Fort Lauderdale New Construction Homes (2026)
Updated November 9, 2026
There are about 121 new construction single-family homes active in Fort Lauderdale as of early November 2026 - the largest new-house count of any city in this corridor. Pricing runs from about $290,000 at the bottom to about $80 million at the top, which tells you immediately that this is not one market. The average active listing is near $8.4 million and about 5,100 square feet, working out to roughly $1,420 per square foot. Almost all of the dollar volume sits on the finger isles and the Coral Ridge waterways. Almost all of the unit count sits on the mainland.
One city, two completely separate new-home markets
If you look only at the average you will get the wrong idea about Fort Lauderdale. Read the two halves separately.
The isles. Fort Lauderdale was platted with dredged finger canals, and the lots on those canals are the most valuable residential land in Broward County. A builder buys a 1950s or 1960s house on an isle, takes it down, and puts up seven to eleven thousand square feet with a dock. Isla Bahia, Nurmi Isles, Seven Isles, Stilwell Isles, Las Olas by the Sea, Idlewyld, Del Lago, Rio Vista, Coral Ridge and the Riviera streets all work this way. Dockage is the whole proposition. The house is almost secondary.
The mainland. West of the waterways, new houses go up on ordinary platted lots in Progresso, Poinsettia Heights, Lake Ridge, Victoria Park, Tarpon River and Riverside Park, and further out in the northwest and southwest sections. Same construction year, same code, no dock, and a fraction of the per-foot number. Several of these are two and three houses at a time by the same small builder.
Decide which market you are in before you start touring. They do not price against each other and the shopping process is not the same.
Where the new houses actually are
Bands reflect active listings on the day this page was written, not builder price sheets. Counts turn over quickly in Fort Lauderdale because teardown inventory is continuous. The MLS search under this article is live.
What the money buys at each level
Under about $1 million
Entirely west of I-95. Three to four bedrooms, roughly 1,250 to 2,200 square feet, no water, often two or three identical houses by one builder on the same block. These are real new houses with current code and new systems, and for a buyer who wants new rather than large, they are the only option in Fort Lauderdale at this number. Judge them on the lot and the street, because the floor plans are close to interchangeable.
About $1 million to $3 million
Mainland infill, east of I-95, no dockage. Three to five bedrooms, roughly 1,700 to 3,400 square feet, pool on most of them. Progresso, Lake Ridge, Poinsettia Heights, Victoria Park, Tarpon River, Marina Landings and the smaller Rio Vista lots. This is the band where new construction competes directly with a renovated 1950s house in the same neighborhood, and the comparison is worth running carefully.
About $3 million to $7 million
The entry point to new waterfront. Citrus Isles and Avocado Isle, the Riviera streets, Coral Ridge North, Lauderdale Beach Extension, parts of Rio Vista. Four to six bedrooms, roughly 3,900 to 5,300 square feet. You get a dock here, but read the specifics: canal width, whether you pass under a fixed bridge to reach the Intracoastal, and seawall condition all vary street by street and they are not interchangeable.
About $7 million to $15 million
The core of the Fort Lauderdale new-build waterfront market and the deepest supply. Coral Ridge, Coral Ridge Galt, Bal Harbour, Nurmi Isles, Sea Island, Gould Island, Del Lago, Coral Ridge Country Club. Five to seven bedrooms, roughly 5,100 to 6,700 square feet, elevator, generator, full dockage. A number of these carry 2027 and 2028 completion dates, so you are buying from plans and renderings.
Above about $15 million
Wide water and large yachts. Isla Bahia, Seven Isles, Stilwell Isles, Idlewyld, Las Olas by the Sea, Lucille Island, Riviera Isles, Coral Isles. Six to ten bedrooms, roughly 8,000 to 20,000 square feet. Supply at this level is small and buyers are few, so homes sit. If you are shopping here, time works for you and there is no reason to hurry.
New construction or a recent resale in Fort Lauderdale?
The gap is wide. New construction here averages around $1,420 per square foot. Across all 970-odd active single-family listings in the city, including everything from 1950s originals to recent builds, the average is around $816 per square foot on homes averaging about 2,750 square feet. So you are paying roughly double the citywide per-foot figure to buy new.
On the mainland that premium is mostly about the building itself: current code, impact glass on every opening, a new roof, new mechanicals, and insurance that reflects a 2026 build rather than a 1958 one. In Florida right now the roof age and the opening protection drive what a carrier will write and at what number, so this is not a cosmetic difference.
On the water the premium is about something else. A rebuild on an isle lot is usually the only way to get a modern house with a modern dock on that canal, because the alternative is a 70-year-old house that was never designed around a 90-foot boat. That is why the per-foot numbers on the isles look the way they do.
What you give up either way is schedule. Several Fort Lauderdale listings right now carry 2027 and 2028 build years. And on a teardown lot you have no control over what gets built next door, because the lot next door is on its own clock.
A lot of the isle rebuilds never hit the open market as new construction. They trade as lots, get built, and sell through relationships before the listing goes live. I track which isle lots have changed hands, who is building on them, and roughly when they come up.
Which Coastal Town Fits You?
What to check before you sign in Fort Lauderdale
- Measure the route to the ocean, not just the dock. A dock behind the house is only useful if your boat clears everything between you and the inlet. Fixed bridges, overhead lines and canal width all limit what you can keep there. Ask for the controlling depth and the lowest fixed clearance on the route, in writing.
- Get the seawall's age and condition documented. On a rebuild the house is new and the seawall frequently is not. Replacement is expensive and permitting is slow. Find out whether the cap was redone as part of the build.
- Confirm the dock permit matches what you were shown. A rendering showing a dock, lift and davits does not mean all three are permitted and built. Ask which are included and which are an allowance.
- Check elevation and flood zone on the specific lot. Fort Lauderdale varies substantially block to block, and tidal flooding on some eastern streets is a known condition. This affects insurance and it affects resale.
- Register your broker at first contact. On-site agents and listing agents on spec builds represent the seller. Most builders require your broker to register with you on your first visit or first contact with the sales center, and if you go in alone you can lose the ability to be represented in that community permanently.
- Read the allowance schedule line by line. On a spec or semi-custom build the advertised number often assumes base finishes. The spread between base and the model you walked can be very large.
- Tie the completion date to a remedy. On anything with a 2027 or 2028 build year, a date without a consequence attached is not a term you can rely on.
- Look at the block, twice. Go at a weekday morning and again on a weekend evening. Two of these neighborhoods sit under a flight path and several sit on through streets.
What happens to the house you already own
Very few people buying at these numbers are buying their first house. Most already own something - on an isle, in Victoria Park, in Rio Vista, or back in the Northeast - and that house has to be sold for the next one to work. In Fort Lauderdale the schedule is what makes it awkward. Active listings here carry build years from 2025 all the way out to 2028, so you might be closing in sixty days or waiting two full years, and the right moment to bring your house to market is nowhere near the same in those two cases.
It is worth planning properly, because this is a big city with roughly 970 active single-family listings competing for attention, and a waterfront house with a dock is a very different listing from a mainland house a mile inland.
Tell me where you own now and I will give you a straight read on what it would bring, how long it is likely to take, and the order the two closings should happen in.
or see what your home is worth.
Frequently asked questions
Which Fort Lauderdale neighborhoods have the most new houses going up right now?
Coral Ridge and Coral Ridge Galt have the deepest active supply on the waterfront side, with several builders working at the same time. On the mainland, the Progresso and Lake Ridge area north of downtown is the busiest, followed by Poinsettia Heights. The Las Olas Isles - Nurmi, Seven Isles, Stilwell, Del Lago - produce fewer homes but at much higher prices.
Why is the price per square foot so much higher on the isles than on the Fort Lauderdale mainland?
Because you are not really paying for square footage, you are paying for the canal frontage and what can tie up to it. A mainland new build and an isle new build can be the same size and the same quality and differ by five or six times on price. The land is the variable, and dockage is what makes the land scarce.
Can a new house in Fort Lauderdale be built to handle a large yacht?
Some can and many cannot, and it depends on the street rather than the house. Deep-water streets in Harbor Beach, the outer Las Olas Isles and parts of Coral Ridge can take substantial vessels with no fixed bridge between them and the inlet. Interior canals often cannot, no matter how new the house is. Confirm controlling depth, canal width, turning room and bridge clearance on the actual route before you commit.
Are there any new construction homes in Fort Lauderdale under $1 million?
Yes, which is unusual for this corridor. Entry pricing runs from roughly $290,000 up to about $750,000, all of it west of I-95 in the northwest and southwest sections of the city. Expect three to four bedrooms in roughly 1,250 to 2,200 square feet, no water, and in several cases two or three near-identical houses built together by one builder.
What is the difference between buying new in Coral Ridge versus the Las Olas Isles?
Coral Ridge is north of Sunrise Boulevard, has more available new product, more supply coming, and generally larger lots with the golf course and the beach close by. The Las Olas Isles are walkable to Las Olas Boulevard itself, sit on shorter streets, and trade at higher numbers per foot. Both are genuinely good locations. Coral Ridge gives you more choice; the Isles give you the location people pay a premium for.
How long does a teardown and rebuild take in Fort Lauderdale?
Judging by the build years on current listings, plan on a long runway. Homes active today carry completion years of 2025 through 2028, and the ones listed as 2027 or 2028 are being sold from plans. Permitting in the city, plus any marine work on the dock or seawall, is usually what stretches the timeline rather than the framing.
Does a new Fort Lauderdale house have to be elevated?
New construction has to meet the flood elevation requirements that apply to that specific lot, which is one of the real advantages of buying new here - the elevation question is answered by the permit rather than inherited from 1958. It also means a new house can sit noticeably higher than its neighbors. Pull the elevation certificate and the flood zone for the parcel and read them before you write an offer.
Is new construction in Fort Lauderdale a better buy than Delray Beach or Pompano Beach?
They are three different products. Fort Lauderdale averages around $1,420 per square foot on new construction and has the most inventory and by far the most true deep-water dockage. Pompano Beach averages closer to $1,160 and has very little supply. Delray Beach runs around $836 and is almost all infill in walkable neighborhoods rather than boating streets. If the boat is central, Fort Lauderdale is the market. If it is not, you will get more house elsewhere.
Damara Cohn
Broker of Mangrove Realty, Inc.
(561) 637-4559
Licensed Florida real estate broker since 2002, with 25+ years in the industry and over 35 years living in South Florida. Working the coastal towns from Pompano Beach through West Palm Beach. , or see what your current home is worth.
Keep looking
Inventory counts, price bands, averages and price-per-square-foot figures on this page are drawn from the MLS as of November 9, 2026, are rounded, and change continuously. They are provided for general orientation and are not an appraisal or a valuation of any particular property. Community price bands reflect active listings at the time of writing and are not builder price lists. Square footage, lot dimensions, canal depths and bridge clearances are approximate and may differ from as-built and surveyed conditions and from county records. Builder warranties, allowance schedules, completion dates, dock and seawall permits, flood elevations and impact-glass specifications vary by builder and by home and must be verified in the contract documents and with the applicable permitting authority. Nothing on this page is legal, financial, tax or insurance advice. Mangrove Realty, Inc. is not the builder or developer of any home or community referenced here and is not affiliated with their builders or sales teams. All information is believed accurate but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified. Mangrove Realty, Inc. is a licensed Florida real estate brokerage and fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act.
