Fox News Digital gets a tour of Indian Creek Village from Julian Johnston of the Corcoran Group, who shows why the world’s wealthiest choose to move to the most exclusive neighborhood.
For a native of South Florida, peace and quiet is what comes first for you.
Just a stone’s throw from the incessant honking of Surfside and the designer-clad throngs of Bal Harbor Shops, Indian Creek Village exists in a void of enforced silence. There are no sirens, tourists, and no uninvited guests – only the whistle of the Atlantic wind and the rhythmic clapping of the waves against the secret bells.
Behind the large entrance gates and dense tropical foliage there is a 300-acre financial safe haven where American billionaires not only buy homes, but invest in private security levels that Julian Johnston, one of Miami’s top buyers, says is now the ultimate property.
“It’s a political place. I would say, again, security is very tight. I mean, if you’re driving, if you don’t have a permit, [the police] they’re actually disrespectful and tell you to go away,” an agent of the Corcoran Group – which sells more than ten billion dollars in real estate – told Fox News Digital during a private tour of Indian Creek.
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“I think Indian Creek is its own island,” he continued. “As a community… you have a marina nearby, you can walk to the Four Seasons and go to the beach and it’s a less crowded area. So there’s not as much traffic, and it’s just a nice place to live.”
Aerial view of the entrance to Indian Creek Village in Miami, Florida. (Getty Images)
Popularly known as the “Billionaire Bunker,” successful business leaders and celebrities including Jeff Bezos, Carl Icahn, Tom Brady, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, Julio Iglesias, Adriana Lima, David Guetta, Don Shula and others have long called Indian Creek home. This very special place made headlines for a new person, Mark Zuckerberg, who paid a record $170 million for the undeveloped property.
Migration is fueled by more than just sunlight; it’s a smart retreat from the regime of wealthy tax proposals passing through the legislatures of green states like California, Washington and New York. While lawmakers and unions try to impose aggressive new taxes on capital gains and unrealized wealth, the “Billionaire Bunker” provides a predictable financial stronghold.
“Even starting with South Beach and Miami Beach, there’s only a thousand homes on the water, about… There’s only four real islands in this area that own the roads, so you can’t go in without a permit,” Johnston said. “People want privacy, security … and because of that limited, prices have gone up very quickly in the last few years.”
The backyard of a 100 million dollar home in Indian Creek Village, Miami. (Fox News Digital)
Zuckerberg’s new estate currently sits as a modern concrete skeleton, fully exposed to the elements on Miami Beach. Parked outside his unfinished house is what appears to be an invisible, black SUV patrolling the area.
It’s a stark contrast to the faded, bougainvillea-covered Mediterranean arches of the mansion Johnston showed Fox News Digital. Although the completed home is not officially for sale, its market price is estimated to be more than double what Zuckerberg paid due to its specific location and views.
“50 percent of what is sold in Indian Creek is not on the market. There are people who are thinking of just selling, and it is known in the community, they will start to find themselves,” he said. “They don’t really want to advertise because that would attract a lot of tire kickers and people interested in seeing the home.”
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The agent noted that it usually takes one year for plans and permits, and three years to build a substantial home on the island. He also explained how Bezos bought a 20-year-old Indian Creek property in “good condition” for $75 million “just to sleep” while his two other nearby properties were being developed for his larger property.
Home in Indian Creek Village, Tuesday, December 5, 2023. (Getty Images)
Driving around their estates, the Bezos’ homes had long and winding driveways with iron gates and carefully designed landscaping; Brady’s home seemed almost entirely glass, a gray house from the front, with modern furniture but also modern art visible through the windows.
“When Tom Brady started building, he was thinking about selling the house for $80 to $100 million. Now he’s refusing to offer four or five years later $200 million,” Johnston said as another example.
“Some developers are making very high-end homes now, but these end users, they don’t have the budget. So they will raise those plots even higher, and they will build their dream home,” he continued. “I think this neighborhood is out of reach for some of us, including me. I think some of their owners are scared.”
All properties in Indian Creek have direct water access. | Getty Images
Meeting people on and around the island appeared to replace living rooms in New York City and Silicon Valley, as top agents revealed changes in the way business deals and business decisions are made outside of their traditional offices.
“One of my clients … is a VC, worth about 14 billion dollars, and he was from Manhattan, he went, ‘I put on a bulletproof vest, I’m going to war … Here, I go out in shorts and a t-shirt, I go on my conference call to a coffee shop, I finish that, I do another meeting … I found, I have a lot of peace with my life
With more than half of $1 trillion in combined income to live in Indian Creek, it’s solidifying itself as the center of permanent wealth migration. However, the combination of a multi-billionaire playground and a high-risk market for average buyers is broad – the UBS Global Real Estate Bubble Index for 2025 recently ranked Miami at No. 1 housing market with the highest bubble risk in the World, surpassing the peak of the 2006 housing bubble.
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Miami’s spectacular skyline can be seen from many Indian Creek homes. (Getty Images)
But Johnston argues that the effect of the decline is to fund major public works, such as high-speed rail and affordable housing nearby for the many workers who support the island.
“I think it’s going to be very beneficial for Miami,” he said. “We’re getting too expensive and there’s a move away from that. But the city is doing something about it, developers are responding and there are neighborhoods now being built with good shopping and bus services and public transport, and I think it’s going to make the city better and better.”
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