Six New Condo Towers Representing 1,350 New Units Now Planned for South Florida

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(MIAMI, FL) -- According to a new report from Bal-Harbour based Condo Vultures, despite more than 5,400 new high-rise condos still unsold in South Florida at the end of the second quarter of 2011, nearly 1,350 new condo units are being planned - and in one case constructed - for the region's seven largest coastal markets.

As of Sept. 6, 2011, developers have announced plans to develop three new towers in Miami-Dade County, one project in Broward County, and a two-tower project in Palm Beach County, according to the Condo Vultures.

A sixth project - the Sky Palace at Mary Brickell Village located in Greater Downtown Miami - that began presales prior to the South Florida real estate crash is actively working with plans to initiate construction, according to Condo Vultures

Developers are betting that some of the same buyers who are currently flooding into South Florida looking for deals on existing units will instead opt to purchase a significant chunk of the nearly 180 floors of new condos being proposed for the tricounty region, industry watchers said.

The only new project to begin vertical construction to date is the proposed 23 Biscayne Bay condo located in the Biscayne Bay Corridor of Greater Downtown Miami.

The developer - a private equity group from Argentina - is building the project without financing, and plans to rent any units that it cannot sell once the project is completed sometime in the third quarter of 2012, according to Condo Vultures.

All of the other projects are at various stages of the planning and preparation process for vertical construction.

At the end of the first quarter of 2011, nearly 6,800 condominium units - some 14 percent of the total new inventory - created near the coast in the tricounty South Florida region during the real estate boom are still not sold as of March 31, 2011.

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 one day resell the units at a premium.

Developers created nearly 250 projects with 49,000 units since 2003 in the seven largest condo markets east of Interstate 95 in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties during the boom.

In the four decades prior to the boom, developers created nearly 700 condominium projects with more than 76,500 units in the same seven coastal markets of Greater Downtown Miami, South Beach, Sunny Isles Beach, Downtown Fort Lauderdale and the Beach, Hollywood / Hallandale Beach, Downtown West Palm Beach and Palm Beach Island, and Boca Raton / Deerfield Beach, according to Condo Vultures.

It is important to note there are various stages to a residential real estate transaction in South Florida.

A transaction begins when a property is made available for sale and ends when a title is conveyed from one party to another party as a result of the recording of a deed with the local government.

As part of the process, a property typically goes under contract and into a due diligence phase by which a deal can be canceled.

Condo Vultures new condo sales report is based on completed transactions where a deed is recorded and taxes paid as a result of the sale.

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