Why SERHANT. Chose Orlando for Its Central Florida Office

When Ryan Serhant and I partnered to open his luxury brokerage here in Central Florida, people asked the same question: why Orlando? The answer is not a single data point. It is a convergence of population growth, economic momentum, a tourism economy that generates nearly $93 billion in annual impact, zero state income tax, and a luxury real estate market that is only beginning to realize what it is worth. Orlando is not just a good market right now. It is one of the best positioned real estate markets in the country for the next decade, and it deserved a brokerage built for what it is becoming, not what it was ten years ago. That is why we brought SERHANT. here.

Key Facts: Orlando's Growth at a Glance

What Makes Orlando Different From Every Other Florida Market?

Orlando is the only major Florida metro that simultaneously holds the No. 1 ranking nationally in job growth, population growth, and nominal GDP growth among the 30 most populous metro areas in the United States. That is not a headline from a local chamber of commerce. That is the conclusion drawn from U.S. Census Bureau data, revised employment estimates, and GDP statistics compiled by the Orlando Economic Partnership in early 2025. The term they used was "triple crown." It fits.

Miami gets the luxury press coverage. Tampa gets credit for the business migration wave. But Orlando is quietly building something more durable: a diversified economy with a world-class tourism infrastructure, a growing tech and healthcare sector, and a residential base that is expanding at a rate most cities would envy. From July 2023 to July 2024, the region added 76,000 new residents. That is roughly 1,500 people per week choosing Central Florida as their home. Since 2020, the metro has added more than 267,000 residents, nearly two-thirds of that growth driven by international migration.

This is not seasonal. This is structural. And structural growth is what luxury real estate is built on.

Why Does Population Growth Matter for Luxury Real Estate?

Population growth, on its own, does not create a luxury market. What it does is build demand pressure across the entire price spectrum, which in turn forces appreciation and draws high-net-worth buyers who want to get ahead of the curve. When a market is growing at the pace Orlando is, the buyers who move early into the luxury tier tend to see the strongest long-term returns.

What is different about Orlando's current growth wave is who is arriving. The migration into Central Florida includes a significant share of professionals, executives, and entrepreneurs relocating from higher-tax states. Florida has no state income tax. For a household earning $500,000 per year, that translates to tens of thousands of dollars in annual savings compared to living in California, New York, or Illinois. That calculation does not get lost on the people making it. It is one of the most consistent reasons I hear from buyers and sellers in our coverage area when I ask what brought them here.

The data backs the conversation. Florida has seen consistent increases in high-income earners relocating from other states, and the recent wave of California tech wealth migration, accelerated by proposed wealth taxes in that state, is directing significant capital into Florida luxury real estate. For Central Florida specifically, that means buyers with purchasing power who are actively looking at Windermere, Dr. Phillips, Lake Nona, and Celebration as viable alternatives to markets they have outgrown or want to leave behind.

What Is the Role of Tourism in Orlando's Real Estate Economy?

Most markets have one or two economic engines. Orlando has an engine that almost no other real estate market can replicate: 75.33 million visitors per year, making it the single most visited destination in the United States. Visit Orlando confirmed those figures for 2024, representing a 1.8 percent increase over 2023 and a new record for the market. International visitation grew 5.9 percent in the same period.

Tourism generated nearly $93 billion in total economic impact in 2024. It accounts for 30 percent of local jobs and contributes $5.6 billion in local and state tax revenue. What that means at the ground level is a service economy of significant scale, a hospitality infrastructure unlike almost any American city outside of Las Vegas, and a constant inflow of people who visit Orlando, fall in love with it, and begin seriously considering a move here.

That pipeline from visitor to resident to homebuyer is real, and it is ongoing. I have seen it happen with buyers from Brazil, Canada, Colombia, and the UK, the top international visitor markets to Orlando in 2024. When Epic Universe opens its doors, the attraction dynamic intensifies further. Orlando is adding its first major new theme park in 25 years, which means the draw is not plateauing. It is expanding.

For luxury real estate specifically, this matters in two ways. First, short-term rental and investment demand remains a parallel market that supports valuations across Central Florida. Second, the global visibility of Orlando as a destination means that high-net-worth buyers from Europe, Latin America, and Asia are familiar with this market in a way they simply are not with most American cities. That familiarity drives cross-border luxury purchases, and SERHANT.'s global reach, with more than 10 million followers across its platforms, positions us to serve those buyers in a way a traditional local brokerage cannot.

How Strong Is Orlando's Job Market?

Orlando added 37,500 jobs in 2024, the highest job growth rate among all major U.S. metro areas that year. Healthcare led the way with 6,900 new positions, and tourism added 7,700 jobs. Unemployment at the end of 2024 sat at 3 percent, which is a tight labor market. The labor force itself grew by 23,000 workers over the same period.

The employer base has diversified significantly over the past decade. Major employers in Central Florida include Disney, Universal, Lockheed Martin, AdventHealth, Orlando Health, Siemens Energy, Electronic Arts, and AECOM. The presence of Lockheed Martin and Siemens reflects a defense and clean energy sector that brings well-compensated professionals to the area, many of whom are buying in the $600,000 to $1.5 million range in communities like Lake Nona, Windermere, and Dr. Phillips.

Over the past eight years, the Orlando Economic Partnership helped facilitate more than 200 business relocations and expansions, creating more than 30,000 new jobs and $3.5 billion in capital investment. That is not a single company making a splashy move. That is a broad base of business activity that creates sustained residential demand across price points.

When a market has job diversity, population growth, and a low tax environment at the same time, it does not stay underpriced for long. Orlando is in that window right now, and the buyers who recognize it are moving.

What Does the No State Income Tax Mean for Luxury Buyers?

Florida has no state income tax, and it never has. For buyers coming from California, New York, New Jersey, or Illinois, the financial case for relocating to Florida is not subtle. In California, the top marginal income tax rate exceeds 13 percent. In New York, it approaches 11 percent at the state and city level combined. For high earners, that difference is not cosmetic. It is a six-figure annual swing.

The migration this creates is well documented at this point. Over $126 million in sales to California and New York buyers were reported in just the first 60 days of 2026 alone by Florida developers. The Florida Chamber of Commerce has described the outflow from high-tax states as accelerating, not slowing. And the buyers making these moves are not transient. They are purchasing primary residences, setting up businesses, and putting children in schools here. They are committed.

This matters for luxury real estate in a specific way: these buyers are not coming to Orlando to downscale. They are selling $3 million homes in Marin County or Westchester and arriving with equity and expectations. They want waterfront. They want gated communities. They want properties that reflect the success they have built. Isleworth, Golden Oak, Bella Collina, and the best streets of Windermere are exactly the answer to what they are looking for. Our Windermere neighborhood page reflects the kind of inventory that speaks to this buyer directly.

Why Is the Central Florida Luxury Market Still Undervalued?

Here is the honest assessment: Central Florida has been undervalued relative to its fundamentals for a long time. That is changing, and the data reflects it. The median sale price for a luxury home in the Orlando metro reached $1.37 million in April 2025, a 7.4 percent year-over-year increase that outpaced the national average for the same tier. The top of the market in Windermere runs from $1.5 million to nearly $14 million. Isleworth goes past $15 million. Golden Oak at Walt Disney World, one of the most unique luxury communities in the country, has properties ranging from $3 million to $10 million or more.

Compare those figures to comparable properties in comparable climates in California, South Florida, or the Northeast. The value gap is significant. Buyers who run that comparison tend to act quickly, because they recognize a window that will not stay open indefinitely.

For the $2 million and above buyer in particular, SERHANT. Signature was built for exactly this moment. It is our premium service tier for listings in that range, and it brings a level of presentation, marketing, and buyer reach that the Central Florida market has not historically had access to from a single brokerage. That combination, a market primed for appreciation and a platform built to capture international demand, is precisely why we are here now rather than five years from now.

Lake Nona is another area worth calling out directly. It is one of the most intentionally designed master-planned communities in the United States, built around a medical city that includes the VA Medical Center, UCF Lake Nona Medical Center, and the UF Health network, alongside technology firms and a high-caliber residential base. Our Lake Nona neighborhood page details what is available there at the luxury tier, and it is a market that will continue to outperform as the medical and tech ecosystem matures.

Why SERHANT. Specifically? What Does the Brand Bring to Orlando?

SERHANT. is not a traditional real estate brokerage. Ryan Serhant founded it in 2020 with a specific thesis: real estate is a media problem as much as it is a transaction business. The brokerage that wins is the one that creates demand, not just responds to it. That is why SERHANT. is structured as a media company that sells real estate, and why its 10 million-plus global followers are not vanity metrics. They are a buyer acquisition engine that reaches markets and demographics that traditional local advertising cannot touch.

The infrastructure behind that thesis is substantial. SERHANT Studios is the in-house cinematic production team that creates the content and listing media that makes properties impossible to ignore. The ID Lab is a personal brand-building program for agents, because SERHANT. understands that the agent's brand is part of the product the client buys. And SERHANT. Signature is the premium service layer for $2 million and above listings, bringing a white-glove experience to the segment of the Central Florida market that is growing fastest.

Nationally, SERHANT. has been part of marquee projects including the Mercedes-Benz Tower in Miami, the Aston Martin Residences in Daytona, and Roche Bobois in St. Pete. These are not coincidences. They reflect a brokerage that development teams and luxury sellers choose deliberately because of what the brand does for a property's positioning in the market. That same positioning is now available here in Central Florida.

In 2025 alone, SERHANT. grew 80 percent organically, expanded into six new states, and closed $6.5 billion in sales volume. The firm operates across 14 states. This is a growth company in the early stages of building national scale, and the Central Florida office is not a satellite. It is a full commitment to a market we believe in deeply.

What Areas Does SERHANT. Orlando Serve?

Our coverage spans the full Central Florida luxury corridor, from the established prestige communities to the emerging markets gaining ground fastest. We work with buyers and sellers in Orlando, Windermere, Dr. Phillips, Lake Nona, Winter Garden, Horizon West, Clermont, Kissimmee, St. Cloud, and Celebration. Each of these markets has a distinct character, a specific buyer profile, and price dynamics that reward local knowledge paired with a global platform.

Windermere is our deepest luxury market, with price points that rival anything in Florida outside of South Beach and Palm Beach. Dr. Phillips has long been the address of choice for Orlando's most successful professionals, with its proximity to Restaurant Row and major employment centers. Lake Nona is the future, still in the early innings of what it will become. Winter Garden and Horizon West are attracting the families who want new construction quality and top-rated schools without the premium of the most established zip codes.

The breadth of that coverage is intentional. Luxury is not confined to one zip code in a market this size. It follows the people who are moving here, and those people are choosing communities across all of Central Florida.

What Is the Vision for SERHANT. in Central Florida?

The honest answer is that we are here to build the dominant luxury brokerage in Central Florida over the next decade, using a model that does not exist in this market yet. That means combining the media infrastructure and national brand of SERHANT. with real, specific expertise in the neighborhoods and price segments that define luxury in this region.

It means bringing the same quality of listing presentation and buyer outreach to a $2.5 million home in Isleworth that you would see on a $10 million listing in Manhattan or Miami. It means giving sellers access to 10 million-plus global followers who may be the perfect buyer for a property that a traditional local campaign would never reach. And it means working with agents who are building their personal brands with the same seriousness that any business owner would apply, because in this market, at this moment, brand and production are the difference.

Orlando is growing at a pace that rewards people who see it clearly and act on it. The buyers arriving from California, New York, and internationally are not settling for less when they come here. They are upgrading their lifestyle, their tax situation, and in many cases their quality of life. SERHANT. is the brokerage built to serve them.

If you are buying, selling, or evaluating the luxury market in Central Florida and want a team with both local depth and global reach, I would welcome the conversation. Reach out directly here, or browse our current listings to see the market as it stands today.

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