South Florida Condo Inventory and Sales

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Buyers who contact me about their interest in Ft. Lauderdale area Condos often inquire about the high inventory of new Condos in South Florida that they heard about. Well, Inventory varies drastically in different Cities and, in the words of D.J. Sander Kleinenberg, “This is not Miami.”

Ft. Lauderdale has only 3 Condos with new Inventory available, Coconut Grove Residences (a direct Oceanfront Building), Fountains on Ocean Blvd. (not Waterfront), and Sapphire Condo (not Waterfront, but offers Units with Ocean and Intracoastal views), not including Condominium Hotel inventory.

Ft. Lauderdale’s current Inventory of Waterfront Condos that are listed for sale through Brokers on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) is 1,208 Units. Of those Units, the price range is $59,900 for a 1-Bedroom Unit in a recent Condo Conversion located on an Ocean access Canal – $7,995,000 for an 11,000 square foot Penthouse at Coconut Grove Residences. Of the 1,208 Units listed, the Median List price is $399,000 (I used Median instead of Average since the average was affected by the $7,995,000 listing).

In the Ft. Lauderdale and Miami area, Sales are up and Inventory is down.

Something I also hear frequently is “Nothing is selling, right?” Well, if we were having this conversation in 2007, that assumption would be more accurate, even though things were selling even then. What is happening now, in 2010, is that Inventory has decreased drastically–by more than 50%–and the number of sales has increased by more than 50% as well (it is being reported that, in Miami, sales of new Condos have increased by more than 200% over 2008 sales levels).

In new Condos and those that aren’t new, there are lots of great deals available, both in Ft. Lauderdale and Miami, as well as adjacent Cities in the South Florida area where Waterfront Condos are available, including Hollywood, Hallandale, Aventura, Sunny Isles, Lauderdale by the Sea, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Hillsboro Beach, and the Palm Beach area. Buyers who said they were waiting to see price discounts of 50% or more are finally seeing them and many are choosing to purchase.

Even in Miami, which is at the heart of the South Florida Condo meltdown, sales have increased dramatically and the Miami Condo market is becoming more stable. Primary Homeowners, Investors, and vacation Homeowners are buying Miami Condos as Developers have DEEPLY discounted their prices and some Buildings are even sold out. “The Today Show” featured the Miami Condo Market on March 17th and discussed the increased sales, drop in inventory, and Condos that are being sold for Construction prices (view the Video below). It is interesting that this level of improvement was unexpected by many.

Has the market fully recovered? Definitely not, but there are certainly lots of very positive signs of improvement.

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