More than 90% of the nearly 49,000 condominium units built in South Florida since the real estate boom began in 2003 have been sold. But that still leaves about 4,700 units to go.
Fueled by 700 new condo sales in the third quarter, sales in the region's seven largest coastal markets reached nearly 2,600 units for the year-to-date, according to CondoVultures, a consulting firm headquartered in Bal Harbour.
“South Florida's oversupply of new condo product created during the recent boom is on pace to be sold out by 2013,” reported Peter Zalewski, a CondoVultures principal, adding that international buyers from countries with strong currencies are largely responsible for the surge in sales.
The total number of unsold new condos does not include any of the more than 8,000 units that were purchased in bulk transactions by investment groups that plan to eventually resell the units at a premium. The figure also does not include any of the some 4,000 units in the 20 new properties that have been proposed for the region. At least two of those projects have started construction.
During the South Florida real estate boom, developers with bank financing created 148 projects with more than 34,000 units in the three Miami-Dade County markets of Greater Downtown Miami, South Beach, and Sunny Isles Beach, according to the consulting firm.
An additional 68 projects with more than 10,000 units were created in two Broward County markets of Hollywood / Hallandale Beach and Downtown Fort Lauderdale and the Beach. And developers created 28 projects with nearly 4,500 units in the two Palm Beach County markets of Boca Raton / Deerfield Beach and Downtown West Palm Beach and Palm Beach Island.
In the four decades prior to the boom, developers put up nearly 700 condominium projects with 76,500 units in the same seven coastal markets in South Florida.
