510 S. Mashta Drive in Key Biscayne
A home at 510 S. Mashta Drive in Key Biscayne is the highest-priced residential sale for 2010 so far, with a price of $10.41 million, according to data compiled by Condo Vultures for The Real Deal as of May 10.
Tony Key Biscayne, a village on an island across Biscayne Bay from Brickell and Coconut Grove, has a population of just around 10,000 people, but its small size has meant development is rare, and property prices have remained largely high.
“Key Biscayne is responding very well,” said broker Angela Ocampo of the Ocampo Group, a division of EWM. “Our prices have stabilized for the last six months, and everything seems to be moving at new prices.”
Second on the list was a 6,826-square-foot, $6.75 million home at 1025 Mariner Drive, which sold for the equivalent of approximately $1,000 per square foot. Following that were two condo units, each on the island’s main thoroughfare, each selling for an average per-square-foot price of more than $890: 85 Crandon Boulevard #UPH4, which sold for $4.8 million, and 791 Crandon Boulevard #207, which sold for $3.2 million.
Key Biscayne’s total taxable value, which is the total value of residential properties in the town as determined by the Miami-Dade County Office of the Property Appraiser, was just under $6 billion in the summer of 2009, the last appraisal, which represents a decline of about 7.7 percent over the same period in 2008. This was much less, for example, than a city like Aventura, which had a similar total taxable value of around $8 billion, but which SAW a fall of more than 14 percent in 2008.
Ocampo said a wave of foreign investors, led by Latin Americans and Europeans, had been moving in on homes in the village, just as they have been in downtown Miami.
“We felt the crisis, but it was not as bad as in some other places. Even though it was a declining market, things kept moving, and we kept selling,” he said.
According to Ocampo, prices on the island hit a plateau around six months ago, bolstered by the fact that development has always been uncommon. Closings have generally been in the range of $300,000 to $1 million. The top sales reflect the island’s mix of large homes and high-end condo units.
Rounding out the list was a $2.5 million sale of a 3,557-square-foot home at 51 Island Drive, or an average of $700 per square foot.