The Real Deal Miami

670 Island Drive

The first home ever built on Palm Beach’s Everglades Island has been sold for $5.72 million, the Palm Beach Daily News reported. The property, which is located at 670 Island Drive and was designed by architect Gustav Maass Jr., has a total of 5,270 square feet. Corcoran’s Rosalind Clarke had the listing since January 2011. “I think it was a fair price, in view of what was happening in the marketplace,” she said. The seller was a limited liability company that had owned the home since 1999. The buyer, a trust, was represented by Christian Angle of Christian Angle Real Estate. “It’s a lovely house with a beautiful view,” Angle said. [Palm Beach Daily News]

Axis in Brickell

There were a total of 1,000 sales in the first quarter of 2012 in downtown Miami in the first quarter, a 27 percent increase compared to the same period in 2011, according to a report from the Miami Downtown Development Authority. The average price of a Miami condominium rose to $371,084 in a 12-month period ending March 31, a 5.2 percent increase over the previous year. Downtown Miami’s rental market is also performing well, with leasing volume up slightly in the same period. [more]

Just under 50 percent of Miami-Dade homeowners are underwater on their mortgages, meaning the value of their mortgage exceeds the value of their home, according to data from Zillow.com. That rate is the highest in South Florida, topping Broward County, where 46 percent of homeowners are underwater. In Palm Beach County, 40 percent of homeowners are underwater. [more]

A recovering job market is helping the West Palm Beach apartment market show signs of life, with the area’s vacancy rate continuing to drop, according to Marcus & Millichap. West Palm Beach’s rents also rose for the ninth consecutive quarter, as an expanding number of property owners are successfully imposing higher rents as lease roll over. [more]

Today’s priciest new listing is a 3,548-square-foot, four-bathroom, four-bedroom single-family house on Hibiscus Island that is asking $2.4 million, according to Condo Vultures. The house, which was built in 1998, is located at 280 North Hibiscus Drive on a 9,500-square-foot lot and features a porte cochère, pool, marble floors and cabana. Sharda Kunath of Coldwell Banker Residential has the listing. (Condo Vultures data includes condos and single-family listings in the main metropolitan areas of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach, as well as Monroe County that are newly listed. Listings are taken from the South Florida MLS.) — Christopher Cameron

Projected view of the Panama Canal in 2014

Florida Crystals, one of Palm Beach County’s largest landowners and an international sugar refiner, is partnering with Atlanta-based developer Industrial Development International to plan and market its proposed new intermodal railyard in Palm Beach County, according to the South Florida Business Journal. The railyard is part of a project to construct three “inland ports” in South Florida to help move additional cargo anticipated after the Panama Canal’s expansion is completed in 2014, as The Real Deal previously reported. [more]

The national housing market is seeing the brightest spring since the crash, Reuters reported. The housing sector saw rising sales and prices in April, with a nearly 10 percent increase in sales year-over-year, according to data from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency showed March home prices up 2.7 percent from the previous March, the largest jump in prices since November 2006. [more]

Ocean Mall under construction

A foreclosure lawsuit over the 63,650-square-foot Ocean Mall on Singer Island is the latest legal action taken against Palm Beach Gardens-based OMRD and Catalfumo Construction and Development, the South Florida Business Journal reported. CEO Daniel Catalfumo is also facing the loss of the PGA Design Center and $121 million worth of loan guarantees sought by lenders. GSF Trust filed the foreclosure last week on the mall, which is located at 2401 North Ocean Drive, after purchasing the $11.6 million loan last September from Branch Banking and Trust. [more]

A McMansion

McMansions, a housing type left for dead following the real estate crash, powered yesterday’s positive new home sales report, builders told the Wall Street Journal. During the recession the average size of U.S. homes shrunk 3.4 percent to 2,382 square feet, but in 2011 the average size actually grew 5.2 percent to 2,505 square feet. [more]

Miami-Dade County will be home to the expansions of three Spain-based firms, following a trade mission to the country led by Governor Rick Scott, the South Florida Business Journal reported. Obrascon Huarte Lain, an engineering firm, will open a new headquarters in the northwestern portion of the county, while Miami City Tour will open an office in Miami Beach as its first U.S. location. Additionally, TotalBank will expand with 10 new branches in the county. “South Florida’s strengths stem from its globally strategic geographical location, vibrant economy and cultural compatibility,” said TotalBank CEO Jorge Rossell. [SFBJ]