Miami’s in with the in-crowd, tastemakers say, debuting on Christie’s International Real Estate’s list of top 10 luxury residential markets.
The real estate arm of the iconic auction house publishes a global research report of trends across the world’s prime real estate markets, tracking spending patterns among wealthy buyers.
And this year for the first time it named Miami as one of the cities where the rich not only play but also stay.
“Miami is on everybody’s radar across the world,” said Ron Shuffield, president and CEO of Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell Realtors, an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate. “We have a lot of people coming here to spend their money and enjoy what we have.”
In naming the choicest markets, Christie’s selection criteria included cities’ gross domestic product; number of billionaire residents; their tally of Fortune 500 company headquarters; performance on S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price indices; position on the AT Kearny Global Cities Index; ranking on Swiss bank UBS’ list of most expensive cities; Globalization and World Cities Research Network rankings; and the presence of a Christie’s affiliate.
Emerging as the most attractive cities for the rich: Dallas, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Paris, San Francisco and Toronto. Côte d’Azur, also called the French Riviera, even though not a city, also made the list, “added to this elite survey group for being one of Europe’s most highly prized second-home destinations for more than a century.”
“As the only real estate network owned by a fine-art auction house, Christie’s International Real Estate has unparalleled access to the [high-net-worth individuals] around the globe who procure assets such as art, wine, jewelry and, of course, luxury real estate,” said Bonnie Stone Sellers, Christie’s International Real Estate CEO. “Together with the collective knowledge of its 125 affiliated real estate brokerages in 41 countries… Christie’s International Real Estate is uniquely qualified to understand the characteristics and trends associated with the prestige real estate market.”
And observers say Miami has cultivated the cachet to draw these buyers.
Helping its appealing: An emerging cultural offering that now includes the internationally renowned Miami City Ballet, the Miami Symphony Orchestra, major art museums and world-class food, art and cultural festivals.
Add to that plans to draw boaters, coupled with the area’s luxury retail outlets, daily flights to major world centers and a growing financial services sector, and it’s clear Miami allows wealthy homebuyers access to choice recreation and international business centers, Mr. Shuffield said.
“And as trite as it sounds,” he said, “the weather is still a big draw.”
Source: http://www.miamitodaynews.com/2013/11/13/miami-cracks-top-10-luxury-residential-markets/
Written by Samantha Joseph on November 13, 2013
The Criscitos has been selling South Florida luxury and commercial real estate for over a decade and has sold over $1 billion dollars of property. They work as a multi-lingual team speaking english, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. They carved out a niche as a leading boutique real estate company with two distinct divisions -residential and commercial- both personally overseeing by Marcela and Anthony Criscito.
Showing posts with label homes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homes. Show all posts
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
South Florida home prices and sales rose in September
Juiced by foreign buyers and investors, South Florida’s housing market registered strong gains in September.
The latest price and sales increases — mirroring a string of similar results in prior months — underscore a solid housing recovery for a region hard-hit by the real estate crash.
The median price of a single-family home in Miami-Dade County jumped 18.4 percent in September to $225,000 from $190,000 a year earlier, while the median condo price rose 21.3 percent year over year to $181,875 from $150,000, according to the Miami Association of Realtors.
In Broward, the median price for a single-family home jumped 31.7 percent in September to $270,000 from $205,000 a year earlier, and was up 18 percent to $104,999 from $89,000 for condos and townhouses year over year, according to the Greater Fort Lauderdale Realtors.
Sales of Miami-Dade single-family homes rose by 21.8 percent with 1,108 closings in September, up from 910 a year earlier, while Miami-Dade condo sales increased 4.6 percent to 1,352 closings from 1,292 a year earlier.
Miami-Dade — ground zero during the real estate bust — has now chalked up 27 consecutive months of year-over-year price increases for condominiums and 22 months of year-over-year price increases for single-family homes.
The housing market kept humming in Broward County, as well.
Sales of Broward single-family homes rose 13.4 percent in September to 1,211 from 1,068 a year earlier, and condo sales rose 6.6 percent to 1,252 units from 1,174 a year earlier.
“Everything is still trending up,” said Stephen B. McWilliam, president and broker at Florida StateRealty Group in Fort Lauderdale and immediate past president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Realtors.
Cash continues to be king: 71 percent of Miami-Dade condo closings in September were cash deals.
“It’s putting a lot of strain on buyers with 5 percent or 10 percent down. They can’t have choices,” said Michael Davalos, an agent with Coldwell Banker in Miami Beach who just helped a buyer nail a deal on a foreclosed house after a protracted search.
Eric Schneider, a first-time homebuyer who was looking to put down 20 percent, said he made several offers in the past eight months that didn’t pan out before he finally clinched a foreclosed property in the Richmond Heights neighborhood. “Certainly, at times, there’s been a lot of competition,” said Schneider, who works in healthcare.
Inventory remained relatively tight in both counties during September, although the supply of Miami-Dade condos listed for sale jumped 20.5 percent to 8,970 units from 7,442 units a year earlier. That amounted to a 6.3-month supply, up from a 5.6-month supply in September 2012. Meanwhile, condos newly listed in Miami-Dade in September totaled 2,727, up from 2,212 a year earlier.
“It’s moving toward a more balanced market for condominiums,” said Lynda Fernandez, a spokeswoman for the Miami Realtors.
The inventory of Miami-Dade single-family homes rose 4.8 percent in September from a year earlier. With homes selling at a rapid clip, that amounted to just a 4.9-month supply in September, or 4.9 times the number of homes sold, down from a 5.6-month of supply a year earlier.
A supply of less than six months is typically regarded as a sellers’ market, in which sellers can call the shots and prices rise at a brisk pace.
Single-family homes in Miami-Dade took a median of 41 days to sell, compared with 42 days a year earlier.
In Broward, amid tight inventory and robust demand, the median period to sell a home was 27 days, down from 42 days in September 2012.
The number of homes listed for sale on the Multiple Listing Service in Broward in September was 4,737, up 0.9 percent from 4,693 a year earlier. That is just a 3.8-month supply, or 3.8 times as many homes on the market as were sold in a month, down from a 4.2-month supply a year earlier.
The inventory of condos for sale rose 9 percent to 6,430 from 5,901. But with units selling quickly, the supply inched up to 4.6 months in September from 4.4 months a year earlier. That is still a very tight supply.
Condos in Broward sold at a median pace of 36 days in September, down from 38 days a year earlier.
“We certainly have a shortage of inventory, which is leading to price increases,” said Philip Vias, a broker associate with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty in Fort Lauderdale. Homebuyers are motivated, he said, as “they have seen the prices go up and the interest rates are so low.” It’s a great time to buy.”
While the year-over-year gains remain strong, both Miami-Dade and Broward sales softened from the peak summer month of August.
The median prices for both single-family homes and condos in Miami-Dade were down 4.3 percent in September from August. The volume of condo sales dropped 15 percent month-to-month, while single-family home sales were down 8.4 percent from August to September. “We think that year-over-year comparisons are more meaningful. There are fluctuations month-to-month,” Miami Realtors’ Fernandez said.
Compared with August, the median price of a Broward single-family home in September was essentially flat, while the median price of a condo fell 11 percent. Sales of condos were down 17 percent from 1,513 closings in August, and single-family home sales dropped 13 percent month to month, from 1,396 closings in August. Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/10/21/v-fullstory/3702589/broward-existing-home-prices-and.html
The latest price and sales increases — mirroring a string of similar results in prior months — underscore a solid housing recovery for a region hard-hit by the real estate crash.
The median price of a single-family home in Miami-Dade County jumped 18.4 percent in September to $225,000 from $190,000 a year earlier, while the median condo price rose 21.3 percent year over year to $181,875 from $150,000, according to the Miami Association of Realtors.
In Broward, the median price for a single-family home jumped 31.7 percent in September to $270,000 from $205,000 a year earlier, and was up 18 percent to $104,999 from $89,000 for condos and townhouses year over year, according to the Greater Fort Lauderdale Realtors.
Sales of Miami-Dade single-family homes rose by 21.8 percent with 1,108 closings in September, up from 910 a year earlier, while Miami-Dade condo sales increased 4.6 percent to 1,352 closings from 1,292 a year earlier.
Miami-Dade — ground zero during the real estate bust — has now chalked up 27 consecutive months of year-over-year price increases for condominiums and 22 months of year-over-year price increases for single-family homes.
The housing market kept humming in Broward County, as well.
Sales of Broward single-family homes rose 13.4 percent in September to 1,211 from 1,068 a year earlier, and condo sales rose 6.6 percent to 1,252 units from 1,174 a year earlier.
“Everything is still trending up,” said Stephen B. McWilliam, president and broker at Florida StateRealty Group in Fort Lauderdale and immediate past president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Realtors.
Cash continues to be king: 71 percent of Miami-Dade condo closings in September were cash deals.
“It’s putting a lot of strain on buyers with 5 percent or 10 percent down. They can’t have choices,” said Michael Davalos, an agent with Coldwell Banker in Miami Beach who just helped a buyer nail a deal on a foreclosed house after a protracted search.
Eric Schneider, a first-time homebuyer who was looking to put down 20 percent, said he made several offers in the past eight months that didn’t pan out before he finally clinched a foreclosed property in the Richmond Heights neighborhood. “Certainly, at times, there’s been a lot of competition,” said Schneider, who works in healthcare.
Inventory remained relatively tight in both counties during September, although the supply of Miami-Dade condos listed for sale jumped 20.5 percent to 8,970 units from 7,442 units a year earlier. That amounted to a 6.3-month supply, up from a 5.6-month supply in September 2012. Meanwhile, condos newly listed in Miami-Dade in September totaled 2,727, up from 2,212 a year earlier.
“It’s moving toward a more balanced market for condominiums,” said Lynda Fernandez, a spokeswoman for the Miami Realtors.
The inventory of Miami-Dade single-family homes rose 4.8 percent in September from a year earlier. With homes selling at a rapid clip, that amounted to just a 4.9-month supply in September, or 4.9 times the number of homes sold, down from a 5.6-month of supply a year earlier.
A supply of less than six months is typically regarded as a sellers’ market, in which sellers can call the shots and prices rise at a brisk pace.
Single-family homes in Miami-Dade took a median of 41 days to sell, compared with 42 days a year earlier.
In Broward, amid tight inventory and robust demand, the median period to sell a home was 27 days, down from 42 days in September 2012.
The number of homes listed for sale on the Multiple Listing Service in Broward in September was 4,737, up 0.9 percent from 4,693 a year earlier. That is just a 3.8-month supply, or 3.8 times as many homes on the market as were sold in a month, down from a 4.2-month supply a year earlier.
The inventory of condos for sale rose 9 percent to 6,430 from 5,901. But with units selling quickly, the supply inched up to 4.6 months in September from 4.4 months a year earlier. That is still a very tight supply.
Condos in Broward sold at a median pace of 36 days in September, down from 38 days a year earlier.
“We certainly have a shortage of inventory, which is leading to price increases,” said Philip Vias, a broker associate with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty in Fort Lauderdale. Homebuyers are motivated, he said, as “they have seen the prices go up and the interest rates are so low.” It’s a great time to buy.”
While the year-over-year gains remain strong, both Miami-Dade and Broward sales softened from the peak summer month of August.
The median prices for both single-family homes and condos in Miami-Dade were down 4.3 percent in September from August. The volume of condo sales dropped 15 percent month-to-month, while single-family home sales were down 8.4 percent from August to September. “We think that year-over-year comparisons are more meaningful. There are fluctuations month-to-month,” Miami Realtors’ Fernandez said.
Compared with August, the median price of a Broward single-family home in September was essentially flat, while the median price of a condo fell 11 percent. Sales of condos were down 17 percent from 1,513 closings in August, and single-family home sales dropped 13 percent month to month, from 1,396 closings in August. Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/10/21/v-fullstory/3702589/broward-existing-home-prices-and.html
By Martha Brannigan
mbrannigan@MiamiHerald.com
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Take a dip - Miami luxury stays afloat
There are many ways to take the pulse of the Miami market, many methods of observing and appreciating and worrying about its real estate. But as developer Gil Dezer says, “You haven’t really seen Miami until you’ve seen it by boat.”
So, late on a recent Saturday afternoon, obligations are ignored, schedules re-jiggered, and a sunset cruise on Miami jewelry mogul Bobby Yampolsky’s 72-foot boat commences. The small group of VIP guests includes Dezer and Francois-Henry Bennahmias, president and CEO of Audemars Piguet North America. (This is a friendly gathering, but Yampolsky is in business with his guests, too: One of his East Coast Jewelry shops is in Dezer’s Trump International Beach Resort, and East Coast moves a lot of Audemars Piguet watches.)
The Trump Towers development in Sunny Isles has sold more than $150 million of condos this year, mostly to buyers who have paid all cash.
ONE TO WATCH: The eye-catching One Bal Harbour is on the ocean and near the pricey Bal Harbour Shops.
WOW: W South Beach has closed $170M.
These are men whose fortunes are dependent on selling something nobody really needs: diamond-encrusted bracelets, vacation homes and $20,000 limited-edition timepieces. And, recession or no, they are in a good mood as the boat leaves North Miami Beach.
In the background, one can see Dezer’s Trump Towers, a three-tower, 813-unit Sunny Isles Beach development that’s sold more than $150 million of condos in its second tower this year — at prices around $450 per square foot, with an average transaction around $880,000. (Tower III sales started a few weeks ago.)
“We were just amazed at how many people have the ability to pay cash,” Dezer says a couple days after the boat ride, noting that about 80 percent of his recent transactions have been with all-cash buyers. “It used to be [developers] would take 20 percent down and wait three years for the rest of the money. Now a guy walks in Monday and can close on Wednesday.”
Recent price reductions have no doubt been significant. Dezer’s nearby Trump Royale condo building, which once fetched around $1,000 per square foot, is now trading oceanfront units — with terraces, Miele and Sub-Zero appliances and master-suite Jacuzzi tubs — at around $550 per square foot. (“The Royale is where we got stuck,” Dezer says, freely admitting that many buyers walked away from deals during the economic downturn. “We had 364 units sold out of 384. Only 90 came to close. We have sold about 190 in the last two years.”)
The boat passes Bal Harbour, where excitement about the St. Regis Bal Harbour hotel and condos, scheduled for completion in 2011, is growing. But there’s already the beachfront One Bal Harbour, where condo resales are around $850 per square foot and the developer might put hotel-condo units on the market at around $1,000 per square foot next year. On the same day as the boat cruise, the hotel hosted a runway show for Kiki Hamann Canine Couture, which sells $500 dog dresses. “The spending pattern [in Miami] is finally coming back,” says Florent Gateau, general manager at One Bal Harbour. “You see it at the Bal Harbour Shops.”
Right across from the St. Regis site are the fancy-pants Bal Harbour Shops, where the 700-square-foot Audemars Piguet store racked up more than $6 million in sales last year. “Even though last year was bad in terms of the economy, we were the second brand in terms of revenue per square foot at the Bal Harbour Shops,” Bennahmias says. (No. 1 was a jeweler that declined to comment.)
The store’s average transaction was around $30,000, largely powered by a customer base that is about 60 percent Latin American, Bennahmias adds. “Business overall in Florida is picking up; many retailers are calling to get the brand,” he says. “But I just cannot sell to everybody.”
The Trump Towers development in Sunny Isles has sold more than $150 million of condos this year, mostly to buyers who have paid all cash.
ONE TO WATCH: The eye-catching One Bal Harbour is on the ocean and near the pricey Bal Harbour Shops.
WOW: W South Beach has closed $170M.
Yes, there are those in the Miami luxury market who can afford to be selective. Members at Miami Beach’s new Soho Beach House, for example, report that the club has sold its initial memberships ($1,800 per year, $900 for those under 27) so briskly that it is being extra choosy about additional members.
The boat heads down to South Beach, where the W South Beach Hotel & Residences closed a $6.2 million sale of a fully furnished, three-bedroom, 2,752-square-foot unit (with a 2,090-square-foot rooftop) in September. The W, where LeBron James celebrated after announcing he was taking his “talents to South Beach,” has closed on about $170 million of condos, including an all-cash deal for a 1,950-square-foot, $3 million unit this month, says developer David Edelstein.
“The enthusiam [surrounding James] is like having another entertainment venue open up,” he says. “People will extend their stay — a lot of games are Mondays and Fridays — to see the Heat.”
Of course, all is not so rosy in Miami, especially in the downtown areas near the Heat arena. The boat passes the tony, private Fisher Island. Next up is downtown, where thousands of condo units along the river and beyond remain empty. By now, it’s dark — which makes downtown, with entire buildings without a single light on, seem even more depressing.But Dezer sees opportunity here, too, and says he has been bidding on multiple downtown buildings.
And the truth is, the emerging neighborhoods that make up downtown are showing serious signs of life. In the area north of Brickell Avenue, which Ocean Drive magazine just christened “NoBri,” the new, ultra high-tech JW Marriott Marquis hotel is home to a 10,000-square-foot, NBA-approved basketball court and a soon-to-open Daniel Boulud restaurant. The hotel is part of Metropolitan Miami, a billion-dollar mixed-used development, where the 40-story Met 1 condo building has prices starting at $350 per square foot and 447 units that are 80 percent occupied.
A few miles away, another mixed-used development, the $2.3 billion, 56-acre Midtown Miami complex, has created its own neighborhood.“The idea was to have it be a very pedestrian-friendly environment,” Midtown developer Jack Cayre says. “A lot of people call it home now.” (So do about 900 dogs.)
Midtown’s three residential towers, with more than 900 units, were originally intended to be all condos. Midtown sold about half the units (closing condos for around $350 per square foot in 2007) and decided to rent the rest. The rentals are now more than 95 percent occupied. (One-bedrooms start at $1,500 and 800 square feet.) And Midtown’s big-box stores, boutique shops and destination restaurants like Sugarcane and Sakaya Kitchen, bring in the masses.
Lee Brian Schrager, who runs the South Beach and New York Wine and Food festivals and lives in Miami’s Design District, says he visits Sugarcane at least three times a month, sometimes walking the less than 2 miles there. “Before Sugarcane opened [in January], I had never been to Midtown before,” he says. “Now that we go, we sometimes stop at Target and West Elm, and eat at Mercadito, Five Guys and Cheese Course fairly often, as well. To me, Midtown now has a pulse, and that clearly came from the culinary scene.”
The boat leaves downtown and cruises back toward North Miami Beach. After an entertaining and enlightening almost-three-hour ride, Yampolsky and friends are back on land. It’s not even 9 p.m., still early for Miami on a Saturday, and the restaurants and bars near the dock are just starting to buzz.
Source: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/realestate/residential/take_dip_6isnqcIy2bnFgM0bDqhKaL/1
By ANDY WANG
So, late on a recent Saturday afternoon, obligations are ignored, schedules re-jiggered, and a sunset cruise on Miami jewelry mogul Bobby Yampolsky’s 72-foot boat commences. The small group of VIP guests includes Dezer and Francois-Henry Bennahmias, president and CEO of Audemars Piguet North America. (This is a friendly gathering, but Yampolsky is in business with his guests, too: One of his East Coast Jewelry shops is in Dezer’s Trump International Beach Resort, and East Coast moves a lot of Audemars Piguet watches.)
The Trump Towers development in Sunny Isles has sold more than $150 million of condos this year, mostly to buyers who have paid all cash.
ONE TO WATCH: The eye-catching One Bal Harbour is on the ocean and near the pricey Bal Harbour Shops.
WOW: W South Beach has closed $170M.
These are men whose fortunes are dependent on selling something nobody really needs: diamond-encrusted bracelets, vacation homes and $20,000 limited-edition timepieces. And, recession or no, they are in a good mood as the boat leaves North Miami Beach.
In the background, one can see Dezer’s Trump Towers, a three-tower, 813-unit Sunny Isles Beach development that’s sold more than $150 million of condos in its second tower this year — at prices around $450 per square foot, with an average transaction around $880,000. (Tower III sales started a few weeks ago.)
“We were just amazed at how many people have the ability to pay cash,” Dezer says a couple days after the boat ride, noting that about 80 percent of his recent transactions have been with all-cash buyers. “It used to be [developers] would take 20 percent down and wait three years for the rest of the money. Now a guy walks in Monday and can close on Wednesday.”
Recent price reductions have no doubt been significant. Dezer’s nearby Trump Royale condo building, which once fetched around $1,000 per square foot, is now trading oceanfront units — with terraces, Miele and Sub-Zero appliances and master-suite Jacuzzi tubs — at around $550 per square foot. (“The Royale is where we got stuck,” Dezer says, freely admitting that many buyers walked away from deals during the economic downturn. “We had 364 units sold out of 384. Only 90 came to close. We have sold about 190 in the last two years.”)
The boat passes Bal Harbour, where excitement about the St. Regis Bal Harbour hotel and condos, scheduled for completion in 2011, is growing. But there’s already the beachfront One Bal Harbour, where condo resales are around $850 per square foot and the developer might put hotel-condo units on the market at around $1,000 per square foot next year. On the same day as the boat cruise, the hotel hosted a runway show for Kiki Hamann Canine Couture, which sells $500 dog dresses. “The spending pattern [in Miami] is finally coming back,” says Florent Gateau, general manager at One Bal Harbour. “You see it at the Bal Harbour Shops.”
Right across from the St. Regis site are the fancy-pants Bal Harbour Shops, where the 700-square-foot Audemars Piguet store racked up more than $6 million in sales last year. “Even though last year was bad in terms of the economy, we were the second brand in terms of revenue per square foot at the Bal Harbour Shops,” Bennahmias says. (No. 1 was a jeweler that declined to comment.)
The store’s average transaction was around $30,000, largely powered by a customer base that is about 60 percent Latin American, Bennahmias adds. “Business overall in Florida is picking up; many retailers are calling to get the brand,” he says. “But I just cannot sell to everybody.”
The Trump Towers development in Sunny Isles has sold more than $150 million of condos this year, mostly to buyers who have paid all cash.
ONE TO WATCH: The eye-catching One Bal Harbour is on the ocean and near the pricey Bal Harbour Shops.
WOW: W South Beach has closed $170M.
Yes, there are those in the Miami luxury market who can afford to be selective. Members at Miami Beach’s new Soho Beach House, for example, report that the club has sold its initial memberships ($1,800 per year, $900 for those under 27) so briskly that it is being extra choosy about additional members.
The boat heads down to South Beach, where the W South Beach Hotel & Residences closed a $6.2 million sale of a fully furnished, three-bedroom, 2,752-square-foot unit (with a 2,090-square-foot rooftop) in September. The W, where LeBron James celebrated after announcing he was taking his “talents to South Beach,” has closed on about $170 million of condos, including an all-cash deal for a 1,950-square-foot, $3 million unit this month, says developer David Edelstein.
“The enthusiam [surrounding James] is like having another entertainment venue open up,” he says. “People will extend their stay — a lot of games are Mondays and Fridays — to see the Heat.”
Of course, all is not so rosy in Miami, especially in the downtown areas near the Heat arena. The boat passes the tony, private Fisher Island. Next up is downtown, where thousands of condo units along the river and beyond remain empty. By now, it’s dark — which makes downtown, with entire buildings without a single light on, seem even more depressing.But Dezer sees opportunity here, too, and says he has been bidding on multiple downtown buildings.
And the truth is, the emerging neighborhoods that make up downtown are showing serious signs of life. In the area north of Brickell Avenue, which Ocean Drive magazine just christened “NoBri,” the new, ultra high-tech JW Marriott Marquis hotel is home to a 10,000-square-foot, NBA-approved basketball court and a soon-to-open Daniel Boulud restaurant. The hotel is part of Metropolitan Miami, a billion-dollar mixed-used development, where the 40-story Met 1 condo building has prices starting at $350 per square foot and 447 units that are 80 percent occupied.
A few miles away, another mixed-used development, the $2.3 billion, 56-acre Midtown Miami complex, has created its own neighborhood.“The idea was to have it be a very pedestrian-friendly environment,” Midtown developer Jack Cayre says. “A lot of people call it home now.” (So do about 900 dogs.)
Midtown’s three residential towers, with more than 900 units, were originally intended to be all condos. Midtown sold about half the units (closing condos for around $350 per square foot in 2007) and decided to rent the rest. The rentals are now more than 95 percent occupied. (One-bedrooms start at $1,500 and 800 square feet.) And Midtown’s big-box stores, boutique shops and destination restaurants like Sugarcane and Sakaya Kitchen, bring in the masses.
Lee Brian Schrager, who runs the South Beach and New York Wine and Food festivals and lives in Miami’s Design District, says he visits Sugarcane at least three times a month, sometimes walking the less than 2 miles there. “Before Sugarcane opened [in January], I had never been to Midtown before,” he says. “Now that we go, we sometimes stop at Target and West Elm, and eat at Mercadito, Five Guys and Cheese Course fairly often, as well. To me, Midtown now has a pulse, and that clearly came from the culinary scene.”
The boat leaves downtown and cruises back toward North Miami Beach. After an entertaining and enlightening almost-three-hour ride, Yampolsky and friends are back on land. It’s not even 9 p.m., still early for Miami on a Saturday, and the restaurants and bars near the dock are just starting to buzz.
Source: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/realestate/residential/take_dip_6isnqcIy2bnFgM0bDqhKaL/1
By ANDY WANG
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Florida the favorite of foreign home buyers
International buyers have helped buttress Florida's real estate market with 22 percent of all foreign clients nationally choosing property in the Sunshine State.
That makes Florida tops for attracting foreign interest, according to a summer report by the National Association of Realtors. California came in a far second with 12 percent of the international market.
While Florida's share of foreign clients has slipped from a recent high of more than 26 percent in 2008, bargain basement prices and a weakened dollar have continued to lure Canadian and overseas buyers.
The study, which looked at sales between March 2009 and March 2010, found that buyers with permanent residences outside the United States spent an estimated $41 billion on residential property nationally during the period of the study. That's 4 percent of the total residential market during the same time.
"I had an open house in the mid-$500,000s and a man from Canada came and bought it the same day," said Palm Beach Gardens Realtor Jeff Lichtenstein, who has a page on his website dedicated to foreign buyers. "Once they're here, they tend to bring friends."
And family.
Amsterdam native Annette Aalberts bought two Jupiter area homes for herself and her daughter over the past few years. Combined, the homes are worth about $4.5 million.
But most international buyers don't aim that high. According to the study, the median price foreign buyers paid nationally is $219,400.
"International buyers are hugely important in absorbing inventory," said Jenny Huertas, international sales director for the Miami-based consultant firm Condo Vultures.
Huertas estimates 30 percent of sales in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties are to international buyers.
It's unclear how a recent dip in the euro may temper overseas purchases. It's worth $1.28, compared with a high of $1.60 in 2008. That means to buy a $500,000 house, it would cost about 388,709 euros.
But the Canadian dollar, which traditionally has been weaker than U.S. currency, is near parity at 95 cents.
Toronto resident Domenic Triumbari bought two properties in the Palm Beach Grande condominium complex in March. The suburban West Palm Beach homes sold for $164,990 and $179,990 in 2006.
Triumbari picked them up for $60,000 each, paying in cash, and without ever seeing them in person.
"I know they're in West Palm Beach, but not exactly sure where," said Triumbari, who is renting the homes. "The numbers make sense right now. You can make money on your investment."
Triumbari also is searching for a South Florida home for himself.
"I've seen a lot of the Caribbean, been all over the islands, but I like Florida," he said. "We speak the same language, eat the same foods."
While the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches does not keep statistics on international buyers in local markets, statewide statistics the national association gathered showed 31 percent of Florida's international buyers are Canadian, compared with 24 percent nationally.
Nationally, about 55 percent of foreign buyers pay with cash, possibly because it can be harder for international clients to get financing here. In Florida, about 82 percent of international buyers paid in cash.
Realtor Craig Fialkowski, of Herman Group Real Estate in Palm Beach Gardens, said nearly all of his international clients buy with cash and sight unseen.
Typically, they're looking for deals on homes they can rent.
"Buyers want a decent return on investment," Fialkowski said. "The cash flow can be really good."
Source: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/real-estate/florida-the-favorite-of-foreign-home-buyers-900349.html
By Kimberly Miller Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
That makes Florida tops for attracting foreign interest, according to a summer report by the National Association of Realtors. California came in a far second with 12 percent of the international market.
While Florida's share of foreign clients has slipped from a recent high of more than 26 percent in 2008, bargain basement prices and a weakened dollar have continued to lure Canadian and overseas buyers.
The study, which looked at sales between March 2009 and March 2010, found that buyers with permanent residences outside the United States spent an estimated $41 billion on residential property nationally during the period of the study. That's 4 percent of the total residential market during the same time.
"I had an open house in the mid-$500,000s and a man from Canada came and bought it the same day," said Palm Beach Gardens Realtor Jeff Lichtenstein, who has a page on his website dedicated to foreign buyers. "Once they're here, they tend to bring friends."
And family.
Amsterdam native Annette Aalberts bought two Jupiter area homes for herself and her daughter over the past few years. Combined, the homes are worth about $4.5 million.
But most international buyers don't aim that high. According to the study, the median price foreign buyers paid nationally is $219,400.
"International buyers are hugely important in absorbing inventory," said Jenny Huertas, international sales director for the Miami-based consultant firm Condo Vultures.
Huertas estimates 30 percent of sales in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties are to international buyers.
It's unclear how a recent dip in the euro may temper overseas purchases. It's worth $1.28, compared with a high of $1.60 in 2008. That means to buy a $500,000 house, it would cost about 388,709 euros.
But the Canadian dollar, which traditionally has been weaker than U.S. currency, is near parity at 95 cents.
Toronto resident Domenic Triumbari bought two properties in the Palm Beach Grande condominium complex in March. The suburban West Palm Beach homes sold for $164,990 and $179,990 in 2006.
Triumbari picked them up for $60,000 each, paying in cash, and without ever seeing them in person.
"I know they're in West Palm Beach, but not exactly sure where," said Triumbari, who is renting the homes. "The numbers make sense right now. You can make money on your investment."
Triumbari also is searching for a South Florida home for himself.
"I've seen a lot of the Caribbean, been all over the islands, but I like Florida," he said. "We speak the same language, eat the same foods."
While the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches does not keep statistics on international buyers in local markets, statewide statistics the national association gathered showed 31 percent of Florida's international buyers are Canadian, compared with 24 percent nationally.
Nationally, about 55 percent of foreign buyers pay with cash, possibly because it can be harder for international clients to get financing here. In Florida, about 82 percent of international buyers paid in cash.
Realtor Craig Fialkowski, of Herman Group Real Estate in Palm Beach Gardens, said nearly all of his international clients buy with cash and sight unseen.
Typically, they're looking for deals on homes they can rent.
"Buyers want a decent return on investment," Fialkowski said. "The cash flow can be really good."
Source: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/real-estate/florida-the-favorite-of-foreign-home-buyers-900349.html
By Kimberly Miller Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
South Florida Foreclosure Filings Drop 49% in Q-2
According to a new report by Condo Vultures, lenders filed 49 percent fewer foreclosure actions against borrowers in the tricounty South Florida region in the second quarter of 2010 compared to a year earlier.
Banks initiated about 14,500 foreclosure actions in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties between April and June of 2010 compared to about 28,400 foreclosure actions initiated during the same three-month span of 2009, according to the report based on the Condo Vultures.
For the year, South Florida foreclosure filings are down 34 percent to 34,500 in the first six months of 2010 compared to about 52,200 actions in 2009, 37,800 actions in 2008, and 8,000 actions in 2007, according to the report based on Clerk of the Court records in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.
"Lenders filed an average of 190 foreclosure actions per calendar day in the first half of 2010," said Peter Zalewski, a principal with the Bal Harbour, Fla.-based Condo Vultures LLC. "As high as the current number seems, the pace is down significantly from recent years when a daily average of 288 actions were filed in 2009 and 209 actions in 2008. Prior to the real estate crash, lenders filed fewer than 50 foreclosure actions per calendar day."
Peter Zalewski
Since 2007, lenders have filed more than 240,000 foreclosures actions in the tricounty South Florida region. Lenders normally file a foreclosure action - also known as a Lis Pendens or notice of default - when borrowers fall 90 days behind on their monthly mortgage payments.
At the current pace, South Florida would experience less than 70,000 foreclosure actions in all of 2010. South Florida's foreclosure filings jumped from 33,000 actions in 2007 to 76,000 in 2008 before reaching 97,000 in 2009, according to the Condo Vultures.
In Miami-Dade County, where Aventura, Key Biscayne, and Miami Beach are located, the number of foreclosure filings is down 48 percent to 8,000 in the first half of 2010. In previous years for the same period, the county experienced 15,300 filings in 2009, 10,300 filings in 2008, and 3,700 filings in 2007.
In Broward County, where Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, and Pompano Beach are located, foreclosure filings are down 33 percent to about 15,700 actions in the first half of 2010 compared to about 23,300 actions in 2009 and 16,700 actions in 2008. Back in 2007, there were about 2,800 foreclosure filings in Broward in the first six months of that year.
In Palm Beach County, where Boca Raton, Delray Beach, and West Palm Beach are located, the number of foreclosure actions is down 21 percent to 10,800 in the first half of this year. By comparison, foreclosure actions totaled more than 13,500 in 2009, about 10,800 in 2008, and nearly 1,500 in 2007, according to Condo Vultures.
Economics and new government directives are having a slowing effect on South Florida foreclosures.
At the start of the housing crash in 2007, lenders estimated the typical foreclosure would take about six months to repossess a property at a cost of about $40,000 in the loss of debt service, damage, court courts, and attorney's fees. By 2009 as the foreclosure filings were spiking, the process extended out to an average of 18 months with an estimated cost of at least $100,000 per repossession, industry watchers said.
The additional costs and length of time necessary to repossess a property resulted from a variety of reasons, including new legislation and directives requiring lenders to work with borrowers to attempt to modify mortgages in hopes of keeping primary users in their homes. The government directors were prompted by the devastating economic downturn that impacted many borrowers who lost jobs as unemployment rate topped 10 percent and home values dropped dramatically.
Another contributing factor to the decrease in the foreclosure filings is simply the cost involved with repossessing a property compared to completing a short sale, where a borrower unloads a property with a bank's approval at a price below the outstanding loan amount. Lenders have found that once a property is finally repossessed, the bank-owned residence often times sells at the same price as a short sale.
A series of new Florida laws pertaining to condominium units are expected to encourage even more short sales instead of foreclosures.
As of July 2010, lenders are now responsible for paying 12 months - twice as long as previously - of past due condo association fees upon repossessing a property. Under the old legislation, only six months of past due association fees were required to be paid by the lender of a repossessed property.
"The South Florida real estate market is really at a crossroads right now," Zalewski said. "The unknown is whether another wave of foreclosures is coming down the pike given that a number of exotic mortgages are in the process of resetting this year."
Source: http://www.realestatechannel.com/us-markets/residential-real-estate-1/real-estate-news-south-florida-foreclosure-filings-condo-vultures-miami-home-foreclosures-miami-condo-foreclosures-ft-lauderdale-condo-foreclosures-2804.php
Banks initiated about 14,500 foreclosure actions in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties between April and June of 2010 compared to about 28,400 foreclosure actions initiated during the same three-month span of 2009, according to the report based on the Condo Vultures.
For the year, South Florida foreclosure filings are down 34 percent to 34,500 in the first six months of 2010 compared to about 52,200 actions in 2009, 37,800 actions in 2008, and 8,000 actions in 2007, according to the report based on Clerk of the Court records in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.
"Lenders filed an average of 190 foreclosure actions per calendar day in the first half of 2010," said Peter Zalewski, a principal with the Bal Harbour, Fla.-based Condo Vultures LLC. "As high as the current number seems, the pace is down significantly from recent years when a daily average of 288 actions were filed in 2009 and 209 actions in 2008. Prior to the real estate crash, lenders filed fewer than 50 foreclosure actions per calendar day."
Peter Zalewski
Since 2007, lenders have filed more than 240,000 foreclosures actions in the tricounty South Florida region. Lenders normally file a foreclosure action - also known as a Lis Pendens or notice of default - when borrowers fall 90 days behind on their monthly mortgage payments.
At the current pace, South Florida would experience less than 70,000 foreclosure actions in all of 2010. South Florida's foreclosure filings jumped from 33,000 actions in 2007 to 76,000 in 2008 before reaching 97,000 in 2009, according to the Condo Vultures.
In Miami-Dade County, where Aventura, Key Biscayne, and Miami Beach are located, the number of foreclosure filings is down 48 percent to 8,000 in the first half of 2010. In previous years for the same period, the county experienced 15,300 filings in 2009, 10,300 filings in 2008, and 3,700 filings in 2007.
In Broward County, where Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, and Pompano Beach are located, foreclosure filings are down 33 percent to about 15,700 actions in the first half of 2010 compared to about 23,300 actions in 2009 and 16,700 actions in 2008. Back in 2007, there were about 2,800 foreclosure filings in Broward in the first six months of that year.
In Palm Beach County, where Boca Raton, Delray Beach, and West Palm Beach are located, the number of foreclosure actions is down 21 percent to 10,800 in the first half of this year. By comparison, foreclosure actions totaled more than 13,500 in 2009, about 10,800 in 2008, and nearly 1,500 in 2007, according to Condo Vultures.
Economics and new government directives are having a slowing effect on South Florida foreclosures.
At the start of the housing crash in 2007, lenders estimated the typical foreclosure would take about six months to repossess a property at a cost of about $40,000 in the loss of debt service, damage, court courts, and attorney's fees. By 2009 as the foreclosure filings were spiking, the process extended out to an average of 18 months with an estimated cost of at least $100,000 per repossession, industry watchers said.
The additional costs and length of time necessary to repossess a property resulted from a variety of reasons, including new legislation and directives requiring lenders to work with borrowers to attempt to modify mortgages in hopes of keeping primary users in their homes. The government directors were prompted by the devastating economic downturn that impacted many borrowers who lost jobs as unemployment rate topped 10 percent and home values dropped dramatically.
Another contributing factor to the decrease in the foreclosure filings is simply the cost involved with repossessing a property compared to completing a short sale, where a borrower unloads a property with a bank's approval at a price below the outstanding loan amount. Lenders have found that once a property is finally repossessed, the bank-owned residence often times sells at the same price as a short sale.
A series of new Florida laws pertaining to condominium units are expected to encourage even more short sales instead of foreclosures.
As of July 2010, lenders are now responsible for paying 12 months - twice as long as previously - of past due condo association fees upon repossessing a property. Under the old legislation, only six months of past due association fees were required to be paid by the lender of a repossessed property.
"The South Florida real estate market is really at a crossroads right now," Zalewski said. "The unknown is whether another wave of foreclosures is coming down the pike given that a number of exotic mortgages are in the process of resetting this year."
Source: http://www.realestatechannel.com/us-markets/residential-real-estate-1/real-estate-news-south-florida-foreclosure-filings-condo-vultures-miami-home-foreclosures-miami-condo-foreclosures-ft-lauderdale-condo-foreclosures-2804.php
Monday, June 14, 2010
Where America's Money Is Moving
Low taxes, warm sunshine and deep discounts on real estate. No wonder IRS data shows the wealthiest among us are headed south.
America's wealthy like warm weather and low taxes. That's the takeaway from IRS data, analyzed by Forbes, on moves between counties. We looked for counties that the rich are moving to in big numbers.
Topping the list: Collier County, Fla., which includes the city of Naples. Tax returns accounting for 15,150 people showed moves to Collier County from other parts of the country in 2008, the latest year for which IRS data is available. Their average reported income: $76,161 per person--equivalent to $304,644 for a family of four. Although slightly more taxpayers moved out of Collier County than into it, the departing residents' average income came out to just $26,128 per person.
Households that moved to Collier County principally came from other parts of Florida, with Lee, Miami Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Orange counties leading the list. Big northern cities also sent lots of migrants: Cook County, Ill. (home to Chicago); Oakland County, Mich. (near Detroit); and Suffolk County, N.Y. (on Long Island) each sent more than 100 people to Collier County during 2008.
In second place is Greene County, Ga., with a population of just 15,743 at the Census Bureau's last estimate. The IRS data show that in 2008, 788 people moved to the county, about 75 miles east of Atlanta.
Rounding out the top five: Nassau County, Fla., near Jacksonville; Llano County, Texas, 70 miles northwest of Austin; and Walton County, Fla., 80 miles east of Pensacola.
The dominance of the list by Florida and Texas--the former has eight of the top 20 counties, the latter four-- makes sense to Robert Shrum, manager of state affairs at the Tax Foundation in Washington, D.C., since neither state has an income tax. "If you're a high-income earner, then that, from a tax perspective, is going to be a driving decider if you're going to move to one of those two states," Shrum says.
After accounting for property taxes, Shrum's analysis shows that Texas has the fourth-lowest personal tax burden in the country, and Florida has the eighth lowest. Shrum also points to eight states that have targeted wealthy households with extra-high tax brackets: California, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Hawaii, Oregon, Connecticut and Wisconsin. Six of the top 10 counties the rich are fleeing are located in those states.
Pitkin County, Colo., home to the pricey Aspen ski community, where home listings average more than $3.5 million, saw an exodus of rich people in 2008 as the economy began to contract. The 962 tax filers and dependents who left Pitkin had an average income of $71,473 per capita, while the equivalent figure for those moving to the county was $30,000 lower. Of those leaving Pitkin County, 224 moved to neighboring Garfield County where, according to real estate information service Trulia, homes list for 75% less than those in Pitkin County. IRS data also show movement from the resort area to cities like New York, Chicago and San Francisco.
Behind the NumbersTo find places the rich are moving, Forbes used IRS data on household moves broken down by county and income. We included counties where arriving households are richer than households that didn't move and departing households are poorer than households that didn't move. The final ranking orders counties by the difference in per-capita income between incoming households and those that didn't move.
Our ranking of places the rich are fleeing essentially reverses these criteria, looking for counties where departing households are wealthier than the population as a whole and where incoming households are poorer.
In order to find patterns among the wealthy, we restricted the lists to counties where departing or arriving households had per-capita incomes of $35,000 or more. That figure is equivalent to an annual income of $140,000 for a family of four--a very high income for any large subset of the American population (of 3,142 counties with IRS data, only 130 have average incomes above this level). And in order to avoid statistical anomalies, we only included counties with at least 500 people listed as arriving or departing.
This technique essentially finds new hot spots--places that aren't necessarily wealthy now but where wealthy people are moving. Some upscale places like Westchester County, N.Y., and Teton County, Wy., don't make the list because people moving into those counties aren't as rich as the people who already live there.
The IRS warns that these counts are only approximations; because they don't include households that don't file income tax returns, poor and elderly people are underrepresented. These counts also don't include returns filed after late-September 2009--a small fraction of total returns that tends to include some very rich people with complex returns who file for extensions.
Source: http://www.forbes.com/2010/06/14/where-the-rich-are-moving-business-beltway-rich-migration.html?boxes=businesschannelsections
By Jon Bruner, 06.14.10, 02:30 PM EDT
America's wealthy like warm weather and low taxes. That's the takeaway from IRS data, analyzed by Forbes, on moves between counties. We looked for counties that the rich are moving to in big numbers.
Topping the list: Collier County, Fla., which includes the city of Naples. Tax returns accounting for 15,150 people showed moves to Collier County from other parts of the country in 2008, the latest year for which IRS data is available. Their average reported income: $76,161 per person--equivalent to $304,644 for a family of four. Although slightly more taxpayers moved out of Collier County than into it, the departing residents' average income came out to just $26,128 per person.
Households that moved to Collier County principally came from other parts of Florida, with Lee, Miami Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Orange counties leading the list. Big northern cities also sent lots of migrants: Cook County, Ill. (home to Chicago); Oakland County, Mich. (near Detroit); and Suffolk County, N.Y. (on Long Island) each sent more than 100 people to Collier County during 2008.
In second place is Greene County, Ga., with a population of just 15,743 at the Census Bureau's last estimate. The IRS data show that in 2008, 788 people moved to the county, about 75 miles east of Atlanta.
Rounding out the top five: Nassau County, Fla., near Jacksonville; Llano County, Texas, 70 miles northwest of Austin; and Walton County, Fla., 80 miles east of Pensacola.
The dominance of the list by Florida and Texas--the former has eight of the top 20 counties, the latter four-- makes sense to Robert Shrum, manager of state affairs at the Tax Foundation in Washington, D.C., since neither state has an income tax. "If you're a high-income earner, then that, from a tax perspective, is going to be a driving decider if you're going to move to one of those two states," Shrum says.
After accounting for property taxes, Shrum's analysis shows that Texas has the fourth-lowest personal tax burden in the country, and Florida has the eighth lowest. Shrum also points to eight states that have targeted wealthy households with extra-high tax brackets: California, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Hawaii, Oregon, Connecticut and Wisconsin. Six of the top 10 counties the rich are fleeing are located in those states.
Pitkin County, Colo., home to the pricey Aspen ski community, where home listings average more than $3.5 million, saw an exodus of rich people in 2008 as the economy began to contract. The 962 tax filers and dependents who left Pitkin had an average income of $71,473 per capita, while the equivalent figure for those moving to the county was $30,000 lower. Of those leaving Pitkin County, 224 moved to neighboring Garfield County where, according to real estate information service Trulia, homes list for 75% less than those in Pitkin County. IRS data also show movement from the resort area to cities like New York, Chicago and San Francisco.
Behind the NumbersTo find places the rich are moving, Forbes used IRS data on household moves broken down by county and income. We included counties where arriving households are richer than households that didn't move and departing households are poorer than households that didn't move. The final ranking orders counties by the difference in per-capita income between incoming households and those that didn't move.
Our ranking of places the rich are fleeing essentially reverses these criteria, looking for counties where departing households are wealthier than the population as a whole and where incoming households are poorer.
In order to find patterns among the wealthy, we restricted the lists to counties where departing or arriving households had per-capita incomes of $35,000 or more. That figure is equivalent to an annual income of $140,000 for a family of four--a very high income for any large subset of the American population (of 3,142 counties with IRS data, only 130 have average incomes above this level). And in order to avoid statistical anomalies, we only included counties with at least 500 people listed as arriving or departing.
This technique essentially finds new hot spots--places that aren't necessarily wealthy now but where wealthy people are moving. Some upscale places like Westchester County, N.Y., and Teton County, Wy., don't make the list because people moving into those counties aren't as rich as the people who already live there.
The IRS warns that these counts are only approximations; because they don't include households that don't file income tax returns, poor and elderly people are underrepresented. These counts also don't include returns filed after late-September 2009--a small fraction of total returns that tends to include some very rich people with complex returns who file for extensions.
Source: http://www.forbes.com/2010/06/14/where-the-rich-are-moving-business-beltway-rich-migration.html?boxes=businesschannelsections
By Jon Bruner, 06.14.10, 02:30 PM EDT
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Miami Home Resales Reach Four-Year High
Miami-area home sales in April dipped from March and remained well below average, but they shot up over the unusually low year-ago level for the 14th consecutive month as investors, first-time buyers and vacation-home buyers targeted lower-cost condos and other abodes. The median sale price fell slightly from March and was 9.1 percent lower than in April 2009, marking the smallest annual decline in almost two years, a real estate information service reported.
In April 8,257 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the metro area encompassing Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties. That was down 4.6 percent from March but up 30.5 percent from April 2009, according to MDA DataQuick of San Diego, Calif. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.
Total escrow closings were the highest for an April since 2007, but they fell 30.0 percent short of the average for that month since 1997, when DataQuick's complete Miami-area stats begin. On average, sales have increased 0.1 percent between March and April.
Although the federal home buyer tax credit didn't appear to have had a huge impact on April sales, it's difficult to know how much weaker sales might have been without that incentive. Most buyers who rushed last month to meet the April 30 federal tax credit deadline to sign a sales contract wouldn't close escrow until May or June.
Last month's resales (excludes new homes) of single-family detached houses and condos combined were the highest in four years. Resales have risen year-over-year for 17 consecutive months. New-home sales in April were higher than a year ago for the second consecutive month, but they were still the second-lowest for an April since at least 1997.
New-home sales have suffered as builders struggle to compete with distressed sales. New homes made up 6.6 percent of total April sales, far below the decade average of 20 percent of monthly sales.
The 3,979 condos that resold in April marked a 7.7 percent decline from March but a 39.8 percent gain from April 2009. It was the highest number of condo resales for that month since April 2006, when 4,060 condos resold. Condo resales made up 48.2 percent of total Miami-area home sales in April, compared with 45.0 percent a year earlier and a monthly average of 32.6 percent over the past decade.
In the Miami market's high end, the number of houses and condos that sold for $1 million or more dipped to 206 in April, down 6.8 percent from 221 in March but up 56.1 percent percent from 132 in April 2009. Forty percent of the $1 million-plus transactions were for resale condos. The figures are based on an analysis of public property records, where there was a purchase price or loan of $1 million or more. The peak month for $1 million-plus home sales was in June 2005, when 583 sold in the Miami area.
The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in April was $140,000, down 1.4 percent from $142,000 in March and down 9.1 percent from $154,000 in April 2009. April's median brought the region back to its post-housing-boom low point of $140,000 - the same as in January this year. However, April's 9.1 percent year-over-year decline was the smallest since the median fell 6.8 percent, to $260,000, in May 2008.
The March-to-April decline in the median was in part the result of a shift toward a greater percentage of homes selling below $200,000. In April, 65.1 percent of all sales were under $200,000, compared with 63.8 percent in March.
April's overall median sale price stood 51.7 percent below the peak $290,000 median in June 2007. The Miami area's median price has fallen on a year-over-year basis for 31 consecutive months.
The median price paid for resale condos in April slipped to $91,000, down from $95,000 in March and $103,000 a year ago. April's level was the lowest since the resale condo median was $87,500 in January 2002. Last month the resale condo median stood 58.4 percent below its $219,000 peak in July 2006.
The median paid for resale single-family detached houses fell in April to $180,000, down 1.4 percent from March, down 2.7 percent from a year ago and down 47.1 percent from a June 2007 peak of $340,000. However, it was the lowest year-over-year decline for the resale detached house median since November 2007.
Another price gauge analysts watch, the median paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses, fell to $104 in April, down from $106 in March and down 1.0 percent from April 2009. It was the smallest annual decline since October 2006. Last month's figure was 50.7 percent below the region's $211 peak in summer 2006. The measure has fallen year-over-year for 43 straight months.
A popular form of financing used by first-time home buyers - government-insured FHA loans - accounted for 47.1 percent of all home purchase loans in April, up from 45.9 percent in March and 41.5 percent a year ago. Two years ago it was 12.6 percent.
Absentee buyers purchased 34.0 percent of all homes sold in the Miami area in April, essentially flat compared with March and up from 31.6 percent a year ago, according to public property records. In April absentee buyers paid a median of $98,000, down from $100,000 in March and down from $116,000 a year earlier. Absentee buyers are often investors, but could include second-home buyers and others who indicated at the time of sale that their property tax bill would be sent to a different address.
About 2.6 percent of the homes sold in April had been "flipped" within a three-week to six-month period, meaning they had been bought on the open market and then re- sold within that window. That was down slightly from a flipping rate of 2.6 percent of all sales in March and up from 2.1 percent a year earlier. Flipping rates were higher before the housing market correction: In April 2005, for example, the Miami-area flipping rate was 5.4 percent.
Source: http://www.nuwireinvestor.com/articles/miami-home-resales-reach-four-year-high-55368.aspx
Published on: Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Written by: DQNews
This article has been republished from DQNews. You can also view this article at DQNews, a real estate research and news site.
In April 8,257 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the metro area encompassing Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties. That was down 4.6 percent from March but up 30.5 percent from April 2009, according to MDA DataQuick of San Diego, Calif. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.
Total escrow closings were the highest for an April since 2007, but they fell 30.0 percent short of the average for that month since 1997, when DataQuick's complete Miami-area stats begin. On average, sales have increased 0.1 percent between March and April.
Although the federal home buyer tax credit didn't appear to have had a huge impact on April sales, it's difficult to know how much weaker sales might have been without that incentive. Most buyers who rushed last month to meet the April 30 federal tax credit deadline to sign a sales contract wouldn't close escrow until May or June.
Last month's resales (excludes new homes) of single-family detached houses and condos combined were the highest in four years. Resales have risen year-over-year for 17 consecutive months. New-home sales in April were higher than a year ago for the second consecutive month, but they were still the second-lowest for an April since at least 1997.
New-home sales have suffered as builders struggle to compete with distressed sales. New homes made up 6.6 percent of total April sales, far below the decade average of 20 percent of monthly sales.
The 3,979 condos that resold in April marked a 7.7 percent decline from March but a 39.8 percent gain from April 2009. It was the highest number of condo resales for that month since April 2006, when 4,060 condos resold. Condo resales made up 48.2 percent of total Miami-area home sales in April, compared with 45.0 percent a year earlier and a monthly average of 32.6 percent over the past decade.
In the Miami market's high end, the number of houses and condos that sold for $1 million or more dipped to 206 in April, down 6.8 percent from 221 in March but up 56.1 percent percent from 132 in April 2009. Forty percent of the $1 million-plus transactions were for resale condos. The figures are based on an analysis of public property records, where there was a purchase price or loan of $1 million or more. The peak month for $1 million-plus home sales was in June 2005, when 583 sold in the Miami area.
The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in April was $140,000, down 1.4 percent from $142,000 in March and down 9.1 percent from $154,000 in April 2009. April's median brought the region back to its post-housing-boom low point of $140,000 - the same as in January this year. However, April's 9.1 percent year-over-year decline was the smallest since the median fell 6.8 percent, to $260,000, in May 2008.
The March-to-April decline in the median was in part the result of a shift toward a greater percentage of homes selling below $200,000. In April, 65.1 percent of all sales were under $200,000, compared with 63.8 percent in March.
April's overall median sale price stood 51.7 percent below the peak $290,000 median in June 2007. The Miami area's median price has fallen on a year-over-year basis for 31 consecutive months.
The median price paid for resale condos in April slipped to $91,000, down from $95,000 in March and $103,000 a year ago. April's level was the lowest since the resale condo median was $87,500 in January 2002. Last month the resale condo median stood 58.4 percent below its $219,000 peak in July 2006.
The median paid for resale single-family detached houses fell in April to $180,000, down 1.4 percent from March, down 2.7 percent from a year ago and down 47.1 percent from a June 2007 peak of $340,000. However, it was the lowest year-over-year decline for the resale detached house median since November 2007.
Another price gauge analysts watch, the median paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses, fell to $104 in April, down from $106 in March and down 1.0 percent from April 2009. It was the smallest annual decline since October 2006. Last month's figure was 50.7 percent below the region's $211 peak in summer 2006. The measure has fallen year-over-year for 43 straight months.
A popular form of financing used by first-time home buyers - government-insured FHA loans - accounted for 47.1 percent of all home purchase loans in April, up from 45.9 percent in March and 41.5 percent a year ago. Two years ago it was 12.6 percent.
Absentee buyers purchased 34.0 percent of all homes sold in the Miami area in April, essentially flat compared with March and up from 31.6 percent a year ago, according to public property records. In April absentee buyers paid a median of $98,000, down from $100,000 in March and down from $116,000 a year earlier. Absentee buyers are often investors, but could include second-home buyers and others who indicated at the time of sale that their property tax bill would be sent to a different address.
About 2.6 percent of the homes sold in April had been "flipped" within a three-week to six-month period, meaning they had been bought on the open market and then re- sold within that window. That was down slightly from a flipping rate of 2.6 percent of all sales in March and up from 2.1 percent a year earlier. Flipping rates were higher before the housing market correction: In April 2005, for example, the Miami-area flipping rate was 5.4 percent.
Source: http://www.nuwireinvestor.com/articles/miami-home-resales-reach-four-year-high-55368.aspx
Published on: Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Written by: DQNews
This article has been republished from DQNews. You can also view this article at DQNews, a real estate research and news site.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
South Florida pending home sales up dramatically from last year
Providing further evidence of a strengthening market, South Florida home buyers signed contracts at a fast clip in May, catapulting the number of pending home sales up 54 percent in Miami-Dade and 51 percent in Broward, compared to the same month last year.
The figures reflect the surge of international buyers taking advantage of low real estate prices and favorable exchange rates, as well as first-time and existing buyers benefiting from record-setting affordability conditions.
Total pending home sales -- including single-family and condominiums -- in Miami-Dade increased to 10,456 in May, up 0.62 percent from April, according to figures released Wednesday by the Realtor Association of Greater Miami and the Beaches and the Southeast Florida Multiple Listing Service. April figures included a last-minute surge by home buyers taking advantage of a federal tax credit that expired on April 20.
``Current South Florida real estate market statistics are positive signs of a resurgent market,'' Terri Bersach, chairman of the Realtor Association of Greater Miami, said in a statement. ``Pending sales are considerably higher than they were a year ago when the market was already strengthening, and home median prices have begun to increase, while average home prices have been increasing for some time. These figures validate the demand for local residential properties and confirm the local market's recovery.''
In Broward County, pending home sales fell 3.23 percent to 3,719, in May, compared to April, due to the impact of the expiring tax credit.
Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/02/1659819/south-florida-pending-home-sales.html
BY INA PAIVA CORDLE
icordle@MiamiHerald.com
The figures reflect the surge of international buyers taking advantage of low real estate prices and favorable exchange rates, as well as first-time and existing buyers benefiting from record-setting affordability conditions.
Total pending home sales -- including single-family and condominiums -- in Miami-Dade increased to 10,456 in May, up 0.62 percent from April, according to figures released Wednesday by the Realtor Association of Greater Miami and the Beaches and the Southeast Florida Multiple Listing Service. April figures included a last-minute surge by home buyers taking advantage of a federal tax credit that expired on April 20.
``Current South Florida real estate market statistics are positive signs of a resurgent market,'' Terri Bersach, chairman of the Realtor Association of Greater Miami, said in a statement. ``Pending sales are considerably higher than they were a year ago when the market was already strengthening, and home median prices have begun to increase, while average home prices have been increasing for some time. These figures validate the demand for local residential properties and confirm the local market's recovery.''
In Broward County, pending home sales fell 3.23 percent to 3,719, in May, compared to April, due to the impact of the expiring tax credit.
Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/02/1659819/south-florida-pending-home-sales.html
BY INA PAIVA CORDLE
icordle@MiamiHerald.com
Monday, May 31, 2010
Foreign buyers are flocking to Florida condos again
May 30--Nearly 800 Canadians will jam a hotel ballroom near the Toronto airport Sunday to hear the gospel of Florida real estate.
High-end Brazilian buyers prefer to be wooed more intimately -- perhaps at a cocktail party or a small private dinner -- but they are just as pumped.
Lured by rock-bottom prices, international buyers are now flocking to buy Florida properties. It's especially true in countries where the currency is strong against the dollar.
"We're telling Canadians this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity -- the perfect storm," said Brian Ellis, who heads Toronto-based Florida Home Finders of Canada. "The prices are just incredible and the Canadian dollar has been so strong."
At least three of five buyers in the Greater Downtown Miami condo market are coming from abroad, estimates Jenny Huertas, international sales director for Condo Vultures, a real estate advisory and research firm.
The stampede from overseas is "kind of like a foreign subsidy helping us resolve our real estate problems," said Peter Zalewski, a Condo Vultures principal. "This time the assistance isn't coming from Washington. It's coming from Caracas, London, Milan, Bogota."
The buying frenzy was set off by developers lowering prices on new units to below what it cost to build in today's market, Huertas said.
"There were many people on the sidelines watching for the floor. In the last three or four months there's the perception that we're there," said developer Edgardo Defortuna, president and chief executive of Fortune International.
CASH CUSTOMERS
Most of the foreigners are cash buyers like Leroy Jean Francois, who has snapped up 47 properties since January for the two real estate firms he works for in France and Switzerland. The plan, he said, is to buy, fix up if necessary, rent out for the next five years, then sell -- for a profit.
The Frenchman has already made a paper profit on a unit he closed on in January at Marquis Residences, a 67-story luxury tower in downtown Miami where prices for a one-bedroom apartment start at $375,000. His unit cost $317 per square foot -- "a great price, incredible," he said.
A recent plunge in the euro -- it's now worth $1.23, down from its high of more than $1.60 in 2008 -- could cool things off a little. To buy a $1 million condo, it now takes around 814,000 euros compared to 625,000 euros under the old exchange rate.
Meantime, prices at Marquis Residences also have strengthened to around $400 per square foot.
But even the declining euro has barely given Francois pause.
"I think the euro will weaken more. But even if the exchange rate is $1 to 1 euro, South Florida real estate is still a great bargain for us," said Francois, who is president of The Bridge, a real estate fund consultancy.
AVERAGE JOES
Luxury condos are once again popular among Latin America buyers who purchase them as investments but also as a home base while their children attend school here, they attend to business interests or escape strife at home.
But for his Canadian buyers, Ellis scours South Florida for condo units at around the $150,000 price point. "We're basically the Wal-Mart. We're for the average Joe."
And these days average Joe Canadian can afford much more. For decades the U.S. dollar was worth more than the Canadian dollar and buying in the U.S. was always more expensive for Canadians. But in September 2007, the Canadian dollar reached parity with the greenback for the first time in 31 years. It fell back again, but now the Canadian loonie, which takes its name from the loon pictured on the one-dollar coin, is near parity at around 95 cents.
So Ellis has been offering his Florida real estate seminars to packed houses in Ontario and is thinking about taking the show on the road to Montreal. There was so much interest in the latest seminar that he had to schedule two sessions for 400 people each this Sunday.
Most of his Canadian buyers are what Ellis calls "end-vestors," meaning they plan on renting a unit out for now with an eye toward using it themselves down the road.
Since Home Finders is licensed as a brokerage only in Canada, it works with Florida brokers who complete the sales and pay the Canadian firm referral fees. By year's end, Ellis said he expects to have facilitated 500 Florida closings.
PRICES HALVED
Though Home Finders is now working with one Sunny Isles Beach property where condos are listed for up to $350,000, the Sun Vista Gardens in Tamarac is a more typical offering.
There, buyers can find a one-bedroom for under $75,000 and a two-bedroom for under $100,000. That same one-bedroom, used to cost $190,000, according to Florida Home Finders' website.
Ellis said he's actually having a hard time coming up with enough Florida properties in the $150,000 range. Of course, he's picky. He's looking for good value, a good location and properties without legal complications. Most of the Canadians want condos, but Ellis said he has some requests for single-family homes.
Though buyers from Europe, Latin America -- most from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela -- and Canada predominate in the South Florida market, a smattering of Chinese investors and African buyers also are starting to make purchases.
"We recently sold a $7.5 million penthouse at Jade Ocean to a Nigerian buyer," said Defortuna. "They were here and they loved it."
CHINA, TOO
At Fortune's 237-unit Artech building, Defortuna said 11 condos were sold to Chinese investors. Units in the building are selling for almost half of the original asking price.
"I think China is still a marginal market," said Defortuna. "The Chinese are more focused on the West Coast and New York, but small pockets [of Chinese buyers] can make a big difference in a building."
With international offices in Mexico and Argentina, Fortune can tap directly into those markets, and it frequently holds seminars on the legal and financial aspects of owning property in the United States. At one recent event in Buenos Aires there was space for just 200 people, so Fortune decided to charge a $60 fee. "We still had to close reservations," said Defortuna.
One big concern of foreign buyers is what happens to their properties when they lock up after a vacation, said Defortuna. But Fortune International's property management division will take care of things like paying utilities and condo fees -- and even turn over a client's car engine once a week so the battery doesn't die.
A number of local brokerages have country specialists on staff who work with their counterparts abroad to bring in buyers.
Elite Global Reality, for example, has sales associates who specialize in the French, Italian and Chilean markets, said Thiago Costa, executive director and sales associates.
Costa, who is Brazilian, travels frequently to his homeland where local partners have set up meetings with potential buyers in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro or Belo Horizonte who are "willing and able to buy."
He prefers to present one South Florida project at a time to 10 to 20 people at a cocktail party or even a dinner at the home of a potential buyer.
With Miami prices so low, the Brazilian currency (the real) strong, the Brazilian economy robust and real estate prices on the rise in cities like Sao Paulo, where a luxury property might cost $800 to $1,000 per square foot, Brazilians like what they see in South Florida.
'IMPOSSIBLE TO LOSE'
"They feel it's almost impossible to lose money," said Costa.
Africa Israel USA, the New York-based developer of the 292-unit Marquis Residences, also works with the brokerage community in target markets like Venezuela, the South of France, Mexico and Brazil. Working with brokers, it has put on events ranging from fashion shows to invitation-only cocktail parties and dinners, said Lori Odover, the managing director.
"It needs to be someone they know, that they have a one-on-one relationship," she said. So that means even an event at a synagogue or someone's uncle's pool party can be a selling opportunity.
Though most international buyers pay cash, there's an international financing program at Marquis that has proven popular. Some 57 percent of Marquis' foreign buyers have chosen it.
While the program's 45 percent down payment for a five-year ARM seems steep, Bob Wuan, managing director of Americore Mortgage/Vacation Finance, said, "We find international buyers are more than willing to put 50 percent or more down. They want to put money in U.S. real estate as a currency hedge or an inflation hedge."
Meanwhile, Ellis keeps telling Canadians what a great deal Florida is: "We believe Florida is in for quite a rebound. We just don't know when."
Source: http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/yb/145584684
By Mimi Whitefield, The Miami Herald
High-end Brazilian buyers prefer to be wooed more intimately -- perhaps at a cocktail party or a small private dinner -- but they are just as pumped.
Lured by rock-bottom prices, international buyers are now flocking to buy Florida properties. It's especially true in countries where the currency is strong against the dollar.
"We're telling Canadians this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity -- the perfect storm," said Brian Ellis, who heads Toronto-based Florida Home Finders of Canada. "The prices are just incredible and the Canadian dollar has been so strong."
At least three of five buyers in the Greater Downtown Miami condo market are coming from abroad, estimates Jenny Huertas, international sales director for Condo Vultures, a real estate advisory and research firm.
The stampede from overseas is "kind of like a foreign subsidy helping us resolve our real estate problems," said Peter Zalewski, a Condo Vultures principal. "This time the assistance isn't coming from Washington. It's coming from Caracas, London, Milan, Bogota."
The buying frenzy was set off by developers lowering prices on new units to below what it cost to build in today's market, Huertas said.
"There were many people on the sidelines watching for the floor. In the last three or four months there's the perception that we're there," said developer Edgardo Defortuna, president and chief executive of Fortune International.
CASH CUSTOMERS
Most of the foreigners are cash buyers like Leroy Jean Francois, who has snapped up 47 properties since January for the two real estate firms he works for in France and Switzerland. The plan, he said, is to buy, fix up if necessary, rent out for the next five years, then sell -- for a profit.
The Frenchman has already made a paper profit on a unit he closed on in January at Marquis Residences, a 67-story luxury tower in downtown Miami where prices for a one-bedroom apartment start at $375,000. His unit cost $317 per square foot -- "a great price, incredible," he said.
A recent plunge in the euro -- it's now worth $1.23, down from its high of more than $1.60 in 2008 -- could cool things off a little. To buy a $1 million condo, it now takes around 814,000 euros compared to 625,000 euros under the old exchange rate.
Meantime, prices at Marquis Residences also have strengthened to around $400 per square foot.
But even the declining euro has barely given Francois pause.
"I think the euro will weaken more. But even if the exchange rate is $1 to 1 euro, South Florida real estate is still a great bargain for us," said Francois, who is president of The Bridge, a real estate fund consultancy.
AVERAGE JOES
Luxury condos are once again popular among Latin America buyers who purchase them as investments but also as a home base while their children attend school here, they attend to business interests or escape strife at home.
But for his Canadian buyers, Ellis scours South Florida for condo units at around the $150,000 price point. "We're basically the Wal-Mart. We're for the average Joe."
And these days average Joe Canadian can afford much more. For decades the U.S. dollar was worth more than the Canadian dollar and buying in the U.S. was always more expensive for Canadians. But in September 2007, the Canadian dollar reached parity with the greenback for the first time in 31 years. It fell back again, but now the Canadian loonie, which takes its name from the loon pictured on the one-dollar coin, is near parity at around 95 cents.
So Ellis has been offering his Florida real estate seminars to packed houses in Ontario and is thinking about taking the show on the road to Montreal. There was so much interest in the latest seminar that he had to schedule two sessions for 400 people each this Sunday.
Most of his Canadian buyers are what Ellis calls "end-vestors," meaning they plan on renting a unit out for now with an eye toward using it themselves down the road.
Since Home Finders is licensed as a brokerage only in Canada, it works with Florida brokers who complete the sales and pay the Canadian firm referral fees. By year's end, Ellis said he expects to have facilitated 500 Florida closings.
PRICES HALVED
Though Home Finders is now working with one Sunny Isles Beach property where condos are listed for up to $350,000, the Sun Vista Gardens in Tamarac is a more typical offering.
There, buyers can find a one-bedroom for under $75,000 and a two-bedroom for under $100,000. That same one-bedroom, used to cost $190,000, according to Florida Home Finders' website.
Ellis said he's actually having a hard time coming up with enough Florida properties in the $150,000 range. Of course, he's picky. He's looking for good value, a good location and properties without legal complications. Most of the Canadians want condos, but Ellis said he has some requests for single-family homes.
Though buyers from Europe, Latin America -- most from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela -- and Canada predominate in the South Florida market, a smattering of Chinese investors and African buyers also are starting to make purchases.
"We recently sold a $7.5 million penthouse at Jade Ocean to a Nigerian buyer," said Defortuna. "They were here and they loved it."
CHINA, TOO
At Fortune's 237-unit Artech building, Defortuna said 11 condos were sold to Chinese investors. Units in the building are selling for almost half of the original asking price.
"I think China is still a marginal market," said Defortuna. "The Chinese are more focused on the West Coast and New York, but small pockets [of Chinese buyers] can make a big difference in a building."
With international offices in Mexico and Argentina, Fortune can tap directly into those markets, and it frequently holds seminars on the legal and financial aspects of owning property in the United States. At one recent event in Buenos Aires there was space for just 200 people, so Fortune decided to charge a $60 fee. "We still had to close reservations," said Defortuna.
One big concern of foreign buyers is what happens to their properties when they lock up after a vacation, said Defortuna. But Fortune International's property management division will take care of things like paying utilities and condo fees -- and even turn over a client's car engine once a week so the battery doesn't die.
A number of local brokerages have country specialists on staff who work with their counterparts abroad to bring in buyers.
Elite Global Reality, for example, has sales associates who specialize in the French, Italian and Chilean markets, said Thiago Costa, executive director and sales associates.
Costa, who is Brazilian, travels frequently to his homeland where local partners have set up meetings with potential buyers in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro or Belo Horizonte who are "willing and able to buy."
He prefers to present one South Florida project at a time to 10 to 20 people at a cocktail party or even a dinner at the home of a potential buyer.
With Miami prices so low, the Brazilian currency (the real) strong, the Brazilian economy robust and real estate prices on the rise in cities like Sao Paulo, where a luxury property might cost $800 to $1,000 per square foot, Brazilians like what they see in South Florida.
'IMPOSSIBLE TO LOSE'
"They feel it's almost impossible to lose money," said Costa.
Africa Israel USA, the New York-based developer of the 292-unit Marquis Residences, also works with the brokerage community in target markets like Venezuela, the South of France, Mexico and Brazil. Working with brokers, it has put on events ranging from fashion shows to invitation-only cocktail parties and dinners, said Lori Odover, the managing director.
"It needs to be someone they know, that they have a one-on-one relationship," she said. So that means even an event at a synagogue or someone's uncle's pool party can be a selling opportunity.
Though most international buyers pay cash, there's an international financing program at Marquis that has proven popular. Some 57 percent of Marquis' foreign buyers have chosen it.
While the program's 45 percent down payment for a five-year ARM seems steep, Bob Wuan, managing director of Americore Mortgage/Vacation Finance, said, "We find international buyers are more than willing to put 50 percent or more down. They want to put money in U.S. real estate as a currency hedge or an inflation hedge."
Meanwhile, Ellis keeps telling Canadians what a great deal Florida is: "We believe Florida is in for quite a rebound. We just don't know when."
Source: http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/yb/145584684
By Mimi Whitefield, The Miami Herald
Monday, May 24, 2010
Miami Condominiums See Improving Occupancy And Sales Transactions
Clouds are lifting over Miami’s beleaguered condo market following a boom-and-bust cycle of epic proportions. According to a recent study commissioned by the City of Miami’s Downtown Development Authority (DDA) and conducted in partnership with Goodkin Consulting and Focus Real Estate Advisors LLC, condo sales and occupancy rates are on the rise.
“We’re coming out of the most prolific overbuilding in the history of Southeast Florida,” says Jonathan Kingsley, executive vice president and managing director at brokerage firm Grubb & Ellis.
The Residential Closings and Occupancy Study, published in March 2010, updated a similar report issued in June 2009. Both studies examined 75 completed condominium buildings located in a 60-block area in downtown Miami . Many of the buildings adorn prestigious Brickell Avenue and other units overlooking Biscayne Bay .
The study found that in February 2010, 74% of the 22,079 units built since 2003 were occupied versus 62% in May 2009. An average of 345 units were leased monthly last year.
Full-time residents occupy 87% of the 16,415 units. Of those units, a little more than half (52%) are rented. “There’s a younger crowd, new businesses and lots more after hours people,” notes Alyce Robertson, the DDA’s executive director.
Sales also increased. More than 15,000 of the existing units, or 68%, were sold at the end of 2009 compared with 62% in May 2009. Average monthly sales in the downtown Miami area totaled 350 units in the fourth quarter of last year, a whopping gain of more than 200% over the fourth quarter of 2008.
Approximately 7,000 condo units remain on the downtown market. If current trends continue, the study predicts that all of downtown Miami’s existing condo inventory could be occupied within 25 months.
Tempering the exuberance
“There’s been a movement to the downtown area based on affordability that didn’t exist previously,” explains Craig Worley, president of Focus Real Estate Advisors. However, he cautions the projections depend on employment stability and job creation. “We’re not out of the woods yet,” he says.
Other caveats: A significant number of buyers were investors “looking for an appreciation play,” Worley explains, “so potentially a large number of units could be fed back onto the market.” And rental rates across the board generally “don’t provide a positive cash flow to cover homeowner association fees and taxes.”
Jack McCabe, CEO of McCabe Research and Consulting based in Deerfield Beach, Fla., agrees. “When you peel back the skin it isn’t so pretty,” he says. “We’ve seen sales pick up — primarily cash deals to bulk investors and international buyers — at deeply discounted prices. It’s basically a cash buyers’ market.”
McCabe adds that prices have fallen some 50% to 70% to $200 to $250 per sq. ft. from a high of $500 to $600 per sq. ft. at the market’s peak.
Sales of existing condos in Miami increased 46% to 1,920 units sold compared with 1,311 in the first quarter of 2009, according to the Florida Association of Realtors. However, the median price fell 9% to $136,100 compared with $149,000 a year earlier.
Financing hurdles remain
Peter Zalewski, founder of Condo Vultures Realty LLC, a firm specializing in condo sales, research and consulting, reports only 17% of the 713 new condos sold during the first quarter in the greater downtown Miami area obtained financing.
The remaining sales were cash transactions. He estimates that only approximately one out of four transactions involve primary users; the remaining units are sold to speculators with cash. Like many other observers, Zalewski says the impact of the first-time homebuyer tax credit was minimal.
Recently Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced plans to ease existing stringent guidelines to provide more financing for Florida’s condo market. In January, Fannie Mae introduced the Special Approval Designation program and assigned a team of six professionals to review existing condo projects that previously failed to qualify for the agency’s financing because of foreclosures , high vacancy rates, unpaid homeowner association fees and other expenses.
If the team awards a building a Special Approval Designation, lenders can originate and deliver mortgages to the agency. “It’s setting the scene,” Zalewski says. “The dividend will be paid in 2011.”
Source: http://www.nuwireinvestor.com/articles/miami-condominiums-see-improving-occupancy-and-sales-transactions-55246.aspx
Written by: Jody Fidler
“We’re coming out of the most prolific overbuilding in the history of Southeast Florida,” says Jonathan Kingsley, executive vice president and managing director at brokerage firm Grubb & Ellis.
The Residential Closings and Occupancy Study, published in March 2010, updated a similar report issued in June 2009. Both studies examined 75 completed condominium buildings located in a 60-block area in downtown Miami . Many of the buildings adorn prestigious Brickell Avenue and other units overlooking Biscayne Bay .
The study found that in February 2010, 74% of the 22,079 units built since 2003 were occupied versus 62% in May 2009. An average of 345 units were leased monthly last year.
Full-time residents occupy 87% of the 16,415 units. Of those units, a little more than half (52%) are rented. “There’s a younger crowd, new businesses and lots more after hours people,” notes Alyce Robertson, the DDA’s executive director.
Sales also increased. More than 15,000 of the existing units, or 68%, were sold at the end of 2009 compared with 62% in May 2009. Average monthly sales in the downtown Miami area totaled 350 units in the fourth quarter of last year, a whopping gain of more than 200% over the fourth quarter of 2008.
Approximately 7,000 condo units remain on the downtown market. If current trends continue, the study predicts that all of downtown Miami’s existing condo inventory could be occupied within 25 months.
Tempering the exuberance
“There’s been a movement to the downtown area based on affordability that didn’t exist previously,” explains Craig Worley, president of Focus Real Estate Advisors. However, he cautions the projections depend on employment stability and job creation. “We’re not out of the woods yet,” he says.
Other caveats: A significant number of buyers were investors “looking for an appreciation play,” Worley explains, “so potentially a large number of units could be fed back onto the market.” And rental rates across the board generally “don’t provide a positive cash flow to cover homeowner association fees and taxes.”
Jack McCabe, CEO of McCabe Research and Consulting based in Deerfield Beach, Fla., agrees. “When you peel back the skin it isn’t so pretty,” he says. “We’ve seen sales pick up — primarily cash deals to bulk investors and international buyers — at deeply discounted prices. It’s basically a cash buyers’ market.”
McCabe adds that prices have fallen some 50% to 70% to $200 to $250 per sq. ft. from a high of $500 to $600 per sq. ft. at the market’s peak.
Sales of existing condos in Miami increased 46% to 1,920 units sold compared with 1,311 in the first quarter of 2009, according to the Florida Association of Realtors. However, the median price fell 9% to $136,100 compared with $149,000 a year earlier.
Financing hurdles remain
Peter Zalewski, founder of Condo Vultures Realty LLC, a firm specializing in condo sales, research and consulting, reports only 17% of the 713 new condos sold during the first quarter in the greater downtown Miami area obtained financing.
The remaining sales were cash transactions. He estimates that only approximately one out of four transactions involve primary users; the remaining units are sold to speculators with cash. Like many other observers, Zalewski says the impact of the first-time homebuyer tax credit was minimal.
Recently Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced plans to ease existing stringent guidelines to provide more financing for Florida’s condo market. In January, Fannie Mae introduced the Special Approval Designation program and assigned a team of six professionals to review existing condo projects that previously failed to qualify for the agency’s financing because of foreclosures , high vacancy rates, unpaid homeowner association fees and other expenses.
If the team awards a building a Special Approval Designation, lenders can originate and deliver mortgages to the agency. “It’s setting the scene,” Zalewski says. “The dividend will be paid in 2011.”
Source: http://www.nuwireinvestor.com/articles/miami-condominiums-see-improving-occupancy-and-sales-transactions-55246.aspx
Written by: Jody Fidler
Monday, May 17, 2010
Cash still king in condo buys
Cash continues to be king when it comes to buying condos.
A new report by Condo Vultures LLC finds that buyers paid cash for nearly 600 units in 29 projects in the greater downtown Miami area from January through March. Fewer than 120 units in 19 projects were financed, according to the Bal Harbour-based real estate consultancy.
"Even though the U.S. government is encouraging lenders to once again finance condo purchases, the results have not been impressive in South Florida," said Peter Zalewski, a principal with Condo Vultures. "Many lenders claim to be willing to consider writing loans for buyers of condominiums, but the end results simply do not support that.”
The report found buyers obtained nearly three-dozen mortgages – the greatest number in the downtown market – in Icon Brickell. Earlier this month, about half of the 1,800 units in the three-tower complex were handed back to the lender.
The next-highest concentration of financed mortgages was at 500 Brickell, across the street from Icon Brickell, according to the report.
The Ivy condominium, on the north bank of the Miami River, rounded out the top three.
Fannie Mae has been working to easing certification guidelines and has created a special team to review applications for new Florida projects seeking approval.
Fannie Mae approved 70 Florida condominiums in the first four months of the year, after approving 146 projects in the state in 2009. That’s significantly better than in 2008 when no Florida condo projects were granted Fannie Mae approval, according to the report.
Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2010/05/17/daily17.html
A new report by Condo Vultures LLC finds that buyers paid cash for nearly 600 units in 29 projects in the greater downtown Miami area from January through March. Fewer than 120 units in 19 projects were financed, according to the Bal Harbour-based real estate consultancy.
"Even though the U.S. government is encouraging lenders to once again finance condo purchases, the results have not been impressive in South Florida," said Peter Zalewski, a principal with Condo Vultures. "Many lenders claim to be willing to consider writing loans for buyers of condominiums, but the end results simply do not support that.”
The report found buyers obtained nearly three-dozen mortgages – the greatest number in the downtown market – in Icon Brickell. Earlier this month, about half of the 1,800 units in the three-tower complex were handed back to the lender.
The next-highest concentration of financed mortgages was at 500 Brickell, across the street from Icon Brickell, according to the report.
The Ivy condominium, on the north bank of the Miami River, rounded out the top three.
Fannie Mae has been working to easing certification guidelines and has created a special team to review applications for new Florida projects seeking approval.
Fannie Mae approved 70 Florida condominiums in the first four months of the year, after approving 146 projects in the state in 2009. That’s significantly better than in 2008 when no Florida condo projects were granted Fannie Mae approval, according to the report.
Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2010/05/17/daily17.html
Friday, May 7, 2010
Home renovators alert: House passes 'cash-for-caulkers' bill
Homeowners could collect thousands of dollars in Cash for Caulkers rebates for renovating their homes with better insulation and energy-saving windows and doors under a new economic stimulus bill the House passed Thursday.
The Home Star bill, passed 246-161, would authorize $6 billion over two years for a program that supporters — mostly Democrats — said would have the added benefits of invigorating the slumping construction industry and making the earth a little cleaner.
"Home Star is that solid investment that's going to achieve that hat trick of energy savings for the homeowner, of moving toward a cleaner environment and of creating jobs here at home," said bill sponsor Peter Welch, D-Vt.
Republicans overwhelmingly opposed the bill, and they were able to attach a condition that it would be terminated if Democrats do not come up with a way to pay for it.
The measure has come to be dubbed Cash for Caulkers, a takeoff on the popular 2009 Cash for Clunkers initiative that rewarded people for replacing gas-guzzling vehicles with more fuel-efficient models.
President Barack Obama has promoted the bill, which also needs Senate approval.
The initiative is separate from an energy tax credit of up to $1,500 that was included in last year's economic stimulus act. That credit for energy efficiency improvements runs through the end of this year.
Supporters estimate that 3 million households would make use of the new program, saving $9.2 billion in energy costs over a 10-year period. They said it would create 168,000 jobs, mainly in the recession-hit construction industry.
"Nearly one in four workers in the home construction and services industry has been laid off," said Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif. "Passing Home Star says, 'Help is on the way."'
Republicans were more skeptical, saying the price tag was too high at a time of mounting federal debts.
"We are going to authorize $6.6 billion of money we don't have so we can caulk homes?" asked House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio.
"This is not a terribly bad bill, but it has one fatal flaw: It is not paid for," said Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, top Republican on the energy committee. Democrats argued that the issue of paying for the legislation will come later in the budgetary process, when Congress approves annual spending bills.
Republicans succeeded at the end of the debate in altering the bill to say it will be terminated if it is found to drive up the federal deficit, a provision that will force Democrats to come up with an offset. The Republicans also were able to alter the legislation so that the rebates would go directly to homeowners. In the original version, homeowners were to receive a discount or rebate from a retailer or contractor, who then would apply for payment from the government.
In debate on the bill, Republicans questioned whether the government can run the rebate program fairly and effectively. They said a $4.7 billion weatherization program that was part of last year's economic stimulus act has been slow to provide grants to states.
The Cash for Clunkers program, too, had some problems. An Associated Press study last November found that the program was commonly used by people turning in old pickups for new trucks that got only marginally better gas mileage.
Under Home Star, rebates or discounts would be provided to homeowners at the time of sale. The retailer or contractor then would submit documentation to a processing office which would verify the information and forward the request to the Energy Department for payment.
To prevent fraud, the program would require licensing for all participating contractors and a certain percentage of projects would be inspected.
The bill has two parts: The Silver Star program provides upfront rebates of up to $3,000 for specific energy-efficient improvements in homes, such as installing energy-efficient appliances or duct sealing, insulation or new windows or doors.
A Gold Star program would entitle people to up to $8,000 when they conduct comprehensive energy audits and implement measures that reduce energy use throughout their homes by more than 20 percent.
The bill has the backing of a wide spectrum of environmental and business groups.
"There is strong evidence that temporary, targeted incentive programs like Home Star can generate jobs, investment and economic growth," National Association of Manufacturers president John Engler said at a hearing in March.
With House passage, the bill moves to the Senate, where it most likely will be attached to the next jobs bill.
The legislation also would approve $600 million over two years for grants to states for programs to replace mobile homes with more energy efficient models.
Source: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/fl-cash-for-caulkers-20100506,0,3894298.story
By Jim Abrams, Associated Press Writer
The Home Star bill, passed 246-161, would authorize $6 billion over two years for a program that supporters — mostly Democrats — said would have the added benefits of invigorating the slumping construction industry and making the earth a little cleaner.
"Home Star is that solid investment that's going to achieve that hat trick of energy savings for the homeowner, of moving toward a cleaner environment and of creating jobs here at home," said bill sponsor Peter Welch, D-Vt.
Republicans overwhelmingly opposed the bill, and they were able to attach a condition that it would be terminated if Democrats do not come up with a way to pay for it.
The measure has come to be dubbed Cash for Caulkers, a takeoff on the popular 2009 Cash for Clunkers initiative that rewarded people for replacing gas-guzzling vehicles with more fuel-efficient models.
President Barack Obama has promoted the bill, which also needs Senate approval.
The initiative is separate from an energy tax credit of up to $1,500 that was included in last year's economic stimulus act. That credit for energy efficiency improvements runs through the end of this year.
Supporters estimate that 3 million households would make use of the new program, saving $9.2 billion in energy costs over a 10-year period. They said it would create 168,000 jobs, mainly in the recession-hit construction industry.
"Nearly one in four workers in the home construction and services industry has been laid off," said Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif. "Passing Home Star says, 'Help is on the way."'
Republicans were more skeptical, saying the price tag was too high at a time of mounting federal debts.
"We are going to authorize $6.6 billion of money we don't have so we can caulk homes?" asked House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio.
"This is not a terribly bad bill, but it has one fatal flaw: It is not paid for," said Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, top Republican on the energy committee. Democrats argued that the issue of paying for the legislation will come later in the budgetary process, when Congress approves annual spending bills.
Republicans succeeded at the end of the debate in altering the bill to say it will be terminated if it is found to drive up the federal deficit, a provision that will force Democrats to come up with an offset. The Republicans also were able to alter the legislation so that the rebates would go directly to homeowners. In the original version, homeowners were to receive a discount or rebate from a retailer or contractor, who then would apply for payment from the government.
In debate on the bill, Republicans questioned whether the government can run the rebate program fairly and effectively. They said a $4.7 billion weatherization program that was part of last year's economic stimulus act has been slow to provide grants to states.
The Cash for Clunkers program, too, had some problems. An Associated Press study last November found that the program was commonly used by people turning in old pickups for new trucks that got only marginally better gas mileage.
Under Home Star, rebates or discounts would be provided to homeowners at the time of sale. The retailer or contractor then would submit documentation to a processing office which would verify the information and forward the request to the Energy Department for payment.
To prevent fraud, the program would require licensing for all participating contractors and a certain percentage of projects would be inspected.
The bill has two parts: The Silver Star program provides upfront rebates of up to $3,000 for specific energy-efficient improvements in homes, such as installing energy-efficient appliances or duct sealing, insulation or new windows or doors.
A Gold Star program would entitle people to up to $8,000 when they conduct comprehensive energy audits and implement measures that reduce energy use throughout their homes by more than 20 percent.
The bill has the backing of a wide spectrum of environmental and business groups.
"There is strong evidence that temporary, targeted incentive programs like Home Star can generate jobs, investment and economic growth," National Association of Manufacturers president John Engler said at a hearing in March.
With House passage, the bill moves to the Senate, where it most likely will be attached to the next jobs bill.
The legislation also would approve $600 million over two years for grants to states for programs to replace mobile homes with more energy efficient models.
Source: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/fl-cash-for-caulkers-20100506,0,3894298.story
By Jim Abrams, Associated Press Writer
Friday, April 30, 2010
Homebuyers rush to beat tax-credit deadline
MIAMI -- Benjamin Kaskel, a would-be first-time home buyer, hasn't been sleeping much lately.
He and his wife Samira have to move out of their rented home - and they want to find a house to buy. By Friday.
That's when the sun sets on a discount for the proverbial American dream, an $8,000 tax credit to first-time home buyers who have a contract signed by Friday and close by June 30. Repeat home buyers can claim a $6,500 credit under the same deadline.
"We have to act quickly," said Kaskel, 31, a guitar teacher. "And so we definitely haven't been resting a lot."
Neither have real estate agents, who have been working long past dark and fielding middle-of-the-night e-mails from buyers desperate to get their share of the billions of dollars that have been doled out nationwide.
"I feel like there's a big clock," said agent Lisa Dority, who has been working with a couple for the past two weeks to find the perfect home in time for the deadline. "Tick, tick."
No one can say how much of the recent increases in home sales can be traced to the credit, but everyone agrees there has been some effect. Likewise, it's hard to predict what will happen once the credit disappears.
Analysts say the credit has, at the least, prompted potential buyers to make their move earlier than they might have otherwise.
"Did we stimulate overall demand or did we just move it around? We don't know yet," said William Hardin, professor of finance and real estate at Florida International University. "We know we've had a lot of first-time home buyers in the market. We know that that's helped. The question is: Is anybody left?"
The National Association of Realtors projects that 2 million buyers will qualify for the credit in 2009 and another 900,000 in 2010. Another 1.5 million are anticipated to qualify for the $6,500 credit for repeat home buyers.
Spokesman Walter Molony said sales are expected to drop in July after the credit expires, but the association still expects levels to be above the previous year's as the market continues to balance out.
Already extended once, the credit has been dangled in some form since 2008 as an incentive to prop up the nation's deflated real estate market.
Combined with low interest rates and a glut of low-priced property on the market, the incentive seems to be doing its job.
Existing home sales in Miami-Dade jumped 17 percent in March compared to the previous year; in Broward, sales were up 8 percent. Prices are still creeping down as analysts predict a tumultuous real estate landscape is starting to stabilize. With one in 46 homes in South Florida in some stage of foreclosure, deals abound.
The Internal Revenue Service says that in tax returns processed through late February, 128,517 filers in Florida had qualified for more than $936 million in credits on homes bought in 2008 and 2009. Nationwide, nearly 1.8 million returns had claimed almost $12.7 billion.
A 2008 version of the credit was essentially a $7,500 loan. By 2009, that turned into a credit of 10 percent of the purchase price of the home up to $8,000. The deadline was extended last year to April 30.
Ellen Tremper, sales manager at Century 21 Tenace Realty in Coral Springs, Fla., said the office has been busy for the last few months. She said she wasn't sure how much of that could be linked to the credit.
"Part of me is a little nervous as to see what happens after April 30," she said. "That'll really be the telltale everything."
In the meantime, says agent Zoila Zamora-Cruz, "I'm like crazy looking for properties."
Zamora-Cruz said this week that she had four or five people searching for homes by Friday.
Her clients Jose Gutierrez and Blanca Norda got in on time; they are scheduled to close on their $107,000 Kendall, Fla.-area home Friday.
Gutierrez, 46, said they have been waiting for the right time to buy, since the couple and their two kids moved from Cuba in 2002.
"That's the American dream when you get over here, to own a house," he said. The tax credit, plus lower prices and an affordable mortgage made 2010 the best time for the family to buy.
"There's a moment for everything," Gutierrez said. "The opportunity, you have to wait for it."
Good properties that are priced right - around $200,000 - are "like gold right now," said Anthony Askowitz, a broker and owner of two Re/Max offices.
Askowitz showed the Kaskels a home listed for $299,000 in Kendall Thursday. He brought a contract along just in case.
After seeing the home, the couple signed an offer for more than the asking price. The seller verbally accepted late Thursday. All that's left to do is get the contract in hand.
"I feel great about it," Benjamin Kaskel said. "It's just very stressful. A lot to do all at once."
Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/29/1605369/as-home-tax-break-expires-mad.html
By HANNAH SAMPSON
McClatchy Newspapers
He and his wife Samira have to move out of their rented home - and they want to find a house to buy. By Friday.
That's when the sun sets on a discount for the proverbial American dream, an $8,000 tax credit to first-time home buyers who have a contract signed by Friday and close by June 30. Repeat home buyers can claim a $6,500 credit under the same deadline.
"We have to act quickly," said Kaskel, 31, a guitar teacher. "And so we definitely haven't been resting a lot."
Neither have real estate agents, who have been working long past dark and fielding middle-of-the-night e-mails from buyers desperate to get their share of the billions of dollars that have been doled out nationwide.
"I feel like there's a big clock," said agent Lisa Dority, who has been working with a couple for the past two weeks to find the perfect home in time for the deadline. "Tick, tick."
No one can say how much of the recent increases in home sales can be traced to the credit, but everyone agrees there has been some effect. Likewise, it's hard to predict what will happen once the credit disappears.
Analysts say the credit has, at the least, prompted potential buyers to make their move earlier than they might have otherwise.
"Did we stimulate overall demand or did we just move it around? We don't know yet," said William Hardin, professor of finance and real estate at Florida International University. "We know we've had a lot of first-time home buyers in the market. We know that that's helped. The question is: Is anybody left?"
The National Association of Realtors projects that 2 million buyers will qualify for the credit in 2009 and another 900,000 in 2010. Another 1.5 million are anticipated to qualify for the $6,500 credit for repeat home buyers.
Spokesman Walter Molony said sales are expected to drop in July after the credit expires, but the association still expects levels to be above the previous year's as the market continues to balance out.
Already extended once, the credit has been dangled in some form since 2008 as an incentive to prop up the nation's deflated real estate market.
Combined with low interest rates and a glut of low-priced property on the market, the incentive seems to be doing its job.
Existing home sales in Miami-Dade jumped 17 percent in March compared to the previous year; in Broward, sales were up 8 percent. Prices are still creeping down as analysts predict a tumultuous real estate landscape is starting to stabilize. With one in 46 homes in South Florida in some stage of foreclosure, deals abound.
The Internal Revenue Service says that in tax returns processed through late February, 128,517 filers in Florida had qualified for more than $936 million in credits on homes bought in 2008 and 2009. Nationwide, nearly 1.8 million returns had claimed almost $12.7 billion.
A 2008 version of the credit was essentially a $7,500 loan. By 2009, that turned into a credit of 10 percent of the purchase price of the home up to $8,000. The deadline was extended last year to April 30.
Ellen Tremper, sales manager at Century 21 Tenace Realty in Coral Springs, Fla., said the office has been busy for the last few months. She said she wasn't sure how much of that could be linked to the credit.
"Part of me is a little nervous as to see what happens after April 30," she said. "That'll really be the telltale everything."
In the meantime, says agent Zoila Zamora-Cruz, "I'm like crazy looking for properties."
Zamora-Cruz said this week that she had four or five people searching for homes by Friday.
Her clients Jose Gutierrez and Blanca Norda got in on time; they are scheduled to close on their $107,000 Kendall, Fla.-area home Friday.
Gutierrez, 46, said they have been waiting for the right time to buy, since the couple and their two kids moved from Cuba in 2002.
"That's the American dream when you get over here, to own a house," he said. The tax credit, plus lower prices and an affordable mortgage made 2010 the best time for the family to buy.
"There's a moment for everything," Gutierrez said. "The opportunity, you have to wait for it."
Good properties that are priced right - around $200,000 - are "like gold right now," said Anthony Askowitz, a broker and owner of two Re/Max offices.
Askowitz showed the Kaskels a home listed for $299,000 in Kendall Thursday. He brought a contract along just in case.
After seeing the home, the couple signed an offer for more than the asking price. The seller verbally accepted late Thursday. All that's left to do is get the contract in hand.
"I feel great about it," Benjamin Kaskel said. "It's just very stressful. A lot to do all at once."
Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/29/1605369/as-home-tax-break-expires-mad.html
By HANNAH SAMPSON
McClatchy Newspapers
Friday, April 23, 2010
Sales Of Previously Owned Homes
FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO OUR WEBSITE
Sales of previously owned U.S. homes jumped 6.8 percent in March, a national group said Thursday.
Real estate agents have been counting on a spring surge brought on by an expanded and extended federal tax credit for buyers. The March sales pace reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.35 million units, up from 5.01 million in February and 16.1 percent above the 4.61-million-unit pace in March 2009, according to the National Association of Realtors in Washington.
Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the group, said the federal tax credit that was to expire at the end of this month had been a "resounding success."
Whether home sales will hold up after the expiration remains a question in debate.
"I'm fairly sanguine, frankly," said Michael D. Larson, a housing and interest-rate analyst with Weiss Research. "While the credit expires April 30, more forces are at work here. Home prices are now reasonable in many parts of the country, and financing costs remain low."
The national median home price was $170,700 last month, up 0.4 percent from the same month the prior year, the Realtors group said.
Regionally, sales of previously owned homes rose 6.6 percent in the West, 7.1 percent in the South, 7.2 percent in the Midwest and 6 percent in the East.
Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/22/1593001/sales-of-previously-owned-homes.html
By ALEJANDRO LAZO
Los Angeles Times
Sales of previously owned U.S. homes jumped 6.8 percent in March, a national group said Thursday.
Real estate agents have been counting on a spring surge brought on by an expanded and extended federal tax credit for buyers. The March sales pace reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.35 million units, up from 5.01 million in February and 16.1 percent above the 4.61-million-unit pace in March 2009, according to the National Association of Realtors in Washington.
Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the group, said the federal tax credit that was to expire at the end of this month had been a "resounding success."
Whether home sales will hold up after the expiration remains a question in debate.
"I'm fairly sanguine, frankly," said Michael D. Larson, a housing and interest-rate analyst with Weiss Research. "While the credit expires April 30, more forces are at work here. Home prices are now reasonable in many parts of the country, and financing costs remain low."
The national median home price was $170,700 last month, up 0.4 percent from the same month the prior year, the Realtors group said.
Regionally, sales of previously owned homes rose 6.6 percent in the West, 7.1 percent in the South, 7.2 percent in the Midwest and 6 percent in the East.
Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/22/1593001/sales-of-previously-owned-homes.html
By ALEJANDRO LAZO
Los Angeles Times
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
In Miami, Condo Sales Rise as Prices Bottom Out
FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO OUR WEBSITE
MIAMI — Though it overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and offers high-end amenities like a wine vault and a cigar humidor, the Caribbean condominium complex in Miami Beach seemed by last summer to be just another casualty of the glutted South Florida housing market.
The Caribbean in Miami Beach.
There were buyers for all 103 units in the complex, which includes a small renovated Art Deco building and a new glass tower, but only 14 had been willing to close. The rest had simply walked away from their deposits.
The Caribbean, at 37th Street and Collins Avenue, resulted in heavy losses for its developers, a partnership of Christa Development of Victor, N.Y., and Bluerock Real Estate of New York City, and its lender, the now-defunct Corus Bankshares of Chicago.
But it has reaped a nice profit for another real estate investor, Melohn Properties, also of New York City, which assumed control of the property after buying the $127.7 million mortgage from Corus last August. Melohn paid less than half the face value of the loan, according to the building’s broker, Diane Lieberman, the owner of SBI Realty in Miami Beach.
There are now just 15 units left at the Caribbean, Ms. Lieberman said. Originally priced around $1,100 a square foot, the condos are selling for an average of $600 a square foot, with those on a high floor with wraparound terraces selling at $750 a square foot. Most of the buyers paid cash, and all plan to use the condos themselves, she said.
Peter Zalewski, the owner of Condo Vultures, a brokerage firm that specializes in selling units in bulk, said a dozen other investors had taken a look at the Caribbean loan and passed. “Now they’re all having remorse,” he said.
Though the Miami market remains deeply troubled, it is no longer moribund, real estate specialists say. Activity is picking up, though buyers who intend to live in their units are primarily interested in top properties in the best locations, said Robert Kaplan, a principal of Olympian Capital Group, a real estate investment bank in Miami. Even though the Caribbean is opposite a stalled project and is north of South Beach, its ocean views and solid construction are attractive, he said.
Brokers say that South Beach, because of its glamorous night life and smaller inventory as well as its proximity to the ocean, continues to do much better than downtown, with its canyons of new high-rise condos.
From May through December last year, 1,000 new units sold in downtown Miami — an area from Brickell Avenue north to the Julia Tuttle Causeway — according to a study prepared for the Miami Downtown Development Authority, a quasi-independent city agency. But the majority of the buyers were investors, many of them from South America, real estate specialists said. And though occupancy in new downtown buildings increased to 74 percent from 68 percent, more than half of the new residents were renters, and 7,000 of the 22,000 new condo units built since 2003 remained unsold. Most are in the Brickell area, where much of the new construction is concentrated.
Since the study was completed, another 700 units have sold downtown, Mr. Zalewski said.
A big chunk of these sales were made at the Icon Brickell, a new 1,646-unit condominium complex that became a symbol of downtown excess because of features like as a $15 million entryway with 100 sculptured columns. By the end of last year, only 125 condos had sold, with an average price of $543 a square foot, Mr. Zalewski’s data shows.
Since January, however, 199 sales have closed at the complex, which is situated where the Miami River meets Biscayne Bay. But the average price in the first quarter was $404 a square foot and about 30 units have sold for less than $300 a square foot.
“In South America, a Brickell address is like a U.S. savings bond,” said Jay Massirman, a senior managing director of Related Group of Florida, which developed the complex. “They know that prices are not going any lower. He said buyers also know they are buying for less than it cost to build the units.
Over all, condo prices in Miami-Dade County have declined by 51 percent since 2007, when the median price was $275,000, said Ronald A. Shuffield, the president of Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell Realtors of Coral Gables. Last month, 2,381 condos in the county went to contract — nearly twice as many as in March 2009 — but the median price had slipped to $135,000, he said.
Still, the increase in sales may not translate into higher prices. With so many investment sales, many units will come back to the market when prices begin to rise, in turn keeping prices down, said Lewis M. Goodkin, a real estate analyst and a co-author of the downtown association’s report. “So we’re far from out of the woods,” Mr. Goodkin said. “I think we have a minimum of five years left before we have equilibrium in the market.”
Jack McCabe, a real estate consultant in Deerfield Beach, Fla., said rents had fallen so far that a new condo with 1,200 square feet could be leased for as little as $1,200 a month, less than what it cost most owners to cover their expenses. “The mini-boom is not creating a healthy real estate market,” he said.
But the influx of renters has meant that downtown no longer looks like a ghost town. More lights are on at night, and new shops and restaurants have opened. “It’s bringing a vibrancy to the downtown that we haven’t ever felt here,” said Alyce Robertson, the executive director of the downtown association. Two Publix supermarkets have been added to downtown since the mini-boom began. While some stores and restaurants closed during the recession, and a planned Whole Foods never materialized, the area had a net gain of 42 retailers in 2009, Ms. Robertson said.
Brokers said more owner-occupiers were in the market now that both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had loosened restrictions that made it harder for prospective buyers to get loans. Some condos in foreclosure had even received multiple bids, said Lucas Lechuga, a sales agent with Keller Williams Realty in Miami. Mr. Lechuga said one of his clients lost out on a one-bedroom condo at the Vue at Brickell in downtown Miami that was listed at $142,500 but sold for $225,000. Buyers do not seem deterred even in cases when the previous owner made off with the appliances, Mr. Lechuga said. “It’s crazy what I’ve been seeing in the last three months,” he said.
But anyone looking for a bargain at the Paramount Bay, at North East 21st Street and North Bayshore Drive, or at the new Mint, on the Miami River at South West Third Street, will have to wait. The two developments were part of Corus’s $5 billion national loan portfolio. Starwood Capital and several partners bought a 40 percent stake in the portfolio in January in a deal valued at $2.77 billion. “It will be some time before we are offering units for sale to the public at either property,” said Tom Johnson, a spokesman for Starwood, which is managing the portfolio.
To make the portfolio attractive, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation took a majority stake and provided $1 billion in interest-free financing.
“Our purchase price for Corus coupled with the unusual financing we have in place allows us to be very patient,” Barry Sternlicht, chief executive of Starwood, said in an e-mail message.
Craig A. Werley, the president of Focus Real Estate Advisors, a Miami consulting firm, and a co-author of the downtown study, said Starwood would be well-positioned in the future when other new buildings had sold out. “They are sitting in the
catbird seat.” he said.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/21/realestate/commercial/21miami.html
By TERRY PRISTIN
MIAMI — Though it overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and offers high-end amenities like a wine vault and a cigar humidor, the Caribbean condominium complex in Miami Beach seemed by last summer to be just another casualty of the glutted South Florida housing market.
The Caribbean in Miami Beach.
There were buyers for all 103 units in the complex, which includes a small renovated Art Deco building and a new glass tower, but only 14 had been willing to close. The rest had simply walked away from their deposits.
The Caribbean, at 37th Street and Collins Avenue, resulted in heavy losses for its developers, a partnership of Christa Development of Victor, N.Y., and Bluerock Real Estate of New York City, and its lender, the now-defunct Corus Bankshares of Chicago.
But it has reaped a nice profit for another real estate investor, Melohn Properties, also of New York City, which assumed control of the property after buying the $127.7 million mortgage from Corus last August. Melohn paid less than half the face value of the loan, according to the building’s broker, Diane Lieberman, the owner of SBI Realty in Miami Beach.
There are now just 15 units left at the Caribbean, Ms. Lieberman said. Originally priced around $1,100 a square foot, the condos are selling for an average of $600 a square foot, with those on a high floor with wraparound terraces selling at $750 a square foot. Most of the buyers paid cash, and all plan to use the condos themselves, she said.
Peter Zalewski, the owner of Condo Vultures, a brokerage firm that specializes in selling units in bulk, said a dozen other investors had taken a look at the Caribbean loan and passed. “Now they’re all having remorse,” he said.
Though the Miami market remains deeply troubled, it is no longer moribund, real estate specialists say. Activity is picking up, though buyers who intend to live in their units are primarily interested in top properties in the best locations, said Robert Kaplan, a principal of Olympian Capital Group, a real estate investment bank in Miami. Even though the Caribbean is opposite a stalled project and is north of South Beach, its ocean views and solid construction are attractive, he said.
Brokers say that South Beach, because of its glamorous night life and smaller inventory as well as its proximity to the ocean, continues to do much better than downtown, with its canyons of new high-rise condos.
From May through December last year, 1,000 new units sold in downtown Miami — an area from Brickell Avenue north to the Julia Tuttle Causeway — according to a study prepared for the Miami Downtown Development Authority, a quasi-independent city agency. But the majority of the buyers were investors, many of them from South America, real estate specialists said. And though occupancy in new downtown buildings increased to 74 percent from 68 percent, more than half of the new residents were renters, and 7,000 of the 22,000 new condo units built since 2003 remained unsold. Most are in the Brickell area, where much of the new construction is concentrated.
Since the study was completed, another 700 units have sold downtown, Mr. Zalewski said.
A big chunk of these sales were made at the Icon Brickell, a new 1,646-unit condominium complex that became a symbol of downtown excess because of features like as a $15 million entryway with 100 sculptured columns. By the end of last year, only 125 condos had sold, with an average price of $543 a square foot, Mr. Zalewski’s data shows.
Since January, however, 199 sales have closed at the complex, which is situated where the Miami River meets Biscayne Bay. But the average price in the first quarter was $404 a square foot and about 30 units have sold for less than $300 a square foot.
“In South America, a Brickell address is like a U.S. savings bond,” said Jay Massirman, a senior managing director of Related Group of Florida, which developed the complex. “They know that prices are not going any lower. He said buyers also know they are buying for less than it cost to build the units.
Over all, condo prices in Miami-Dade County have declined by 51 percent since 2007, when the median price was $275,000, said Ronald A. Shuffield, the president of Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell Realtors of Coral Gables. Last month, 2,381 condos in the county went to contract — nearly twice as many as in March 2009 — but the median price had slipped to $135,000, he said.
Still, the increase in sales may not translate into higher prices. With so many investment sales, many units will come back to the market when prices begin to rise, in turn keeping prices down, said Lewis M. Goodkin, a real estate analyst and a co-author of the downtown association’s report. “So we’re far from out of the woods,” Mr. Goodkin said. “I think we have a minimum of five years left before we have equilibrium in the market.”
Jack McCabe, a real estate consultant in Deerfield Beach, Fla., said rents had fallen so far that a new condo with 1,200 square feet could be leased for as little as $1,200 a month, less than what it cost most owners to cover their expenses. “The mini-boom is not creating a healthy real estate market,” he said.
But the influx of renters has meant that downtown no longer looks like a ghost town. More lights are on at night, and new shops and restaurants have opened. “It’s bringing a vibrancy to the downtown that we haven’t ever felt here,” said Alyce Robertson, the executive director of the downtown association. Two Publix supermarkets have been added to downtown since the mini-boom began. While some stores and restaurants closed during the recession, and a planned Whole Foods never materialized, the area had a net gain of 42 retailers in 2009, Ms. Robertson said.
Brokers said more owner-occupiers were in the market now that both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had loosened restrictions that made it harder for prospective buyers to get loans. Some condos in foreclosure had even received multiple bids, said Lucas Lechuga, a sales agent with Keller Williams Realty in Miami. Mr. Lechuga said one of his clients lost out on a one-bedroom condo at the Vue at Brickell in downtown Miami that was listed at $142,500 but sold for $225,000. Buyers do not seem deterred even in cases when the previous owner made off with the appliances, Mr. Lechuga said. “It’s crazy what I’ve been seeing in the last three months,” he said.
But anyone looking for a bargain at the Paramount Bay, at North East 21st Street and North Bayshore Drive, or at the new Mint, on the Miami River at South West Third Street, will have to wait. The two developments were part of Corus’s $5 billion national loan portfolio. Starwood Capital and several partners bought a 40 percent stake in the portfolio in January in a deal valued at $2.77 billion. “It will be some time before we are offering units for sale to the public at either property,” said Tom Johnson, a spokesman for Starwood, which is managing the portfolio.
To make the portfolio attractive, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation took a majority stake and provided $1 billion in interest-free financing.
“Our purchase price for Corus coupled with the unusual financing we have in place allows us to be very patient,” Barry Sternlicht, chief executive of Starwood, said in an e-mail message.
Craig A. Werley, the president of Focus Real Estate Advisors, a Miami consulting firm, and a co-author of the downtown study, said Starwood would be well-positioned in the future when other new buildings had sold out. “They are sitting in the
catbird seat.” he said.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/21/realestate/commercial/21miami.html
By TERRY PRISTIN
Monday, April 19, 2010
Promising sign for new homes
FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO OUR WEBSITE
Housing construction posted a better-than-expected performance in March, rising to the highest level in 16 months.
The gain was due solely to multifamily homes, which account for less than 20 percent of the market.
The Commerce Department report Friday said construction of single-family homes, the most important segment of the market, fell 0.9 percent to an annual rate of 531,000 units. But permits for single-family construction, a gauge of future activity, were up.
The increase in housing starts tempered news this week from RealtyTrac that a record number of U.S. homes were lost to foreclosure in the first three months of the year.
The low selling prices of those foreclosed homes have put builders at a disadvantage, held back hiring in the construction industry and helped restrain the broader economic recovery.
The Commerce report Friday said overall construction rose 1.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 626,000. That was higher than the 610,000 level economists expected.
In addition, the government revised February's numbers to show a 1.1 percent gain rather than the initially reported drop of 5.9 percent.
Applications for building permits rose 7.5 percent to an annual rate of 685,000.
The weakness in single-family construction was offset by an 18.8 percent surge in the smaller multifamily sector, which rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 95,000 units.
Analysts do not expect this strength to continue given a multitude of problems facing commercial real estate, including high apartment vacancy rates and rising foreclosures of commercial properties.
Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/17/1583699/promising-sign-for-new-homes.html
BY MARTIN CRUTSINGER
Housing construction posted a better-than-expected performance in March, rising to the highest level in 16 months.
The gain was due solely to multifamily homes, which account for less than 20 percent of the market.
The Commerce Department report Friday said construction of single-family homes, the most important segment of the market, fell 0.9 percent to an annual rate of 531,000 units. But permits for single-family construction, a gauge of future activity, were up.
The increase in housing starts tempered news this week from RealtyTrac that a record number of U.S. homes were lost to foreclosure in the first three months of the year.
The low selling prices of those foreclosed homes have put builders at a disadvantage, held back hiring in the construction industry and helped restrain the broader economic recovery.
The Commerce report Friday said overall construction rose 1.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 626,000. That was higher than the 610,000 level economists expected.
In addition, the government revised February's numbers to show a 1.1 percent gain rather than the initially reported drop of 5.9 percent.
Applications for building permits rose 7.5 percent to an annual rate of 685,000.
The weakness in single-family construction was offset by an 18.8 percent surge in the smaller multifamily sector, which rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 95,000 units.
Analysts do not expect this strength to continue given a multitude of problems facing commercial real estate, including high apartment vacancy rates and rising foreclosures of commercial properties.
Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/17/1583699/promising-sign-for-new-homes.html
BY MARTIN CRUTSINGER
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Provisions expected to spark South Florida market
FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO OUR WEBSITE
Two bills that supporters say will help bolster Florida’s condo market are one step away from becoming law.
House Bill 561 and Senate Bill 840 have been approved by committees that needed to review the bills before they are sent to the Senate and House for a final vote.
A key element of both bills: Bulk buyers of condominiums won’t be held liable for construction defects or other problems related to the project’s original developer.
Industry experts say this will help move unsold units in many new or converted condo projects in the region.
State laws put developer liabilities onto any investor that acquires multiple units in a project.
“Successor developer liability is a huge concern for any bulk buyer because they are stepping into the shoes of the developer,” said David Metalonis, a Colliers Abood Wood-Fay broker who represents sellers and buyers in bulk condo deals.
“[Buyers] are extremely hesitant to step into to those shoes and that risk is factored in the price.”
Peter Zalewski of CondoVultures said if the provision passes, it could bring more institutional buyers into the bulk condo market.
“I don’t think it’s going to have that much of an impact on private equity investors — they are the ones that have been closing bulk deals — because their mentality is no judge would rule against them and call them a developer,” Zalewski said.
“But the institutional investors — those who want to spend a minimum of $25 million, the hedge funds, the pensions funds — tend to be more focused on fundamentals. I’ve talked to many hedge funds that want to get in the game, but there is no way they can overcome the liability issues. That is why you haven’t seen institutional [bulk condo] deals.”
If they become law, the bills could also be an incentive for institutional lenders to start financing bulk condo deals, he said. The additional lending options and the potential influx of institutional buyers into the condo market could also increase the price of bulk deals by as much as 15 percent, said Zalewski, a former reporter for the Daily Business Review.
Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, said she is pleased Senate Bill 840 “has soared through its three committees with unanimous ‘yes’ votes.”
“I am confident that the Senate will act quickly to approve this good bill,” she said in a prepared statement. “SB 840 has bipartisan support and provides an immediate stimulus to Florida’s condominium market.”
HB 561 and SB 840 are two of a number of bills that included “distressed buyer language” to relieve bulk buyers of liability in this years legislative session.
“A lot of lenders, developers and associations want it to pass,” said Donna Berger, a community association attorney who helped draft HB 561 and other related bills.
Rep. Maria Lorts Sachs, D-Delray Beach, who co-sponsored HB 561, said it is essential to the economic recovery of South Florida.
“Sometimes we have to take to steps back in order to make things fit to this economy,” she said. “If that means going back on laws that we passed a couple years ago, so be it. We need to reflect the needs of this economy and do whatever it takes to bring back our market and give relief to unit owners who are suffering.”
The house bill would block condo associations from requiring individual owners to purchase casualty insurance. It also extends to 2019 the deadline for condo associations to add sprinkler systems to older buildings. The previous deadline was 2014.
Buildings with four stories or fewer would be exempt from the state-mandated retrofitting. Previously all buildings were subject to having sprinklers installed.
“The main goal of 561 is to provide more relief for struggling associations,” Berger said.
Berger said that retrofitting costs can average $10,000 in special assessments for each unit owners, depending on the size of the development.
Opponents of the bill include fire marshals and firefighters, inspection industry groups and the sprinkler industry. They claim the retrofitting of sprinklers is a safety issue.
Last year, Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed a similar bill and has said he would likely do the same this year for any bill that tried to push back the deadline to add fire sprinklers.
Berger said she met with the governor several weeks ago regarding the issue.
“I explained to him this is a billion-dollar issue for the sprinkler industry and that the state of Florida is the only state that did not make provisions for existing buildings” to be grandfathered in, she said. “It’s our strong hope that we opened his eyes.”
Source: http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/news.html?news_id=61750
Polyana da Costa can be reached at (561) 820-2065.
Two bills that supporters say will help bolster Florida’s condo market are one step away from becoming law.
House Bill 561 and Senate Bill 840 have been approved by committees that needed to review the bills before they are sent to the Senate and House for a final vote.
A key element of both bills: Bulk buyers of condominiums won’t be held liable for construction defects or other problems related to the project’s original developer.
Industry experts say this will help move unsold units in many new or converted condo projects in the region.
State laws put developer liabilities onto any investor that acquires multiple units in a project.
“Successor developer liability is a huge concern for any bulk buyer because they are stepping into the shoes of the developer,” said David Metalonis, a Colliers Abood Wood-Fay broker who represents sellers and buyers in bulk condo deals.
“[Buyers] are extremely hesitant to step into to those shoes and that risk is factored in the price.”
Peter Zalewski of CondoVultures said if the provision passes, it could bring more institutional buyers into the bulk condo market.
“I don’t think it’s going to have that much of an impact on private equity investors — they are the ones that have been closing bulk deals — because their mentality is no judge would rule against them and call them a developer,” Zalewski said.
“But the institutional investors — those who want to spend a minimum of $25 million, the hedge funds, the pensions funds — tend to be more focused on fundamentals. I’ve talked to many hedge funds that want to get in the game, but there is no way they can overcome the liability issues. That is why you haven’t seen institutional [bulk condo] deals.”
If they become law, the bills could also be an incentive for institutional lenders to start financing bulk condo deals, he said. The additional lending options and the potential influx of institutional buyers into the condo market could also increase the price of bulk deals by as much as 15 percent, said Zalewski, a former reporter for the Daily Business Review.
Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, said she is pleased Senate Bill 840 “has soared through its three committees with unanimous ‘yes’ votes.”
“I am confident that the Senate will act quickly to approve this good bill,” she said in a prepared statement. “SB 840 has bipartisan support and provides an immediate stimulus to Florida’s condominium market.”
HB 561 and SB 840 are two of a number of bills that included “distressed buyer language” to relieve bulk buyers of liability in this years legislative session.
“A lot of lenders, developers and associations want it to pass,” said Donna Berger, a community association attorney who helped draft HB 561 and other related bills.
Rep. Maria Lorts Sachs, D-Delray Beach, who co-sponsored HB 561, said it is essential to the economic recovery of South Florida.
“Sometimes we have to take to steps back in order to make things fit to this economy,” she said. “If that means going back on laws that we passed a couple years ago, so be it. We need to reflect the needs of this economy and do whatever it takes to bring back our market and give relief to unit owners who are suffering.”
The house bill would block condo associations from requiring individual owners to purchase casualty insurance. It also extends to 2019 the deadline for condo associations to add sprinkler systems to older buildings. The previous deadline was 2014.
Buildings with four stories or fewer would be exempt from the state-mandated retrofitting. Previously all buildings were subject to having sprinklers installed.
“The main goal of 561 is to provide more relief for struggling associations,” Berger said.
Berger said that retrofitting costs can average $10,000 in special assessments for each unit owners, depending on the size of the development.
Opponents of the bill include fire marshals and firefighters, inspection industry groups and the sprinkler industry. They claim the retrofitting of sprinklers is a safety issue.
Last year, Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed a similar bill and has said he would likely do the same this year for any bill that tried to push back the deadline to add fire sprinklers.
Berger said she met with the governor several weeks ago regarding the issue.
“I explained to him this is a billion-dollar issue for the sprinkler industry and that the state of Florida is the only state that did not make provisions for existing buildings” to be grandfathered in, she said. “It’s our strong hope that we opened his eyes.”
Source: http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/news.html?news_id=61750
Polyana da Costa can be reached at (561) 820-2065.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Caribbean Miami Beach gets new owner
A New York City investor is the new owner of the Caribbean Miami Beach condominium.
The buyer, an affiliate of New York City-based Melohn Properties, bought the mortgage from ailing Corus Bank.
The Chicago-based bank (NASDAQ: CORS) had given Caribbean Group Owners a $127.7 million mortgage to renovate the hotel into a 103-unit oceanfront condominium at 3737 Collins Ave., in Miami Beach. The developer, a partnership between Christa Development and Bluerock Real Estate, had sold just 13 units since July 2008.
Corus Bank, which faces a risk of failure under the weight of delinquent condo construction loans, sold its mortgage on Aug. 19 to 3737 Caribbean Partners. A source familiar with the deal said that Corus Bank had previously offered the note for sale at between $50 million and $55 million.
Christa Development VP Frank Christa said the developers have voluntarily turned over the Caribbean Miami Beach to the new lender.
“The new lender is in charge of it,” said Christa, who noted that no foreclosure lawsuit was filed.
Marcela Catapano Criscito, a real estate agent hired by the owner of the Caribbean Miami Beach to sell units, concurred.
The Caribbean Miami Beach was designed by architect Kobi Karp, with interiors designed by Christopher Ciccone, the brother of pop star Madonna. It has a heated infinity-edge swimming pool, spa, sun deck, billiard lounge, fitness center, wine vault, cigar humidor and 24-hour concierge service.
Units were priced from $500,000 to $8 million. They are divided between the renovated six-story building, with 35 units, and a new 19-story tower, with 68 units.
Condo VulturesCEO Peter Zalewski called the Caribbean Miami Beach the crown jewel of Corus Bank’s loan portfolio. With its strong location and quality design, it can probably have its units sell for between $450 and $550 a square foot, he said. He added that the 13 sales that were closed at Caribbean Miami Beach by the developer went for an average of $848 per square foot. Those sales generated $21.4 million in revenue.
For more information check the website http://www.buymiami.net/
“The owner will flip these units immediately,” Zalewski said. “They probably have the ability to burn through most of them during the tourism season.”
Zalewski, who has looked at the project on behalf of potential buyers, said Corus Bank could not have made this deal without the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. signing off on it. At least six groups were competing to take it over, he said.
“The Caribbean was the most desirable bulk play in South Beach because so few projects there were in distress,” Zalewski said.
A Melohn Properties official was not immediately available for comment.
For more information check the website http://www.buymiami.net/
Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2009/08/31/daily66.html
Brian Bandell
Labels: condominiums, houses, miami beach, south beach
The buyer, an affiliate of New York City-based Melohn Properties, bought the mortgage from ailing Corus Bank.
The Chicago-based bank (NASDAQ: CORS) had given Caribbean Group Owners a $127.7 million mortgage to renovate the hotel into a 103-unit oceanfront condominium at 3737 Collins Ave., in Miami Beach. The developer, a partnership between Christa Development and Bluerock Real Estate, had sold just 13 units since July 2008.
Corus Bank, which faces a risk of failure under the weight of delinquent condo construction loans, sold its mortgage on Aug. 19 to 3737 Caribbean Partners. A source familiar with the deal said that Corus Bank had previously offered the note for sale at between $50 million and $55 million.
Christa Development VP Frank Christa said the developers have voluntarily turned over the Caribbean Miami Beach to the new lender.
“The new lender is in charge of it,” said Christa, who noted that no foreclosure lawsuit was filed.
Marcela Catapano Criscito, a real estate agent hired by the owner of the Caribbean Miami Beach to sell units, concurred.
The Caribbean Miami Beach was designed by architect Kobi Karp, with interiors designed by Christopher Ciccone, the brother of pop star Madonna. It has a heated infinity-edge swimming pool, spa, sun deck, billiard lounge, fitness center, wine vault, cigar humidor and 24-hour concierge service.
Units were priced from $500,000 to $8 million. They are divided between the renovated six-story building, with 35 units, and a new 19-story tower, with 68 units.
Condo VulturesCEO Peter Zalewski called the Caribbean Miami Beach the crown jewel of Corus Bank’s loan portfolio. With its strong location and quality design, it can probably have its units sell for between $450 and $550 a square foot, he said. He added that the 13 sales that were closed at Caribbean Miami Beach by the developer went for an average of $848 per square foot. Those sales generated $21.4 million in revenue.
For more information check the website http://www.buymiami.net/
“The owner will flip these units immediately,” Zalewski said. “They probably have the ability to burn through most of them during the tourism season.”
Zalewski, who has looked at the project on behalf of potential buyers, said Corus Bank could not have made this deal without the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. signing off on it. At least six groups were competing to take it over, he said.
“The Caribbean was the most desirable bulk play in South Beach because so few projects there were in distress,” Zalewski said.
A Melohn Properties official was not immediately available for comment.
For more information check the website http://www.buymiami.net/
Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2009/08/31/daily66.html
Brian Bandell
Labels: condominiums, houses, miami beach, south beach
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