Ritz-Carlton Residences Palm Beach

From the South Florida website: With much of the world still in a real estate winter, Miami’s quick-moving
market is making developers and brokerage firms compete for the
residential projects that are left, with a series of incentives. Brokerages and developers are offering everything from increases in
commissions to iPads to luxury vacations to help ramp up sales. With inventory dropping drastically, developers and brokers are doing
what they can to compete for sales. “What happened in our little piece of the world — we’re enjoying
probably an anomaly as related to the rest of the real estate market,”
said Philip Spiegelman, chairman of ISG, which recently joined with
developer Jorge Perez to form a new sales company, Related
ISG. “Things are selling rapidly across the board, principally to
buyers from Latin America.” [more]

New Yorkers are buying at Canyon Ranch in Miami

From the South Florida website: In a departure from the general trend of foreigners purchasing in Miami, Canyon Ranch Miami Beach has seen a surge in sales, led by a substantial number of buyers from New York City. According to Michael Sadov, the sales director at Canyon Ranch, the property has sold 82 out of 433 units since October 2010, roughly a year after the project changed hands. Although he would not release the exact sales figures, Sadov estimated the total volume at around $75 million. [more]

From the South Florida website: It began almost two years ago, with one of the first bulk purchases since the downturn. Shaul Moshal purchased 26 units at Pembroke Pines’ La Via condominium for $1.4 million in January 2009.The Israelis are part of a growing trend of foreign buyers driving the residential market, as Canadians and Brazilians have been notably moving in on the South Florida region. Since the Pembroke Pines purchase, Israeli investors have been searching South Florida for deals — especially those they can do in bulk, with some dealing directly with fellow Israeli developers. “It’s interesting, there’s definitely an uptick [in Israeli investment],” said Eddy Fernandez, CEO of Worldwide Development Services, a Miami-based residential brokerage firm. “They want to invest here, and they want to be here.” [more]

From the South Florida website: Reluctant
banks have led to a new wave of buyers in Miami Beach real estate –
those looking for quick, all-cash deals. With financing not just
difficult to obtain but also time-consuming, sellers are looking to
move their homes faster, and buyers, with cash lining their pockets,
are ready to move on deals. As has been the trend in Miami Beach, the
new all-cash buyers are Europeans armed with easily accessible funds
and are eager for quick deals on higher-end properties. “With the state
of the market being what it is, it’s typically a 30- to 60-day process
for financing,” said Peter Zalewski, founder of Condo Vultures Realty.
“If you want to come in with financing, you’re going to have to put in
a 15 to 20 percent premium. The seller would rather take less money and
move it in 20 days.”

[more]

Prices for Miami real estate have dropped as much as 43 percent from the 2006 peak

From the February issue:
For some Manhattan renters, buying a second home is coming before buying a first. While New York real estate has seen severe discounts (Manhattan prices are down roughly 20 percent from their peak), some New Yorkers are going to real estate markets like Miami or the Hamptons that have been burned by even deeper discounts. In the Hamptons, prices have dropped as much as 30 percent since 2006, said Barbara Weber, managing director of Nest Seekers International in the Hamptons. In Miami they have dropped as much as 43 percent, compared to the city’s historic high in 2006, according to Peter Zalewski, a broker with the Bal Harbour-based Condo Vultures Realty. “You can literally buy five condos in Miami for the price of one in New York,” said Ron Shuffield, president of EWM Realtors in Miami. New Yorkers are also taking advantage of foreclosures and short sales in the Miami-Dade area, said Alfredo Vizcarrondo, president of the AV Group in Doral, a real estate company. “In the last quarter of the year, there [was] increased interest from New Yorkers,” said Vizcarrondo. He said he recently closed on properties in Miami’s Brickell area and in Aventura for prices as low as $160,000.  [more]