Key Biscayne nearly recovered from condo crash

Key Biscayne
Key Biscayne

Key Biscayne, a 1.2-square-mile island separated by a series of bridges from downtown Miami, is nearly fully recovered from South Florida’s condo crash, Condo Vultures principal Peter Zalewski wrote in a special feature for the Miami Herald.

The current median price for a single-family home is only eight percent below its 2006 height, whereas the median sales price for single-family homes in Miami-Dade County is down 47 percent in the first five months of 2013 compared to the same period in 2006.

For Key Biscayne’s 13,000 largely foreign-born residents, the years since the 2008 bust have been an economic roller coaster, Zalewski said.

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The single-family home market bottomed out in 2010 when the median resale price hit $476 per square foot, a 35 percent decline from $736 per square foot in 2006. Prices in the last two years have rebounded to $680 per square foot.

Condos and townhouses tumbled by 38 percent to $372 per square foot in 2011, down from $603 per square foot in 2006. The median price has since increased to nearly $510 per square foot.

The tiny island’s resale market includes only 160 single-family homes, condos and townhouses. Limited inventory and Latin American buyers have bolstered Key Biscayne’s recovery, Zalewski said, and are likely to drive up prices further going forward. [Miami Herald] –Emily Schmall