Bay Harbor IslandsCity Guide

Bay Harbor Islands is two filled islands in Biscayne Bay at the west end of 96th Street, 0.40 square miles of land between the Broad Causeway toll bridge to North Miami and the free bridge into Bal Harbour. Shepard Broad, a New York lawyer, bought the mangrove islands in 1945, dredged them himself, incorporated the town in 1947 and opened the causeway in 1951; his partner Benjamin Kane gave his name to Kane Concourse, the two-block business district on the East Island. The Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate puts the population at 6,021, up from 5,918 in 2020, and the 2024 American Community Survey gives a median age of 35.9, about half of residents born abroad and a near-even split of owners and renters.

Is Bay Harbor Islands a good place to live?

For a family that wants a quiet, walkable town with a public school its neighbours would pay tuition for, yes, and the trade-offs are unusually specific. The whole town sits inside a FEMA special flood hazard area, every trip to the mainland crosses a 1951 drawbridge that charges a toll in both directions, and there is no ocean beach on the islands: the sand is a three-minute drive or a ten-minute walk east across the 96th Street bridge. In exchange you get Ruth K. Broad Bay Harbor K-8 Center (GreatSchools 10/10, an A school for 26 straight years according to its new principal), Walk Score 81 along Kane Concourse, a town police force of 24 officers that has recorded no homicides since 2013, and Bal Harbour Shops one bridge away. Browse homes for sale in Bay Harbor Islands to see what the inventory actually looks like.

East Island vs West Island: two housing markets in one zip code

The town’s own zoning does most of the sorting. The West Island (103 acres) is single-family only, low-slung houses on canals with private docks, and its inventory can never grow. The East Island (150 acres) carries everything else: the 1950s and 1960s garden buildings that gave the town its Miami Modern reputation, the 2016 generation of boutique condos such as Kai at Bay Harbor and Harbour Park, the newest waterfront buildings such as Onda Residences (2023) and Alana (2025), and the Kane Concourse shops. Over the 12 months to September 2026 the median sale was $350,000 for a one-bedroom, $640,000 for a two-bedroom, $1,800,000 for a three-bedroom and $3,400,000 for a four-bedroom, which is what happens when 1960s condos such as Island Pointe and The Belmont share a town with brand-new penthouses and West Island houses.

Bay Harbor Islands new condos in 2026

The East Island is finishing a building cycle that began in 2021 and runs to roughly 400 new units. La Baia South (68 units, Continuum) received its certificate of occupancy at the end of 2025 fully sold; THE WELL Bay Harbor Islands (66 residences over a wellness club on Kane Concourse, by Terra) took occupancy on the same timetable; 9900 West (23 residences with a private marina) and Bay Harbor Towers (44 residences) were scheduled for summer and autumn 2026; La Baia North (57 units) is due in early 2027. Behind them are a 150-unit rental building at 10290 East Bay Harbor Drive that closed an $80 million construction loan in February 2026 and a 33-unit proposal by Gehry Partners and Kobi Karp at 9291–9301 East Bay Harbor Drive that went to the town’s Development Review Committee in January 2026. The town’s FY2025-26 budget describes most major infill as complete and puts $266 million of new construction on the 2025 tax roll.

How does Bay Harbor Islands compare to Surfside, Bal Harbour and North Bay Village?

On price it sits in the middle of its stretch of coast. As of August 2026 the median sale price was $660,000 at $451 per square foot in Bay Harbor Islands, against $1,825,000 and $1,095 per foot in Bal Harbour, $1,350,000 and $754 in Surfside, $660,000 and $464 in Sunny Isles Beach, $640,000 and $575 across Miami Beach and $370,000 and $375 in North Bay Village. Surfside is the ocean-facing twin: same school zone, same kosher supermarkets and shuls, a beach at the end of every street and higher oceanfront association fees. Bal Harbour is where Bay Harbor residents shop and eat; almost nobody there has a garden. North Bay Village, the other bay-island town, is built around the 79th Street Causeway and mainland commuting rather than the beach. Aventura, 18 minutes north, is the high-rise suburban alternative.

The honest summary: Bay Harbor Islands is the place on this coast where you can walk a child to an A-rated public school, keep a boat behind the house and reach Bal Harbour Shops on foot, provided you can live with a toll bridge, a flood policy and, until about 2027, the sound of construction on the East Island.