While South Florida real estate inventories are still high across all price ranges, there is some good news surfacing at the upper end of the market.
According to recent Miami-Dade County MLS data, single-family home and condo inventory priced at $750,000-plus is leveling out. Real estate agents report high-end sales gaining momentum despite an overall declining market.
Case in point: Fortune International. The Key Biscayne-based real estate brokerage and property management firm recently inked two multi-million-dollar penthouse deals on the beach in one week. The projects were valued at $26 million in total.
Meanwhile, Nicole Persley, owner of Homage Real Estate of Florida in Boca Raton, reports the recent sales of an $18 million home in Highland Beach and another $1.5 million home in Boca Raton. From her perspective, “The sale of these properties was completely unaffected by the soft market conditions in 2007.”
So why are million- and even multi-million-dollar home sales finding stability in what could be called a roller-coaster market that shot down so hard and fast it made stomachs drop?
There are several factors working together to create the kind of perfect storm that realtors welcome: foreign dollars, the availability of “cheap” money, and the ability of high-net-worth individuals to invest large sums up front.
“With European money, buyers are basically paying 50 cents on the dollar,” says Beth Butler, a realtor with Esslinger-Wooten-Maxell Realtors in Miami Beach. “Now is a great time for Europeans to buy a $5 million condo, and many have the wealth to do it.”
Robert Marley — a mortgage industry expert who’s been in the field for 20 years, 11 of them working for major wholesale lenders such as Countrywide and Bear Stearns — says that upper-end home sales haven’t slowed due to the availability of cheap money.
“Most people buying these homes today were not affected by new wealth tied to real estate,” says Marley, president of Coral Springs-based Einstein Process, a new company that helps consumers decide what type of financing best meets their needs and how to get it. “Lenders in this Super Jumbo space are very aggressive as they are mostly tied to wealth management and can offer the lending services as a bonus to their clients.”
Justin Miller, president of JB Mortgage Services in Coral Springs, credits the net worth of buyers who can afford a million-dollar-plus monthly mortgage for stabilizing the upper-end real estate market. Financing problems don’t impact high-net-worth individuals the way they do middle-class Americans.
“If you are looking in the $417,000-or-less range, then you have appraisal, income and asset issues,” Miller explains. “In the higher end, it isn’t as big of a deal if the appraised value comes in $20,000 less than you thought because the percentage is much smaller than on a $200,000 home.”
For all these economic reasons — and for all the reasons Florida attracts buyers of second and third homes — the high-end market is as healthy as it’s been in years, Butler says. Meanwhile, inventory at the more affordable bottom end of the market is still swelling.
“I don’t expect the market to change for multi-million-dollar homes,” she adds. “We haven’t seen real price increases in the market, [but] the dollar is unsteady, the value still exists, and we have beautiful winters here.”
January 22, 2009 at 12:26 pm, Anonymous said:
dude that’s cool when can i give you the money i go a 100 billion/ companPr
January 22, 2009 at 12:36 pm, RR said:
Man i can buy that house!!!%Pr
April 23, 2009 at 12:50 pm, Anonymous said:
Pretty sweet house!!!
April 28, 2009 at 11:48 am, Anonymous said:
how many rooms are in this?
November 16, 2008 at 2:51 pm, Anonymous said:
how much does it cost?
May 28, 2011 at 2:12 am, Anonymous said:
I want this house. I’ll pay anything. I recently sold my home for 3million and want a new home i love the Style. Location does not nessearly matter, I’ll buy it please email me back with more information. Thank you.
Ellemar
November 21, 2008 at 7:43 am, Anonymous said:
How many bedrooms?
May 11, 2009 at 4:42 pm, Anonymous said:
how many rooms are there? thats my dream house fo rwhne i get marrie and have kids
April 04, 2009 at 4:51 am, Anonymous said:
I have a better house…
December 02, 2008 at 6:05 pm, Anonymous said:
GOOD LORD!Why is he selling it?
April 01, 2009 at 4:16 pm, Anonymous said:
The most beautiful house I’ve seen in awhile!!1
December 23, 2008 at 8:36 pm, Anonymous said:
I LOVE THIS HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 12, 2011 at 6:38 pm, Anonymous said:
1.2 mil! it should be more like5.2 mil.
November 17, 2008 at 4:33 pm, Anonymous said:
wow i hope my dad likes it i need another house this would be my 4
September 08, 2008 at 6:55 pm, Anonymous said:
i wounder where it’s located at.
August 30, 2008 at 12:16 pm, Anonymous said:
this is crazy it looks like an apartment!!
February 05, 2009 at 11:04 pm, Anonymous said:
He only wants 1.2 mil. for it. My family sold their house for 3.8 mil.
May 27, 2011 at 10:46 am, Anonymous said:
you stupid B***h
February 22, 2009 at 2:56 pm, me said:
omg that is aamazing who has that much money?
January 05, 2009 at 11:32 am, Anonymous said:
this home sucks
July 20, 2008 at 6:48 pm, Anonymous said:
what’s up with this house, everything and rooms are huge at 5796 Nw Coosa Drive in Port St lucie. The owner says he wants $1.2mil for it.
December 25, 2008 at 10:25 pm, Anonymous said:
This house is amazing it possesses such elegance.
March 10, 2009 at 7:51 pm, Anonymous said:
lets all get on here and talk like we dont live from paycheck to paycheck
December 21, 2008 at 8:32 pm, Anonymous said:
WOW ITS BEAUTIFUL AND PRETTY AND AMAZING I WANT IT
November 18, 2008 at 6:47 pm, Anonymous said:
Oh my word! Who ever owns that is RICH!
June 05, 2009 at 10:16 pm, yourMom said:
bragging anonymously = low self esteem, & that makes your Mom sad.
June 01, 2009 at 8:46 pm, Anonymous said:
can you look inside of it
February 23, 2009 at 12:46 pm, Anonymous said:
HOPE DADDY LIKES IT FOR A SUMMER HOUSE FOR ME TO PARTY IN
June 11, 2008 at 8:42 pm, koko said:
hey whaz up this house so feakesily huge
December 15, 2008 at 11:52 am, Anonymous said:
Goodness! This house is amazing!
January 21, 2009 at 2:48 pm, Anonymous said:
my house is still bigger
April 22, 2009 at 6:00 pm, Anonymous said:
naaaaw
April 24, 2009 at 1:26 pm, Anonymous said:
have an better house 8000
July 23, 2008 at 1:14 pm, Anonymous said:
I’ll take it!!
hahaha
May 19, 2009 at 1:59 pm, Anonymous said:
boo u suck
April 16, 2009 at 2:04 pm, Anonymous said:
poopy!!!