Ron Shuffield (left) and Alyce Robertson

With dozens of high-rise condos in trouble and an urban core that isn’t
too active after dark, some analysts expected Downtown Miami to look
like a ghost town after sunset once the housing bubble burst. About 80 buildings comprised of 23,000 units have come online since 2003, so
those predictions seemed reasonable after the 2006 peak. But a new
study from Goodkin Consulting/Focus Real Estate Advisors says
otherwise. The majority of the residential units completed in Downtown Miami since
2003 are occupied and the closing rate is accelerating despite
obstacles to financing. There’s still a long way out of the bottom, but
the process is moving. “Our research indicates that 62 percent of units in new Downtown Miami
buildings are occupied by a combination of owners and renters, defying
the perception that the majority of high-rises built in recent years
are empty,” said Lew Goodkin, founder of Goodkin Consulting. [more]

Miami-Dade’s far southern suburbs, hit hard by foreclosure, are now
home to low prices and low occupancy. Property costs in Homestead,
Florida City and neighboring incorporated areas are down 53 percent
over the past 12 months, worse than the 30 percent drop seen in central
Miami and the Brickell district. There’s more inventory, too. At the
end of March, there were 65 percent more houses on the market in the
southern fringes than in the city core, said real estate analyst Craig
Werley. [more]