational compounds and caregiver suites on the big lots are a real Pinecrest pattern, planned properly with transition guidance.
Tear-down lots on the premier streets are the patient investor's play: land under the canopy appreciates on scarcity, not on the building.
Penthouse sellers trade the elevator for the oak canopy and the barn, often keeping a pied-a-terre downtown for the office week.
Gated driveways, deep setbacks, and a village code that screens are why the county's famous names keep landing in Pinecrest.
For out-of-state movers
Moving to Pinecrest from outside Florida is a life transition, and the people who plan it as one land better. Here is the practical short list, every point grounded in the sourced numbers on this page and in how Michael guides relocators from the Treasure Coast to South Florida.
Florida taxes no wage or retirement income at the state level, a significant line for the estate-market buyer moving from a high-tax state.
The oaks, the gardens, and the village green are the product; the county's best-maintained tree canopy does the work every day.
30 minutes to Brickell, 10 to the Grove, and a building code that protects the trees and the lots people moved for.
At a $3.4 million median, the honest lines are taxes, hurricane-grade insurance, and renovation compliance under the tree ordinance.
In Pinecrest the land carries the value; buyers should price the lot first and the house second, and Michael structures offers that way.
Michael treats every estate move as a life transition: a strategy call sorts the timeline, the tax picture, and the legacy plan before you ever look at homes for sale in Pinecrest.
New to Florida entirely? Start with the Moving to Florida Checklist, the Florida Tax Guide, and the Relocation Guide Hub.
Michael "Wiz" Wisniewski · The Wizard of Real Estate
Pinecrest is the address I walk into and think, this is what keeps Miami worth it: an acre under the oaks, the school run on two wheels, and the skyline 30 minutes away. The honest work is the estate math, taxes, insurance, and the tree code. Do that math right and the oaks do the selling for me.
Michael "Wiz" Wisniewski · The Wizard of Real Estate · Talk Soon
Local favorites
Straight answers, no fine print
The questions buyers ask Michael most about moving to Pinecrest, answered directly with the sourced numbers on this page.
Yes, for buyers who can play at the top of Miami-Dade's market. The median sale price ran about $3.4 million on Redfin's 2026 snapshot, acre-lot estates sit under the county's best canopy, and the Palmetto school cluster includes a 10/10 elementary and a Niche A high school. The honest trade-offs: a short, negotiable list, estate-scale taxes and insurance, and a market that moves on its own calendar.
It is the county's most expensive suburb: the median ran about $3.4 million (Redfin, 2026) with square-foot prices near $779, and BestPlaces lists a median home value near $1.7 million for the village's broader estimate. Estate taxes, hurricane-grade insurance, and tree-compliance renovation costs belong in every budget.
About 15 to 20 minutes to the bay at Matheson Hammock and about 25 to 30 minutes to the Atlantic beaches of Key Biscayne and the Gables' coast. The canopy roads make even the shortest water run feel like a drive.
Yes, for affluent, privacy-seeking retirees: the quiet, the gardens, and the absence of state income tax fit a deliberate retirement, with the county's hospitals minutes away. Michael, a Certified Senior Transition Specialist, helps plan the estate and legacy transition itself.
Among the best in Florida: Palmetto Elementary at 10/10 on GreatSchools with a Niche A, Pinecrest Elementary at 9/10, Palmetto Middle at 8/10, and Miami Palmetto Senior High at a Niche A ranking #64 in Florida. All five schools sit in the same M-DCPS cluster, a rarity worth the premium.
Defined by scarcity. The median ran about $3.4 million on Redfin's snapshot (up 39.3 percent year over year on a small mix), with roughly 101 days on market and square-foot prices near $779. Monthly swings are large because the sample is small; the current list comes from a direct call.
Yes, emphatically: it is the county's family estate standard, with a trophy school cluster, acre-lot domains, and a village code designed around children and trees. The premium is real, the resale is protected by zoning, and the Friday-night-lights civic life is the payoff.
Have a question this page did not answer? Ask it directly: (561) 441-8420 or michael@thecompleterealestateteam.com.
Keep exploring
The Mediterranean city with the same canopy, minutes west.
Read itTown-center family living with the bay at the door.
Read itThe banyan village with the rail, minutes north.
Read itThe west's family grid south of the village.
Read itComparing Pinecrest against its neighbors is the fastest way to see where it fits. Read the honest Pinecrest pros and cons, then the guides above.
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Michael "Wiz" Wisniewski, The Life Transition Specialist, is a Certified Real Estate Planning Advisor and Certified A.I. Real Estate Advisor at The Complete Real Estate Team, powered by Dalton Wade Real Estate, Florida DRE #3301665. Bring your questions about Pinecrest, your timeline, schools, and budget: he will tell you honestly whether this corner of the Gold Coast fits your plan, and which neighborhood pocket your money should live in.
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