Like last season’s must-have items still languishing on a store’s shelves, South Florida’s oversupply of condos haunts a market filled with players eager to move on to the next big thing. While some nimble developers have pivoted to multifamily, condo buyers, unable to flip their units and looking for some immediate ROI, are increasingly renting them out. The result is a glut of “shadow” rental inventory that’s competing with the new luxe rentals going up in the region. In the cover story, TRD staffers Katherine Kallergis and Keith Larsen investigate what this could mean for multifamily rents and development.
But the impact of condo oversupply isn’t limited to rentals. With buyers firmly in the driver’s seat in the luxury residential market, the brokerage scene is experiencing rampant consolidation. Three of this issue’s stories touch on the way the business is recalibrating: Katherine takes a look at how the independent brokerages left are holding up and holding out; managing editor Ina Cordle examines agent turnover with an analysis of broker licensing data from our research team; and reporter Amanda Rabines’ investigation into the brokerage scene in Boca Raton explores why so many firms are getting in there and why it’s such a tricky market to crack.
Over in the office leasing sector, co-working remains as hot as ever, with commercial brokerages and landlords like CBRE and Tishman Speyer getting in on the game, but some worry the upward trend won’t last, given the dynamics of the Miami metro area. Our ranking of co-working firms in the region finds that Regus is the top operator, with Büro the only homegrown firm to crack the top five. See what the firms are doing to attract diverse tenants right here.
Other highlights in the issue include a juicy look at Miami Beach preservation board drama (have “juicy” and “preservation board” ever been in the same sentence before?!), our survey of the architectural design of some of the most notable projects of the cycle and our interview with developer Lissette Calderon, who is returning to her passion: building on the Miami River.
Enjoy the issue!