Luxury developers scramble to assemble larger units

Like their counterparts in Manhattan, South Florida developers are working to assemble super-sized apartments to lure the ultra-wealthy buyers capable of making a splash purchase, the New York Times reported. With financing tough for most Americans, the developers are building with an eye on the new elite classes in emerging countries like Brazil, China, Russia and the Middle East that can pay all cash.

“Expectations continue to increase,” said Vanessa Grout, the chief executive of Douglas Elliman in Florida. “Their budgets are unlimited, so why not demand the best?”

Further, because real estate in South Florida is stell a relative bargain to those buyers’ home countries and other international destinations, the foreign buyers are more likely to pay for the larger units. [NYT]