Miami Enjoys a Flurry of High End Sales

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While headlines focus on the towers of empty condos, Miami has been posting some big-dollar sales.

Last week a "German businessman" paid $16 million for a new 17,200-square-foot, 10-bedroom house in Miami Beach. The developer built the house as a spec property in 2008, which was, to say the least, unfortunate timing.

The waterfront house, which includes two docks and a five-car garage, originally hit the market at $25 million, according to the Miami Herald.

The $16 million is believed to be the biggest luxury sale of the year, so far, and the priciest since Shaquille O'Neal sold his Star Island property for $16 million (after originally listing it for $32 million). The second biggest sale this year was a Coral Gables house, which sold in March for $14.1 million, local luxury specialist Kevin Tomlinson notes.

Meanwhile, a 7,800-square-foot penthouse in the 67-story Marquis Residences recently sold for $4.2 million, which the developers are touting as "the most expensive condo ever sold in downtown Miami's Biscayne Corridor." The four-story condo includes the "highest terrace and hot tub in Florida," they say.

The sale may not have hit the gaudy numbers of yesteryear, but any condo sale not related to lender repossession is good news for the market, providing evidence that buyers are ready to pull the trigger.

Latest Miami sales numbers showed an eight percent jump the median sales price for single family homes, the first increase in three years, according to the Realtor Association of Greater Miami and the Beaches and the Southeast Florida Multiple Listing Service (SEFMLS). The median price for condos was down a "negligible" three percent in April, suggesting the market may at least be stabilizing.

The number of sales in Miami has been steadily increasing for the last 21 months, RAMB notes. In April, the number of condos sold was 33 percent higher than a year earlier, a 111.4 percent jump from the dark days of 2008.

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