Tailoring interior design to a foreign palate

Residential developers are customizing interior design to suit the tastes of overseas buyers, the Wall Street Journal reported.

A California designer’s earthy wood accents were not enough of a lure for would-be buyers to the Marquis Residences, a luxury 306-unit Miami condo tower. But when Brazilian furniture designer Paulo Bacchi outfitted the building with white leather and sandstone tiles, sales soared, with 30 percent of buyers from Brazil, the Journal said.

By last August, between 90 and 95 percent of units had been sold, as The Real Deal reported.

The trend in incorporating international customs and aesthetics into new buildings is driven by swelling demand from overseas buyers looking for a second home in the U.S., according to the Journal.

In Florida, more than a quarter of all home sales went to buyers from outside the U.S. in 2012, the Journal reported, citing the National Association of Realtors. In Miami, 60 percent of buyers came from overseas, according to Miami’s realtor association.

At Vizcayne, twin 49-story towers on Miami’s Biscyane Bay, marketers commissioned interior designers from five countries – Venezuela, Brazil, Spain, Colombia and the U.S. – to decorate model units, the Journal reported.

“It’s really about the nuance,” Philip J. Spiegelman, who handles marketing for the developer, told the Journal. “Colombians may like very modern-contemporary, while the Brazilians may like something more conservatively contemporary.”

Most of the buyers at Vizcayne hail from Argentina, Venezuela and Brazil. [Wall Street Journal] – Emily Schmall