Brickell Condo Index – April 2008

April 29, 2008

The Brickell Condo Index is back! I was shocked to see that it’s been six months since I last provided an update to what used to be a monthly report. Those who’ve been around long enough to remember those updates would probably agree, however, that very little change in the market was seen on a month-to-month basis. In this report, you’ll definitely see that prices in some Brickell condo buildings have changed quite a bit within the past six months. Ideally, from this point forward, I’d like to provide a Brickell Condo Index update every three months.

Most of the following data was collected last week on April 22, 2008. The pending sales information towards the bottom of the post was collected today.

I finally decided to include Latitude on the River in the Brickell Condo Index. In November, the average price per square foot of available condos in the Brickell Condo Index listed in the MLS was $512.14. Six months later, asking prices have dropped 6.52 percent to an average of $478.76 per square foot. The drop would have been 5.64 percent had Latitude on the River not been added to the index. A few of the following condo buildings, however, have had huge reductions in their average asking prices. I’ll discuss these in more detail towards the end of the post.

Average price per square foot of units currently listed on the MLS:

• Atlantis on Brickell – 2025 Brickell Ave | 33129 | $296.44
• Brickell on the River North – 31 SE 5 St | 33131 | $398.36
• Bristol Tower – 2127 Brickell Ave | 33129 | $469.91
• Emerald at Brickell – 218 SE 14 St | 33131 | $577.29
• Four Seasons Residences – 1425 Brickell Ave | 33131 | $1,028.80
• Imperial at Brickell – 1627 Brickell Ave | 33129 | $386.68
• Jade at Brickell Bay – 1331 Brickell Bay Dr | 33131 | $669.65
• Latitude on the River – 185 SW 7 St | 331310 | $402.46
• Neo Vertika – 690 SW 1 Ct | 33130 | $361.71
• One Miami – 325 & 335 S Biscayne Blvd | 33131 | $424.42
• Santa Maria – 1643 Brickell Ave | 33129 | $712.49
• Skyline on Brickell – 2101 Brickell Ave | 33129 | $438.51
• Solaris at Brickell – 186 SE 12 Ter | 33131 | $512.21
• The Club at Brickell Bay – 1200 Brickell Bay Dr | 33131 | $444.68
• The Mark on Brickell – 1155 Brickell Bay Dr | 33131 | $430.75
• The Palace – 1541 Brickell Ave | 33129 | $341.35
• Villa Regina – 1581 Brickell Ave | 33129 | $389.43
• Vue at Brickell – 1250 S Miami Ave | 33131 | $332.53

The average price of Brickell condos sold over the past six months has dropped 13.20 percent to $410.38 per square foot from November’s average of $472.80. The drop would have been 11.75 percent had Latitude on the River not been included in this month’s update.

Average price per square foot of condos sold in the MLS within the past six months:

• Atlantis – 2025 Brickell Ave | 33129 | $249.28
• Brickell on the River – 31 SE 5 St | 33131 | N/A
• Bristol Tower – 2127 Brickell Ave | 33129 | $442.37
• Emerald at Brickell – 218 SE 14 St | 33131 | $409.11
• Four Seasons Residences – 1425 Brickell Ave | 33131 | $913.08
• Imperial at Brickell – 1627 Brickell Ave | 33129 | N/A
• Jade – 1331 Brickell Bay Dr | 33131 | $544.02
• Latitude on the River – 185 SW 7 St | 33130 | $314.35
• Neo Vertika – 690 SW 1 Ct | 33130 | $322.13
• One Miami – 325 & 335 S Biscayne Blvd | 33131 | $324.77
• Santa Maria – 1643 Brickell Ave | 33129 | $595.43
• Skyline on Brickell – 2101 Brickell Ave | 33129 | $397.72
• Solaris at Brickell – 186 SE 12 Ter | 33131 | N/A
• The Club at Brickell Bay – 1200 Brickell Bay Dr | 33131 | $367.44
• The Mark on Brickell – 1155 Brickell Bay Dr | 33131 | $386.25
• The Palace – 1541 Brickell Ave | 33129 | $320.09
• Villa Regina – 1581 Brickell Ave | 33129 | $356.79
• Vue at Brickell – 1250 S Miami Ave | 33131 | $212.82

Below you will find some additional statistics:

As in the past, the first column to the right of each condo development’s name is the difference in the average sales price and list price for this month, expressed as a percentage. An “N/A” is found next to Brickell on the River, Imperial at Brickell and Solaris at Brickell since this percentage could not be computed as each building failed to have a closed sale within the past six months through the MLS, and thus did not have an average price per square foot for condos sold.

The second column is the number of active listings in each development currently in the MLS. The third column shows the percentage that these listings represent over the total number of condo units in each development. The cells highlighted in green reveal those condo developments that have active listings that represent less than 10 percent of the the overall units in the building. In my opinion, this often demonstrates a sound condo building. The ones highlighted in red reveal those condo developments that have active listings that represent over 20 percent of the overall units in the building. There’s definitely underlying risk in buying condos in these buildings and I’d only advise buying within one of these condo buildings if the price justified the risk. The condo developments with active listings less than 10 percent are considered very safe, in my opinion, and anything in the 10-15 percent range is considered normal, even in a healthy market.

The fourth column shows the number of pending sales while the fifth column displays the number of closed sales within the past six months. There are a total of 58 total pending sales in the 18 condo buildings now represented in the Brickell Condo Index. In November, there were a total of 49 pending sales at the time. I was quite surprised by the large number of pending sales at The Club at Brickell Bay, Jade and Solaris at Brickell. It looks like buyers are finally starting to step in and place some of the condo foreclosures in these buildings under contract.

The sixth column show you the difference in the average list prices from this month’s and November’s, expressed a percentage. Those highlighted in red reveal those condo developments which had a drop in their average list price while those highlighted in green show those that had an increase. Vue at Brickell saw asking prices drop about 25 percent, The Club at Brickell Bay around 19 percent, Jade around 16 percent and Solaris at Brickell around 11.5 percent. The seventh column reveals the difference in average sales prices from this month’s and November’s, expressed as a percentage. The condo buildings hardest hit with mortgage fraud saw prices drop in half, in a few cases, as the fraud has ceased and the supply of foreclosures has grown. The average price per square foot for condos sold at Vue at Brickell within the past six months has dropped almost 48 percent. A few apparent fraudulent transactions included in the November average have fallen off. The Club at Brickell Bay’s average dropped a little over 46 percent, Solar at Brickell’s dropped about 33 percent and Jade fell around 25 percent. Even One Miami took a big hit with a drop of around 23.5 percent.