Many of the 26 condos announced for South Florida are a pipe dream: analyst

South Florida has been widely reported to be buzzing with new condominium development, but at least one prominent real estate analyst is skeptical. Though 26 new projects are slated for the tri-county area, McCabe Rsearch & Consulting CEO Jack McCabe told the Sun Sentinel he doesn’t think the market can digest that many units.

Lending is still tight for buyers and builders, so these developers are essentially limiting themselves to projects that can be financed by cash buyers’ down payments.

Because so many of the new projects announced are just refreshers of developments first planned before the crash, McCabe said he believes the announcements are made merely to gauge buyers’ interest.

“It will be interesting to see just how many of these announcements actually come to fruition and how many remain on drawing boards,” McCabe said. “It’s going to be awfully difficult to get people to pay those prices. It’s still a tumultuous time in the condo market. While there may be a lot of announcements, I think it’s just developers trying to get an idea on the market.” [Sun Sentinel]