As South Florida’s recession and financial crisis stretch out, foreclosures, mortgage woes and dramatic price cuts are becoming evident in gated communities and restrictive luxury island neighborhoods.
On Jupiter Island, where the average home carries a price tag of $5.6 million, market dynamics are better than the rest of the state, where almost one in four home loans is in foreclosure, but there are signs that times are tough even there.
Multimillion-dollar discounts are more representative of the luxury enclave’s woes, but the very fact that short sales are now part of the market stuns broker Andrew Russo.
Russo, a principal at VIP Properties of Distinction with offices in Jupiter and Tequesta, can’t recall a foreclosure in the last 15 years in the exclusive enclave of about 600 estates on a barrier island 40 minutes north of Palm Beach.
“Usually, I see cash buyers, with high net worth,” Russo said. “But now, I do have a short sale listed, at 120 North Beach. I have a person looking to buy it and I’m trying to get the bank to approve the deal.” The asking price is $3.4 million.
In all of Jupiter Island — the Town of Jupiter Island and Jupiter Inlet Colony — 12 houses have sold of the 60 homes listed this year, said Tom Turner, a realtor with Waterfront Properties in Jupiter. “Typically, there were 25 sales a year until 2006.
Sale prices have decreased, too. “In the peak year, 2005, we had four or five houses sell for more than $10 million. We haven’t seen that since,” Turner said. [more]