With a report that five more condominium properties are now planned for South Florida—bringing the total number of new projects either built, underway or on the drawing boards to 152 since the real estate crash—comes some even more eye-popping news about prices in the three-county market.
South Florida has cruised past its condo bust years and has entered a real estate stratosphere that has not been seen in the United States outside of New York and California's celebrity neighborhoods, according to the popular consumer website, TopTenRealEstateDeals.com.
"If you have the money, it seems that there is a new project somewhere on Florida's Gold Coast that is offering something new, unique and very expensive," says the sites marketing coordinator, Terry Walsh.
In the tri-county's most expensive areas, it is almost impossible to find anything new priced under $1 million. Prices generally start at about $1.1 million and go up to $55 million.
The Mansions at Acqualina in Sunny Isles features the $55 million apartment, a penthouse with retractable glass walls overlooking the Atlantic, a 25-foot waterfall and glass pool, leather walls, six bedrooms, a sky garden and an indoor-outdoor theater. Other units in the property, which is being built by the Trump Group (not Donald), start at a more modest $8 million.
Just down the street, construction has started at Porsche Design Tower, where your Porsche—or any other vehicle—will ride with you in an elevator that opens to your living room. Here, prices start at about $5 million for 4,200 square feet and go up to $32 million for the penthouse.
For those prices, you will not only have a sky garage but also two ground-level parking spaces, plunge pools, a goof simulator, summer kitchens for outdoor cooking, ballrooms, a four-car virtual race simulator and a 10,000-foot display are for car collectors. The place is said to be 70% sold with delivery slated for December 2015.
You can skip the car lift and land on a helicopter pad and private lounge at One Thousand Museum, designed by Zaha Hadid, the first woman to win the Prtizker prize for architecture. Half and full-floor residences start at $4.3 million and run up to $12.25 million. Although the place won't be finished until 2017, it is already 50% reserved.
According to Walsh, much of the demand is coming from international purchasers, who see Florida as "a huge bargain." Some developments are spending the majority of their ad dollars outside the United States and are selling out before the first shovel hits the sand, she reports.
Meanwhile, less than 2,150 new condo units remain unsold from a supply of nearly 49,000 units created since 2003 in
Lew Sichelman is an independent journalist who has been covering housing and mortgage markets for more than 40 years.
