South Florida building sales show rise over early 2009

Click image for larger version (Source: Real Capital Analytics)

South Florida saw a promising level of building sales activity in the
first quarter of this year, with a near 50 percent increase in total
sales compared to the same period of 2009, according to data compiled
by Real Capital Analytics for The Real Deal.  

The three counties of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach collectively
saw $512 million in total sales in the first quarter, up from $345
million a year ago during the midst of Wall Street’s meltdown.  

Still, the numbers largely fell from a high-flying fourth quarter of
2009, when building sales broke the billion-dollar mark, hitting $1.27
billion.

Breaking down the three counties during the first quarter of this year,
Miami-Dade led with $264 million in sales in the first quarter, up 40
percent from a year earlier. Broward clocked in second with $156
million in sales and Palm Beach finished third with $91 million in
sales.

The best performing sector was Miami’s retail market, which, after just
$10.6 million in sales in the first quarter of 2009, jumped nearly
fivefold, to $67.6 million in the first quarter of 2010. Miami’s hotel
sector also jumped nearly fourfold in total dollar volume of sales.

“I think across South Florida, we will continue to see a rise in all
asset sales, albeit at prices that are much less than the years
before,” said Michael Fay, president of Colliers Abood Wood-Fay, which
makes its transition to the new moniker Colliers International
tomorrow. “Prices will probably continue to deteriorate for the next
year or two, depending on what type of sale has occurred, i.e.
distressed sale or regular open-market sale.”

Broward County industrial sales saw the greatest decline year-over-year
of all sales categories, dropping from $21.2 million in the first
quarter of 2009 to $6.7 million in the first quarter of this year.