Luxury units represent 4% of South Florida condo resales in 2014

Question: Which segment (price-wise) of the South Florida condo market did the best in 2014?

Luxury condos priced at a minimum of $1 million each represented about four percent of the more than 35,650 existing units that resold in the tri-county South Florida region in 2014, according to preliminary data from the Southeast Florida MLXchange as of Thursday.

The total number of South Florida condo resales to trade in 2014 will not be known officially until the end of this month as Realtors still have time to update their transactions in the MLXchange.

Based on the preliminary totals as of Thursday, condo resales listed in the price range of $1 to $299,999 represent the largest chunk of transactions in South Florida in 2014, with more than 27,600 units trading. Transactions for units in this price range accounted for more than 77 percent of all South Florida condo resales.

The second most active price range for South Florida condo resales is $300,000 to $499,999, based on more than 4,000 unit transactions. This price range for condo resales represents more than 11 percent of the South Florida market.

Rounding out the top three most active prices ranges of the South Florida condo resale market is the $500,000 to $999,999 category. Buyers purchased nearly 2,565 units – more than seven percent of the total South Florida condo resales – in 2014, based on the preliminary data.

The South Florida resale market for luxury condos listed at prices higher than $1 million each totaled less than 1,500 unit transactions, representing about four percent of the South Florida market in 2014.

Buyers purchased less than 1,415 condo units listed at prices between $1 million and $4,999,999, nearly 60 units listed from $5 million to $9,999,999, and 10 units priced for at least $10 million, according to the data.

The unanswered question going forward is whether South Florida has enough condo buyers to purchase the more than 1,800 luxury units currently on the resale market for at least $1 million each in the tri-county region.

Thought Of The Week: Improving Upon Ritz-Carlton Residences In Sunny Isles Beach

After months of industry speculation, it was finally officially revealed this week that the southernmost development oceanfront site in Sunny Isles Beach is slated to become a new Ritz-Carlton Residences condo tower.

The newly announced luxury project being developed in a joint venture between Manuel Grosskopf’s Château Group and Edgardo Defortuna’s Fortune International Group will stand 52-stories tall in the 15700 block of Collins Avenue in Northeast Miami-Dade County.

The site of the planned Ritz-Carlton Residences is located one property north of the expansive Haulover Park beach and marina that stretches from the Haulover Inlet Channel north to the Sunny Isles Beach city limits.

Imagine the potential views from the planned Ritz-Carlton Residences if the project’s pair of developers could buy out the owners of the existing 31-year-old Tropicana Condo with nine-floors and 48 units located in the 15600 block of Collins Avenue fronting Haulover Park, in order to terminate that project and incorporate the land into this newly announced luxury high-rise tower.

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 new weekly Friday column. Questions and comments can be sent to southfloridanews@therealdeal.com. The TRD editors will choose which submissions will be addressed.