Editor’s note

Miami is no longer just a seasonal real estate market. Nowadays, deals are being consummated and new developments are rolled out throughout the year.

A busy fall is sure to give way to a frenzied winter, when major events like Art Basel week bring the industry’s biggest players to town.

Not long ago, the summer months were a dead period for Miami’s real estate sector. Snowbirds would return home, developers would take a lengthy vacation and pending deals were tabled until after Labor Day.

That certainly isn’t the case now, as The Real Deal’s latest South Florida Market Report details. With the market in the midst of a post-recession upswing, buyers, sellers, builders and brokers didn’t let Miami’s searing summer heat slow them down.

Instead, the development boom continued, with nearly 80 new residential towers proposed in South Florida in the last six months. And activity is trickling north. In this issue, we look at the growth of southwestern Broward County and some of the over-the-top open houses designed to lure buyers to properties in Palm Beach County.

Of course, Miami remains the center of the action. We profile the Melo family, which spearheaded the growth of the city’s Edgewater neighborhood north of downtown and introduced the now ubiquitous high-deposit condo financing structure. The issue also includes conversations with developer Don Peebles and architect Bernardo Fort-Brescia on their latest projects.

Finally, inside are in-depth reports on the preconstruction condo pipeline, the residential market and all commercial real estate sectors. And in his back-page column, Condo Vultures founder Peter Zalewski offers his take on the differences between this boom and the last, and what, if anything, might help South Florida avoid another dramatic crash. Enjoy the issue.