Record Breaking 22,000 Residential Units Under Contract in South Florida

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For the first time in at least 18 months, buyers have more than 22,000 resale residences under contract in the tricounty South Florida region, establishing a new benchmark in recent times for pending deals waiting to close, according to Condo Vultures.

Buyers have nearly 10,000 single-family houses and 12,000 condos and townhouses under contract in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties. The current number of pending sales represents a 138 percent increase compared to November 2008 when CondoVultures first began tracking contracts on a weekly basis using Florida Association of Realtors data.

These pending sales totals do not reflect contracts that have been entered into by developers who are privately marketing their own product, according to Condo Vultures.

"Investors and primary users prompted by deep discounts and government incentives are steadily moving into the market to purchase residential real estate," said Peter Zalewski, a principal with the Bal Harbour, Fla.-based Condo Vultures, LLC. "Just a year and a half ago, there were only 9,200 properties under contract in South Florida. Today, buyers in some cases are competing and ultimately paying more than the original asking prices for distressed properties being offloaded by banks."

Nearly half - about 46 percent - of the current pending contracts are in Miami-Dade County, which is home to Aventura, Miami Beach, and Sunny Isles Beach. Condos and townhouses account for more than 5,800 pending deals while single-family houses represent an additional 4,500 contracts, according to the report.

Broward County, which is home to Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, and Pompano Beach, accounts for 38 percent of the pending contracts. Nearly 4,700 condos and townhouses are designated as pending sales in Broward County while nearly 3,800 single-family houses are under contract, according to the report.

In Palm Beach County, which is home to Boca Raton, Delray Beach, and West Palm Beach, there are currently about 3,500 residences under contract. The pending deals for condos and townhouses total nearly 1,800 while some 1,700 single-family houses are under contract, according to Condo Vultures.

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