For most of the past several decades, proximity to Miami determined where people bought in the Florida Keys. Buyers who wanted a property they could reach on a Friday evening concentrated in the Upper Keys, because everything south of that added driving time to a trip that already started at Miami International or Fort Lauderdale.
That calculation is changing. An expansion at Key West International Airport has meaningfully altered travel times to the southern end of the chain, and Sandy Tuttle, founder of Island Welcome Real Estate in the Lower Florida Keys, is seeing it register in where buyers concentrate their search.
The mile marker system
Location in the Keys is described by mile marker, counting from Key West at zero to Florida City at 126. The system is used for everything from listing descriptions to directions to groceries and boat ramps, and it functions as the practical geography of the chain.
The islands break into four zones. Key West occupies mile markers zero through four as an incorporated city with its own regulatory layer. The Lower Keys begin at Stock Island around mile marker five and run through Big Pine Key at mile marker 32, all within unincorporated Monroe County. The Seven Mile Bridge separates that stretch from Marathon, which is separately incorporated and operates under its own rules. North of Marathon, the chain alternates between unincorporated county, the incorporated Village of Islamorada, and Key Largo before connecting to the mainland.
Airport expansion
Key West International now operates eight gates and services 26 domestic cities, with additional seasonal routes, and further expansion work is underway. The practical effect is that most of the country is now reachable in two legs within a single day.
“You can leave in the morning and be here in the Keys for sunset,” Tuttle said. For buyers in the Midwest, Northeast, and increasingly the West, that changes the ownership experience for a property 100 miles further from Miami than the Upper Keys.
Marathon and private aviation
Marathon operates an airstrip currently limited to private traffic, running a jet center that accommodates both prop aircraft and jets sized for the runway. The city has discussed restoring commercial service, which would extend the same accessibility improvement to the middle of the chain.
Key West also maintains a private aviation division alongside its commercial operation, which has become more relevant as the upper end of the Keys market has developed.
Fly-in communities
Two neighborhoods in the chain are built around private airstrips. One is on Summerland Key in the Lower Keys, where homes sit on canals with hangar space beneath the residence, allowing an owner to taxi a small aircraft to the house and keep a boat at the dock behind it. A second exists in Tavernier in the Upper Keys.
Tuttle describes both as long-established but increasingly sought after, with inventory moving quickly when it becomes available. The pattern tracks a broader national trend toward residential air park development.
For Miami-area buyers, the shift is less about their own travel and more about the resale pool. Properties in the Lower Keys are now accessible to a national buyer base in a way they were not five years ago, and that base is expanding faster than the local one.
About the Expert: Sandy Tuttle is the founder of Island Welcome Real Estate, a boutique waterfront brokerage based on Summerland Key in the Lower Florida Keys. She has lived in the Florida Keys since 1997 and has worked in Keys real estate for approximately 20 years. Her practice focuses on canal-front and waterfront residential property in unincorporated Monroe County.
Disclaimer: This article is based on information provided by the expert source cited above. It is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or real estate advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals before making any real estate or financial decisions.
