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CONDO ROUNDUP
- Foreign buyer acquires 640 units for $37.6M in largest bulk sale in Orlando to date
- Miami third-quarter sales of developer units total 900, up from 250 in second quarter
- New York City deluged with 601 troubled condo buildings
- Sarasota-Bradenton sales double as prices continue to fall
- Florida sales up 77% statewide but median prices down 33%
- Miami developer auctioning 55 units in Collier County, Florida
- Developer Tibor Hollo provides loans to buyers but doesn't budge on price
(ORLANDO, FL) -- A foreign buyer has paid a foreign seller $37.6M or $58,750 per unit for 640 units at three properties on City Street near Downtown Orlando. On a square-foot basis, the price equates to $56.22.
Gerald A. Smith and his brother, Robert E. Smith, principals at Orlando-based Smith Equities Real Estate Investment Advisors, call the transaction the largest bulk sale of unsold condo units in Florida since the condo market downturn in 2007. The Smiths didn't identify buyer and seller.
The properties are Belmont at Park Central, Charles Towne at Park Central and Manor Row at Park Central totaling 1,081 units.
"The key to closing this transaction was getting both the buyer and seller comfortable with the financial condition of both the rental operations and the condominium associations' economic stability," says Gerald Smith.
"Given the complexity of today's broken or fractured conversion deals, you have to be able to assess not only where the properties are performing today, but what it takes to get these assets on sound financial footing," Smith adds.
(MIAMI, FL) -- More than 900 condo units in Greater Downtown Miami were sold in the third quarter, up from less than 250 developer unit sales in the second quarter, according to a recent Condo Vultures White Paper.
Condo Vultures principal Peter Zalewski says less than 8,500 developer units remain in the downtown market. Of that total, 36 percent is controlled by the Related Group and 21 percent by Starwood Capital Group.
The median asking price for a condo rental in Miami is $1.37 per square foot per month. That is about seven cents less than the $1.44 median asking price throughout Miami-Dade County, according to a new report from Condo Vultures.
Across Biscayne Bay in Miami Beach, the median monthly asking price for a condo rental is $1.32 per square foot. That is less than the $1.81 rate being sought in neighboring Sunny Isles Beach; $1.41 in Aventura (North Miami Beach); and $1.34 in Coral Gables.
(NEW YORK, NY) -- Several New York City neighborhoods are dotted with a growing number of vacant or near vacant condominium buildings but the city and an alliance of grassroots community organizations can't agree on the total.
Right to the City-New York member David Dodge puts the figure at 601. The city's Department of Buildings has the count at 454.
In July of this year, the city launched the Housing Asset Renewal Program (HARP), a $20 million project designed to turn unsold condos and stalled residential building projects into about 400 affordable housing units, according to Crain's New York Business.com.
Among the 126 buildings in Downtown Brooklyn, for example, Right to the City identified Be@Schermerhorn, a 246-unit luxury condo, with a vacancy rate of 93 percent. Forte, a 108-unit property, had a vacancy of 80 percent.
"Clearly, HARP is not sufficient to meet the needs for the entire city," says Councilwoman Leticia James.
(SARASOTA, FL) -- Condo sales continued to surge in Southwest Florida during September, triggered by discounted prices, according to the Florida Association of Realtors.
In the Sarasota-Bradenton market, sales rose 108 percent but the $134,800 median was down 14 percent from a year ago and 27 percent lower than in August.
In the Charlotte Count-North Port market, sales rose 71 percent and prices were also up 20 percent to $101,700 from $85,000 a year ago. The median also was up 3.7 percent from $98,000 in August.
In the Fort Myers-Cape Coral market, sales were up 102 percent but the $102,900 median was 44 percent lower than $185,000 a year ago.
Sales in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area jumped 98 percent but the $107,000 median was 23 percent lower than $139,100 at this time last year.
(TALLAHASSEE, FL) -- The Florida Association of Realtors reports existing condo sales in the state for September were up 77 percent from the same 2008 month, but median prices were down 33 percent statewide.
Existing condo sales in Orlando were up 302 percent but the median was down 51 percent. In Melbourne, sales were up 10 percent. The median was down 22 percent from September 2008.
(NAPLES, FL) -- Foreclosures are increasing in this affluent part of Southwest Florida, according to Ross McIntosh, a Naples, FL real estate broker and founder The Bidder's Broker.
Since January 2007, 58 foreclosure judgments were recorded - with 38 of them coming in the first nine months of this year. Twenty-seven of the 38 properties were sold at county courthouse auctions.
"What's interesting is that almost all of these properties have been taken back by the banks," McIntosh says. "Clearly, pricing is driving foreclosures and bank sales," he told the Naples News.
On Dec. 6, 56 condominiums at the 248-unit, 40-acre Granada Lakes Villas in eastern Collier County go on the auction block.
Real Estate Empire of Miami is handling the event. The developer, Metro-Dave Investments Co. of Coral Gables, still owns 50 other condos at Granada Lakes Villas.
(CORAL GABLES) -- Tibor Hollo, at 80, is still in real estate arena as Florida's most durable and innovative residential and commercial developer. He has come up with a loan program that should profit buyer and Hollo , he says.
According to The Miami Herald, Hollo is offering a no-income, no-assets, no questions-asked loan for 75 percent of a condo unit's value, plus a money-back guarantee.
Opera Tower condos, Miami
For investors, he will lease back a unit, manage it and cover all carrying costs while guaranteeing a 3 percent return on investment, according to The Herald.
There is one small catch, however. Only units in Hollo's Opera Tower near Miami's performing arts center, qualify for the interest-only loans. They also come due in five years. Hollo says he is also staying firm on unit prices which average about $400,000.
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