Brazilian buyers show renewed interest in Miami real estate

Many Brazilians are buying at such condo developments as One Thousand Museum, Three Hundred Collins and Turnberry Ocean Club

Rendering of Turnberry Ocean Club in Sunny Isles Beach
Rendering of Turnberry Ocean Club in Sunny Isles Beach

Many wealthy Brazilians are buying real estate in the Miami area again after a retreat during the last two years.

Fernando de Nuñez y Lugones, executive vice president of ONE Sotheby’s International Realty, told Mansion Global that Brazilians are starting to buy more U.S. properties after many of them canceled purchases last year.

De Nuñez cited a recent increase in Brazilian interest in units at Turnberry Ocean Club, a 54-story condominium in Sunny Isles Beach, where 21 percent of the international buyers have been Brazilians.

At Three Hundred Collins in Miami Beach, Brazilians have bought four of the 16 luxury condos sold so far during the construction phase of the 19-unit development, which has units priced from $1.7 million to $9 million. Three Hundred Collins is expected to be completed in October.

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Louis Birdman, co-developer of One Thousand Museum, a 62-story condominium in Miami designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, said 40 percent to 45 percent of the preconstruction buyers are Latin Americans, and more than half of the Latin buyers are Brazilians.

Birdman said he has seen increased Brazilian interest in Miami-area real estate this summer, and he credited a stabilized Brazilian economy.

Crime and political upheaval in Brazil have led many Brazilians to seek not only a second home in the Miami area but a primary residence, said Jay Parker, CEO of Douglas Elliman Florida.

Parker told Mansion Global that some Brazilians are now interested not just in a vacation home but “a full relocation” to the Miami area. [Mansion Global]Mike Seemuth