Top 10 ultra-luxury condo resale transaction prices drop 8% in 2014

Question: How do this year’s top 10 condo listing resales compare to last year based on price?

South Florida’s top 10 ultra-luxury condo resale listings are trading eight percent less per square foot in the first 11 months of 2014 compared to the same period in 2013, according to an analysis of data from the Southeast Florida MLXchange.

Buyers have paid an average price of $1,984 per square foot for a combined $115.8 million for the 10 most expensive condo resales to trade in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties in the first 11 months of this year.

Compare this year’s ultra-luxury transactions with 2013, when the top 10 condo resales traded for an average transaction price of $2,155 per square foot for a combined $135.9 million.

The good news for this year’s ultra-luxury condo market is that sellers only had to reduce their original asking prices by 6.2 percent in 2014 to get their deals done. A year earlier, sellers reduced the average asking price of their ultra-luxury condo units by 14 percent to complete their transactions, according to the data.

In 2014, the highest priced condo resale to trade based on total price in South Florida to date transacted in the St. Regis Bal Harbour for nearly $22.8 million for an average price of $1,610 per square foot. The original asking price for this 11-bedroom unit with nearly 14,150 square feet of living area was $24.9 million, according to the data.

The second highest priced ultra-luxury condo unit to trade in South Florida is a seven-bedroom unit in the 7600 Oceanside in Fisher Island that transacted for $12.5 million for an average price of $1,786 per square foot.

Claiming the No. 3 ranking in South Florida is a three-bedroom unit with more than 2,500 square feet in the Setai Resort & Residences transacted for $12 million for an average price of $4,760 per square foot, according to the data.

Coming in fourth and fifth in the top five priciest ultra-luxury condo resales of 2014 is a five-bedroom unit in the 5100 Bayview condo project in Fisher Island that sold for nearly $11 million, or $1,670 per square foot, and a five-bedroom unit in the Setai Resort & Residences that sold for $10.8 million for an average price of $3,041 per square foot.

The next five ultra-luxury condo resales to trade in South Florida transacted for prices between $8.5 million and $10.7 million, according to the data.

Currently, nearly 225 South Florida condo units are on the resale market with a minimum asking price of $5 million each. These ultra-luxury condos range in price from $5 million to $29 million with an average asking price of more than $2,300 per square foot.

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In the first 11 months of this year, buyers purchased 55 condo units for at least $5 million each. The average transaction price for these ultra-luxury condo resales is $1,871 per square foot, according to the data.

At the current transaction pace of about five deals a month, South Florida has nearly 45 months of condo resale supply available for purchase.

A healthy market typically has about six months of condo unit inventory available. Less months of condo inventory suggests a seller’s market and more months typically indicates a buyer’s market.

The unanswered question going forward is whether South Florida’s latest preconstruction condo boom with more than 300 new towers proposed is diverting prospective buyers away from the resale market in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach.

Thought Of The Week: New Coral Gables condo tower could finally get built

Nearly two years after holding its condo launch party in January 2013, the proposed Merrick Manor condo project has obtained approval from the Coral Gables Board of Architects to construct a 10-story tower with 224 units on LeJeune Road.

Despite having sold “more than 80 percent” of the units, the project was in an unenviable position of having to fight back industry rumors about a year ago that it had been canceled following published reports about a federal investigation regarding the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Originally, the project was to have 180 units and begin construction in “early 2014,” according to The Real Deal.

Under the new plan, the project’s developer – the Astor Cos. – hopes to host a “groundbreaking” in 2015, the South Florida Business Journal reported.

Peter Zalewski is a real estate market consultant, non-practicing licensed real estate broker and columnist for The Real Deal who now answers reader questions about the South Florida real estate market in a weekly Friday column. Questions and comments can be sent to southfloridanews@therealdeal.com. The TRD editors will choose which submissions will be addressed.