Developer completes final new Key Biscayne condo project

Unless a new development is suddenly proposed, developers have completed the last new preconstruction condo project for the wealthy island enclave of Key Biscayne during this current South Florida real estate cycle that began in 2011.

Deeds for the newly completed 101 Key Biscayne project — officially known as the 101 Condominium — standing five-stories tall and featuring 11 units began being recorded on May 21, according to Miami-Dade County records.

To date, only one condo unit has been recorded at a price of $1.85 million for an average price of more than $835 per square feet, according to government records.

Despite the lack of deed transactions available for online review with Miami-Dade County as of May 31, the developer — 101 Sunrise LLC with Eric Soulavy — told The Real Deal 10 units have already been sold for prices ranging from $1.7 million to $2.2 million.

The final unsold developer unit will reportedly be marketed at a price of $2.15 million when the project is scheduled to open its doors on June 18.

The completion of the 101 Key Biscayne comes nine months after the only other new condo project on island — the Oceana Key Biscayne with 154 units — was completed in August 2014, according to government records.

Oceana Key Biscayne has sold 148 units at an average of more than $1,380 per square foot for a total price of nearly $580 million as of May 31, according to government records.

Since 2011, developers have completed 28 new condo buildings with nearly 2,700 units east of I-95 in the tri-county South Florida region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, according to the preconstruction condo projects website CraneSpotters.com. (For disclosure, my firm operates the website.)

An additional 110 new condo buildings with nearly 11,100 units are currently under construction in South Florida, according to the data.

The new condo projects that are under construction or recently completed account for about 32 percent of the nearly 42,500 units announced for South Florida.

In Key Biscayne, demand for condo units appears strong given the limited number of new projects announced this cycle combined with the lack of developable land available on the island.

As a result, about 160 Key Biscayne condo units are currently on the resale market at an average price of $950 per square foot as of May 31, according to data from the Southeast Florida MLXchange.

In the first four months of 2015, buyers acquired 90 Key Biscayne condo units on the resale market at an average price of $678 per square foot, according to the data.

A year earlier in the January through April period of 2014, buyers purchased 75 Key Biscayne condo units at an average price of $660 per square foot, according to the data.

At the current 2015 transaction pace of 23 units monthly, Key Biscayne has less than seven months of condo resale supply available for purchase.

A balanced market is considered to have about six months of supply available for purchase. Less months of supply generally indicates a seller’s market, and more months of inventory suggests a buyer’s market.

The unanswered question going forward is whether any other developers will come forward with new condo projects for Key Biscayne given the apparent buyer demand that exists for units in this island village of less than 12,850 residents.

Peter Zalewski is a real estate columnist for The Real Deal who founded Condo Vultures LLC, a consultancy and publishing company, as well as Condo Vultures Realty LLC and CVR Realty brokerages and the Condo Ratings Agency, an analytics firm. The Condo Ratings Agency operates CraneSpotters.com, a preconstruction condo projects website, in conjunction with the Miami Association of Realtors.