Market Stat Monday: Almost $50 Million In Contracts Signed Post-Irma
It has been a few weeks now since the skies have cleared in Greater Downtown Miami after Hurricane Irma’s brush, and despite a little bit of flooding and debris, we were very lucky. Now that cleanup is under way, how have the condo sales fared?
Not too bad, if I must say. Despite having only two functional weeks in September, nearly $50 million in resale contracts were signed on 79 total units.
The least expensive listing to find a buyer was at the Loft II Downtown, where a 770 square foot one bedroom was listed for $175,000. Of the 79 units that went to contract, 50 of them were listed for under $500,000. We will find out the final sales prices once they close.
In the luxury segment, there were a total of 6 properties listed over $1 million that found buyers. Among them was the crown jewel penthouse #1 at Asia on Brickell Key. With nearly 5,000 interior square feet through three levels including a dramatic rooftop terrace with a private pool, the sellers had asked $8.5 million, or $1,715/square foot.
Comparing September of 2017 to September of 2016, you will see that 2016 brought both a higher number of transactions as well as a higher volume of listings sold, but not enough to make it an overall better month considering that September 2017 was short due to people being distracted by the hurricane and Hurricane Matthew didn’t brush South Florida until October of last year. September of 2016 brought just over $60 million of listings sold, with 119 total transactions.
To celebrate the end of a successful yet stressful September, let’s check out some photos of that Asia Penthouse!
Market Stat Monday: Which Brickell Buildings Are The Most Popular For Buyers?
During our Market Stat Monday series, I’ve started to notice a trend that there is an increasing amount of competition between condo listings for a smaller amount of buyers in the market. This led me to become curious if there are any buildings in the that are more popular among the active buyers, and some of the results are surprising!
First, we have to acknowledge the harsh reality that we have seen only 175 closed sales in the neighborhood this year. With 1,413 active listings, that amounts to over 40 months of inventory on the market JUST in the Brickell resale market. When pulling my data, I only looked at resales, not developer inventory. If you add in the developer inventory, there will be even more months of inventory.
The sellers who were able to sell did so for a neighborhood average of $389/square foot.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that IconBrickell’s Tower 3 has been a stand-out so far this year. They have seen 13 closed sales despite losing their hotel program (which I think creates an opportunity for owners). Seven of those sales took place in April, telling me that the investors agree.
Another popular option has been The Club at Brickell Bay, who saw 12 closings with an average price per square foot of $299/square foot. I am not aware of anything out of the ordinary that would cause The Club to be such a good buy right now, aside from the fact that the layouts and location are good and the price is right.
1060 Brickell has also had a good year. There have been 11 total closed sales at a rate of $346/square foot. Our statistics page only reports 9 sales, but that is because we have separated the project into the east and west tower.
I was not surprised to see Icon Brickell’s Tower 1 on the list. Buyers nearly always ask about IconBrickell, despite fears regarding their pool construction. Also, Tower 1 is one of the densest towers in town, with 712 total apartments, so it makes sense that there should be more transactions.
Brickell on the River’s South tower made the list with 10 sales, and that sort of makes sense to me. The building is well-run and the loft-layouts are unique. I typically advise investors to purchase a 1 bedroom in the South tower, but if they are looking for a 2 bedroom, to buy in the North tower. This is because the 1 bedroom plans rent far easier in the South tower because of their loft layout, but the 2 bedroom loft layouts lose a lot of potential tenants because of the lack of privacy from the bedrooms. Since there is competition from newer buildings these days for tenants, you want your investment to appeal to as many people as possible and the 2 bedroom lofts don’t work well for roommate situations or families. The price is also right, averaging $297/square foot.
Speaking of loft layouts, Infinity at Brickell is also on the list with 8 sales at an average of $319/square foot. I remember back in the day when people would complain about the developer selling apartments at Infinity for $255/square foot. Those were the days. A lot of people are under the misconception that Infinity no longer has views because of the construction of SLS Brickell next door. While it is true that SLS blocked some views, most of the units still have at least some bay views and the 00 and 02 lines still have a lot of bay views. Infinity is still one of my favorite buildings, the staff is very friendly and professional, the layouts are nice and since the building is so well-maintained, it does not look like it is about to be 10 years old. At $319/square foot, that is a great bargain for what you get.
One building that really surprised me was BrickellHouse. It didn’t make it into the top 10, but there were 5 sales this year averaging $474/square foot! That is a lot lower than the $600/foot price the original buyers paid, but is still a great number for a building that is probably about to have a special assessment that will make you do a double take and recount those zeros. On the bright side, they did finally find a solution to their parking debacle, so at least we’re moving forward.
Here is the full top10 list of Brickell buildings by transaction count:
Icon Brickell Tower 3 – 13 sales – $412/square foot average
The Club at Brickell Bay – 12 sales – $299/square foot average
1060 Brickell – 11 sales – $346/square foot average
Icon Brickell Tower 1 – 10 sales – $517/square foot average
Brickell on the River South Tower – 10 sales – $297/square foot average
Infinity at Brickell – 8 sales – $319/square foot average
VUE at Brickell – 7 sales – $289/square foot average
Plaza at Brickell East – 6 sales – $462/square foot average
Plaza at Brickell West – 6 sales – $411/square foot average
Neo Vertika – 6 sales – $317/square foot average
Are you surprised by any of the findings?
Market Stat Monday: Quantum on the Bay
After the positive reviews of my Miami Riverfront Market Statistics article last week and similar feedback to previous market stat posts, I’ve decided to try something new and make it a regular thing. Monday is now Market Stat Monday on the Miami Condos Blog. Each week, I’ll take a look at a different neighborhood, area, or a building. If you have a building or area that you would like to see featured, just let me know. I’m happy to do it and enjoy digging in the numbers.
One of our social media followers suggested that I take a look at what’s going on in Quantum on the Bay. I haven’t written about Quantum in awhile, so agree that it a good place to start. For those who don’t know, Quantum on the Bay was developed by Terra back in 2008. It is located across the street from Margaret Pace Park and is situated in a way that most every apartment has at least a partial bay view, but many have a big, open view of the bay. Because of the park, it used to be a very popular place for people with pets, but the condo association stopped allowing pets for tenants. Owners may have pets, but not tenants (unless you have a support animal). The building has 2 towers and 698 residences.
Despite the beautiful views and convenient location, Quantum has not been free from drama. They had to sue the developer in order to be repaid for the repair of some construction defects. They won that lawsuit and threw a party. The party was barely cleaned up before a tenant slapped the association with a lawsuit for price gouging on move-in fees. I was really wondering how long it was going to take for that to happen somewhere. Almost all of the buildings do it and the tenants always complain but nobody has gotten mad enough to actually sue over a few hundred dollars.
SALES MARKET
So, let’s see how the building is doing. There are currently 86 active sales listings in Quantum. That’s just over 12% of the building, which isn’t so bad. But with only 7 closed sales this year, that’s 43 months of inventory. On the bright side, the units that did sell received 96% of their asking price, so at least it’s not a bloodbath. There is just a lot of competition for buyers, who are more scarce.
The units that closed did so for an average of $357/square foot. The least expensive was a 1 bedroom on the 36th floor for $250,000. In an interesting turn of events, a 3 bedroom with 1,620 square feet sold for $535,000, less than a two bedroom with a direct bay view. The two bedroom sold for $540,000 on the 27th floor and another for $570,000 on the 39th floor. That’s interesting to see how a direct bay view does affect the price of an apartment more so than an additional bedroom. 1,620 square feet is really an enormous apartment in this area. There are 8 contracts waiting to close.
For the buyers who are still looking, there are studios available with partial bay views starting at $220,000, a one bedroom on the 40th floor with a partial bay view is offered starting at $257,000 and two bedrooms with partial bay views start at $380,000. Three bedrooms start at $524,000 or $350/square foot and there is a 3 bedroom penthouse available for $950,000. These prices are relatively the same as they were two years ago (when I last had an active buyer in the building). I’ll save the trends for a future post.
RENTAL MARKET
Just like at the Miami Riverfront, Quantum on the Bay’s rental market is also far healthier than the sales market. There have been 54 rentals this year so far at 98% of the asking price. The average price of a closed rental is $2.37/square foot. The individual prices were:
Studios: As low as $1,500/month.
One bedrooms: Starting at $1,675 for a 35th floor apartment with 663 square feet and a little bit of a water view.
Two bedrooms: There was one rental at $2,250 for a two bedroom, but I have a feeling this one is an outlier. The remarks said that the property had to be taken “as-is”, so I imagine it was either filthy, needed painting or had something else wrong with it. The next least expensive unit was 2711, which rented for $2,300/month with a partial bay view.
Three bedrooms: as low as $3,100/month.
There are 38 available rentals listed, so just under 3 months of inventory for tenants. There are 18 units that have a contract signed and are waiting for move-in day.
All in all, it looks like things are picking up for Quantum. I feel like that once the association straightens up and the lawsuit over their application fees settles, the sales market will pick up also. Litigation makes things very difficult for sellers, since most banks will not finance transactions in buildings with legal drama.
We’ll see you next week with another report! Which building or area should we dig into next week?
January 2017 Brickell Real Estate Market Update
This is a very interesting time in Miami’s real estate market and we are going to start doing more regular market updates of the various neighborhoods and even individual buildings. We’ll start with Brickell, but don’t hesitate to reach out and make a request if there is a specific neighborhood or building that you are curious about.
SALES MARKET
January 2017 brought 41 closed sales in Brickell, according to MLS data, down from 66 in January of 2016. These were seller to buyer transactions, not developer to buyer transactions, since developer to buyer transactions are not reported in the MLS. We will do a separate post with developer-buyer transactions for each building as they open and the sales are recorded.
Although the number of transactions fell, the average price rose to $514,000 for those 41 closed sales. 2016’s average price was $500,000. The average price per square foot also rose to $412/square foot, up from $401/square foot last year. The condos that found buyers had an average time on the market of 163 days, last year was 114 days. It seems the longer marketing time and increasing inventory choices for buyers has made the sellers more eager to sell. The buyers who transacted were able to negotiate down to 92% of the asking price this January, down from 97% of the buyers who bought last January.
The most expensive listing that sold this month was Tower Suite 3801 in Reach at Brickell City Centre. It sold for $1.95M and was offered at $2.1M and the buyer was represented by our very own Lucas Lechuga. We did an in-depth look at the numbers from that transaction last week. The least expensive sale of the month was a $168,000 studio at Brickell’s original condo building, the Four Ambassador.
As of today, there are 1,888 active listings in Brickell (300 of which are new listings in January), averaging $725,000 and $508/square foot. If we continue selling at this rate, we have enough inventory for 46 months of business. With this amount of available alternatives for the buyers, the sellers who are eager to move on from their units need to not only price them aggressively but also hire an agent with strong marketing power so that you stand out from the crowd.
RENTAL MARKET
There were 306 new leases signed in January of this year, up from 264 in 2016. The average rental price is $2,466/month, basically the same as last year’s $2,440. The 306 landlords who found new tenants beat out the competition of 1,442 alternative active listings, 465 of which were new listings.
Although the number of transactions is up and the prices are holding firm, the marketing time is increased this year to an average of 79 days on the market. Last year it took an average of 65 days to find a new tenant and move them in.
Tenants should not smell blood in the water yet though. The 306 leases that were signed garnered 96% of the asking price, so lowballing isn’t a thing just yet. The landlords who are not into 2+ months of vacancy are pricing their units well and finding a tenant quickly.
The most expensive rental of the month was the Four Seasons Residences Unit 44C. That one rented for $9,750/month. The least expensive was a studio at The Club at Brickell Bay for $1,400. It is important to note that the entry-level apartments in the neighborhood are less likely to negotiate price. Brickell is increasingly a hot neighborhood, so the entry point options are very much in demand.
What trends do you anticipate for Brickell? Weigh in and we’ll follow back up next month!
New Miami Condos – Closing Rates for February 2009
It’s been a few months since my last Miami condo closing rate update. The percentage of closed units for 25 major condo developments are provided below, starting with the first development to begin closings. Four condo developments have been added: Icon Brickell, Everglades on the Bay, Infinity at Brickell and Epic. You’ll find these towards the bottom of this post.
Below, you will find the date that each condo development began closings followed by the number of closed units in each condo development:
With the exception of Onyx on the Bay and 50 Biscayne, the first group above has remained unchanged. Onyx on the Bay was able to close one additional condo while 50 Biscayne was able to close two.
Quantum on the Bay and Plaza on Brickell once again were able to show a decent improvement in their closing rate. Quantum on the Bay closed an additional 14 condos while Plaza on Brickell was able to close 21. 1800 Club did not have any new closings but I did find another deed that had been recorded twice. This is the reason why the total number of closed condos in this update is one less than the total stated in the December 2008 post for 1800 Club. It needs just 7 more closed condos to hit the all-important 70 percent mark.
As a result of the 60-unit bulk sale, Marina Blue showed the most improvement of the above five condo developments since the last update. I did, however, find re-recorded deeds for Marina Blue that I had previously missed. The developer of Marina Blue has now closed around 82% of the total number of units.
In my opinion, the five condo developments above are all likely candidates for some sort of bulk deal taking place in the future. Met 1 was able to close 7 additional units, Asia 2, 900 Biscayne Bay 13, 500 Brickell 17 and Axis 8. As a result of the new Fannie Mae guidelines, it is not likely that we’ll see significant improvement in any of the condo developments that haven’t thus far reached the 70 percent mark.
Above, you’ll find the four newly added condo developments which began closings within the past 3 months. Timing could not have been worse for these four. They’re going to need to find a plethora of cash buyers who are willing to pay dated prices. Ivy at Riverfront, which began closings back in June 2008, was able to close 14 additional condos since the December 2008 update.
The bright side is that the condo construction cranes of Miami are gone. The cranes that remain are for commercial developments. Marquis and Paramount Bay, which should begin closings within the next 3 months, will be the last of the newly constructed condos to hit the market in Miami. It does appear, however, that Met 3 has begun to lay its foundation. Hopefully, the condo market will reach some sort of equilibrium by the time that development has been completed.
Disclaimer: The above closing rate information was derived from public County records. There can be a 2-3 week delay from the time that a closing occurs and the time that the closing is recorded. The information above is not deemed 100 percent accurate as a result of delays in the recording of deeds and deeds being re-recorded.
New Miami Condos – Closing Rates for December 2008
It’s been almost three months since my last Miami condo closing rate update. The last one was published on September 22, 2008. Unfortunately, there has not been a lot of progress in closings for most of the condo developments below since that time.
Below, you will find the date that each condo development began closings followed by the number of closed units in each condo development:
Latitude on the River had three new closings since the last update, Onyx on the Bay had three new closed condos and 50 Biscayne had two. Ten Museum Park and Loft Downtown 2 were both unchanged since the last update.
Quantum on the Bay and Plaza on Brickell each had an impressive number of closings, since the last update, considering how long ago closings began. Quantum on the Bay had 28 new condo closings while Plaza on Brickell was able to close 46.
On Friday, the Miami Herald reported that the developer of 1060 Brickell is looking to sell around 60 percent of its condos in bulk. Closings at 1060 Brickell recently reached the 40 percent mark meaning that this represents the developer’s remaining inventory.
900 Biscayne Bay and Ivy have now each reached the 40 percent mark. I’m actually quite surprised that not one of the condo developments in this last group has been able to hit the 50 percent mark. Enough time has certainly gone by. To rev up sales, 500 Brickell recently held a 4-day promotion offering a free Mini Cooper with any condo purchase from the developer’s inventory.
The next update will include Icon Brickell, Everglades on the Bay (now known as Vizcayne) and Infinity at Brickell which recently began closings.
Disclaimer: The above closing rate information was derived from public County records. There can be a 2-3 week delay from the time that a closing occurs and the time that the closing is recorded.
New Miami Condos – Closings Rates for July 2008
The last closing rate update was published on May 28, 2008. I collected the data for this month’s update this past Sunday, July 6, 2008. This month, I also included the number of closed units below each graph in parentheses.
Below you will find the date that each condo development began closings followed by the number of closed units in each condo development:
Not much has changed with this first group of condo developments since the May update except with 50 Biscayne. It went from having around a 67% closing rate to about a 75% closing rate since the last update. However, I took a close look at the numbers and noticed that 26 of the 43 newly closed condos were deeded to TRG 50 Bisc Suites LLC. All 26 units were suite units. It appears as though The Related Group transferred these 26 units to another one of its own entities. I’m not exactly sure though. Even without these 26 units, 50 Biscayne would have had 17 newly closed units. Onyx on the Bay had 5 newly closed units.
Plaza on Brickell saw the most improvement in the group of condo developments above since the last update with a 13 point increase in closings. It now shows that 52% of the overall 1,000 units have closed. You’ll also find slight to moderate improvements in the other condo developments in this group. According to public records, Apogee South Beach now only needs 6 more condo units to close in order to reach 100%.
Marina Blue continued to show good improvement in this update with around a 14 point increase in closings. Marina Blue now has nearly 60 percent of its condos closed. Wind had an increase of around 11 points, Asia around 10 points and Avenue at Brickell slightly over 7 points.
Above is the newest batch of condo developments that recently began closings. I must say that I’m pretty impressed with 900 Biscayne Bay having 79 closed units within the past 2 months. It probably actually has 100 or more closed units by now since there can be a 2-3 week delay in the time that a condo closes and the time that the deed is recorded. It’s still too early to judge the other three condo developments in this group. The next update should shed a little more light. I did have a chance to tour Axis today for the first time. I’ll try to share some pictures with everyone towards the end of the week. By the way, I wasn’t able to find Met 1 which is why it wasn’t included in this update.
Disclaimer: The above closing rate information was derived from public County records. There can be a 2-3 week delay from the time that a closing occurs and the time that the closing is recorded.
New Miami Condos – Closing Rates for May 2008
It’s been almost 2 months since my last post regarding the closing rates of various Miami condo developments. That post was published on April 4, 2008. Referring back to that post and comparing it to the figures in the graph below, you may quickly realize that I must have made a mistake last month when pulling the data for Loft Downtown 2. I’m not sure how that happened. I double and tripled checked the figures this month, however, for all of the condo developments.
Below you will find the date that each condo development began closings:
Even with the overstatement of closed units corrected, Loft Downtown 2 still has the best closing rate of any condo development located in Miami included in this post, and the second best overall. Loft Downtown 2 isn’t as close to hitting the 100 percent mark as I had previously thought, but it’s doing comparatively quite well. The overall closing rate at 50 Biscayne increased slightly over 6 points while the rest, in the group above, increased 2.52 points or less, since the last update.
As over half of this group approaches the one year mark since their closings began, a few interesting questions come to mind. What is happening to the defaulted condos? Are developer’s leasing them and holding until the market gets better or are they hoping for onesy and twosy buyers to come along to slowly deplete their inventory? Are any of these developers feeling the pain yet? I’ve heard that at least one of these condo developers has been for a few months. If that’s true, then when, if ever, are we going to see some bulk sales?
I’m sure glad he’s proving me wrong. Those were my first thoughts when looking at the chart above. My second thoughts are that Apogee South Beach has continued to make great strides in closing its condos. Apogee has improved almost 15 points since my last update. Quantum on the Bay and 1800 Club, the only other two condo developments in the group above the 50 percent mark, each continued to show nice progress as well.
Below you will find the date that each condo development began closings:
Marina Blue is off to a very good start. Pretty impressive from a condo development that started closings so late in the game. Asia is doing relatively well given that it had its first closing less than two months ago. However, Asia has only 123 total units. I’m expecting that we’ll some good progress in Asia’s closing rate next month. I guess we’ll have to wait for the next update, however, to find out.
Disclaimer: The above closing rate information was derived from public County records. There can be a 2-3 week delay from the time that a closing occurs and the time that the closing is recorded.
Beautiful 5 Bedroom Condo at Villa Regina with 4,100 Square Feet – $1,499,900
Five-bedroom condos in Brickell are very rare. In fact, at this time, there are only two other condos in Brickell that are listed on the MLS with that many bedrooms. Just last week, I listed the best priced 5 bedroom condo in Brickell in a building called Villa Regina. The new listing is attractively priced at $1,499,900. The next best priced 5 bedroom residence is listed for over $1M more.
If size, quality, and location are what you need, then look no further. The 5 bedroom listing at Villa Regina spans 4,100 square feet (380.9 square meters), has a total of 15 rooms, 5 full bathrooms, comes with 3 parking spaces, has 4 terraces with gorgeous bay and city views and has been tastefully remodeled. The kitchen has new granite countertops and stainless steel appliances with custom cabinetry. The air conditioning system was also replaced 3 months ago and the condo has impact resistance windows and shutters.
The amenities at Villa Regina include: 24-hour full-service concierge and security, swimming pool, fitness center, his and her spas, barbecue area and 4 grand party rooms. Villa Regina is located directly on Biscayne Bay and is one of the few condo buildings in Brickell with its own private marina.
Contact me today if you’d like to take a look at this 5 bedroom condo at Villa Regina.
New Miami Condos – Closing Rates for April 2008
It has been a while since my last post regarding the closing rate of various Miami condo developments. The last update was provided on February 20, 2008. As with the February post, the first graph below reveals the closing rate of those Miami condo developments that began closings prior to November 1, 2007. The condo developments are ordered, from left to right, according to when closings began.
Below you will find the date that each condo development began closings:
I’m quite impressed with the closing rate of Loft 2. Their closing rate has improved roughly 13.5 percentage points since the last update and is within 6 percentage points of reaching the 100 percent mark. Great job!
The rest of the condo developments in this group have not changed much since the February update. The closing rate of 50 Biscayne has improved about 6 percent while the closing rate of Onyx on the Bay has improved a little more than 4 percent. The rest of the condo developments have improved 1.5 percent or less. You may notice that the closing rate of Star Lofts on the Bay has actually gone down since the February update. Well, obviously, two closings weren’t rescinded. I discovered two deeds that were re-recorded. I hadn’t caught these in the February post. No additional units have closed at Star Lofts on the Bay since November 8, 2007.
The following graph shows the closing rate of various condo developments in Miami that began closings after November 1, 2007.
Below you will find the date that each condo development began closings:
For the most part, a lot has changed with this group since the February closing rate update. Of this group of condo developments, I must say that Apogee South Beach has done a remarkable job! Apogee was the second to last condo development in this group to begin closings, yet it has far surpassed the success of the others. The high closing rate of condos at Apogee proves once again that the ultra-luxury condo market in Miami Beach is still doing quite well.
The 1800 Club has pushed well through the 50 percent mark and has improved roughly 16 points. Quantum on the Bay is hovering right at 50 percent which is good considering that they received the TCO on the second tower around the beginning of March. I can definitely see it hitting the 75 percent mark within the next two months. I also want to note that Plaza on Brickell and 1060 Brickell are both comprised of two towers. I’ve heard that closings for condos in the 851 tower of Plaza on Brickell recently began. The condo units in the 851 tower represent 60 percent of the overall development. I also know a few people who have contracts on condos in the 901 tower who are still waiting to receive a closing date. I’m not sure if only one or both of the towers at 1060 Brickell have begun closings yet.
Next month, I plan to include Marina Blue, Wind and Midtown 4, which each began closings recently.
Disclaimer: The above closing rate information was derived from public County records. There can be a 2-3 week delay from the time that a closing occurs and the time that the closing is recorded.
