Wall Street adds questions to recovery

The recent additional crises in the financial markets have brought new
uncertainty to South Florida’s real estate market. “When we have
uncertainty in the marketplace, these kinds of severe losses in the
market impact everybody,” said Ezra Katz, chairman of the Aztec Group, a
Coconut Grove-based commercial real estate investment firm. But while
recovery is still at risk, Katz said he thought the rebound would
survive. “Prices are up, deals are up,” he said. “There’s capital that’s
wiling to invest. Right now I feel fairly confident that real estate
values will continue to hold up.” According to Bilzin Sumberg partner
John Sumberg, large investors are still looking to Miami. “I had three
different hedge funds I met with last week coming into Miami to invest,”
he said. “Their outlook has not changed.” [Miami
Herald]