The Real Deal‘s South Florida Market Report is here. In it, we look at some of that region’s biggest commercial and residential deals, and as well as its key dealmakers. We also dish with the Donald, discuss Miami’s ”LeBron effect,” and delve into Latin American buyers’ impact on the South Florida market. To see the complete supplement, check the South Florida section on our November issue page. In addition, The Real Deal will be hosting a roundtable discussion and party at the Vizcayne condo tower in downtown Miami on the evening of Nov. 15. Details are here.

New York City

Trulia’s chief economist, in a Forbes column, wrote that the number of foreign buyers who are searching for U.S. homes have dipped 10 percent year-over-year. “Foreign searches are becoming a smaller slice of a growing pie,” he wrote, noting that domestic price increases, as well as interest falling off from would-be buyers in the crisis countries in the Eurozone, are deterring the site’s foreign visitors. [more]

Senada Adzem and the St. Regis Bal Harbour

From the South Florida site: An undisclosed buyer has closed on the $24.6 million purchase of a combination of five units at the St. Regis Bal Harbour, The Real Deal has learned. It is the single-largest transaction at the St. Regis Bal Harbour, which officially opened its doors in January. Considered as one unit, the deal is the second-largest condominium sale in Miami-Dade County, following the $25 million purchase of a unit by an Italian buyer at South Beach’s Continuum in May. [more]

436 East 58th Street and a rendering of MyBrickell

From the South Florida website: Miami-based brokerage International Sales Group has opened an office in New York City, the firm announced today. The company, whose portfolio includes downtown Miami’s MyBrickell, Vizcayne and the Apogee Beach in Hollywood, has taken a space at 436 East 58th Street in Turtle Bay. Northeast native Ken Golden has been tapped to head the new office. The company said it made the move to focus on New Yorkers interested in buying property in Florida. [more]

Miami and Fort Lauderdale are both among the most-searched-for cities by those looking to buy homes nationwide, the Miami Herald reported. Numbers from Realtor.com showed that Fort Lauderdale ranked 17th, and Miami ranked 18th. Another Florida metro area, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, was ranked fifth. [more]

Downtown Miami

From the South Florida website: Sao Paulo. Caracas. Mexico City. Toronto. Buyers from cities like those have been driving Miami’s residential market since the worst of the condominium bust. And although it was largely overshadowed in the foreign buyer shuffle, New York City residents are heading back to Florida with money in hand.

“[New York buyers] are very, very real and very active,” said Phil Spiegelman, principal of brokerage ISG. “It’s tangible, and it’s happening at properties across the board.” [more]

The Ritz-Carlton Residences Palm Beach

From the South Florida website: New York and South Florida’s residential market was buoyed by an influx of foreigners last year. But a new player could be emerging from the Far East: China. Generally, Chinese buyers like to purchase where there is already an entrenched Chinese community, with Chinese people and Chinese restaurants — something which New York has, but South Florida lacks right now, said South Florida-based Coldwell Banker Realtor Jeanne Nicastri. But they’re also influenced by their friends, she said, and the more Chinese buyers that decide to make the move, the more that could join them. “Although [South Florida is] a long way from China, we have become very trendy, and we’re on the trendy map,” Nicastri said. “Since they’re already involved in New York, and Miami is an offshoot of New York, that’s what’s driving them to come here.” [more]

From the South Florida website: The New York metro area has the nation’s second-highest level of
interest in Miami real estate after Fort Lauderdale, according to
Trulia’s Metro Mover Index. While more Miamians are looking to move out
of the city, New Yorkers have their hearts set on the Magic City,
according to data on Trulia.com page views. Fort Lauderdale is the top
search destination on Trulia.com for people living in Miami. [Miami
New Times]… [more]

From the South Florida website: On the heels of Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Howard Lorber announcing a Miami expansion to a new office at the 1111 Lincoln project in South Beach, The Real Deal met with Elliman’s SOBE Luxury Homes brokers Christian Kawas and Ivan Hernandez at one of their listings, 1900 Sunset Harbour in Miami Beach. We talked to the brokers about the improving South Beach market, how downtown Miami is performing better than people think and the way they work with their Elliman counterparts in New York…. [more]

While hotel occupancies are up, it’s been a rough go of it for
Florida’s lodging industry of late. But a few new hotels are due to open
on Miami Beach, and they all have one thing in common: Luigi Vitalini. The
Italian-born architect moved to Miami as a teenager and studied at the
University of Miami. He operates VC Architects in Coral Gables with
partner Pablo Corazzini, and has designed the already-open Sense Hotel,
along with the soon-to-open Prime Hotel and Villa Italia, which will
open in the fall. The hotels are low-scale, between 14 and 18 rooms
each. Vitalini spoke with The Real Deal about his projects and
the state of design in Miami.  

How does Miami hotel design compare with New York?
I do
think a lot of the hotels that we’ve been getting here in Miami are
starting to become comparable, in terms of creativity, with some of the
New York hotels. They’re starting to do a lot of design, more quirky
than in New York. I think in Miami with the sun and the beaches you can
get a little more playful in general…. [more]