Fort Lauderdale leads South Florida in absorption of new condos

Fort Lauderdale bested downtown Miami and Miami Beach in the rate at which condominiums built during the boom were absorbed, according to a wide-ranging market report released today by Related ISG. Just 142 of the 5,135 new units built between 2005 and 2009 remained as of January, compared to 1,020 of the 10,001 units built during that time in the Miami beaches and 2,497 of the 17,502 units built in downtown Miami and Brickell. Related Group’s report also desmonstrated how much lower condo prices are in Miami compared to Latin America and Canada, whose citizens have been responsible for much of the absorption. The average price per square foot of downtown Miami conodminiums developed in the last five years is just $400. By comparison, prices per square foot in Toronto and Rio De Janeiro average $1,000, and in San Paulo, Bogota and Buenos Aires it is $900, $700 and $550, according to the report.

The stronger condo sales market has also catapulted the area’s rental market in downtown Miami and Brickell. The report said the rental vacancy rate for those new condo units was just 7 percent in 2011, and the average rent increased to $2,347 per month by December 2011, from $1,728 per month two years prior. — Adam Fusfeld