The chart above will show you the percentage of total units that each development has closed since closings began.
One Bal Harbour is the newest edition to this monthly update. Closings began November 16, 2007. The percentage of closings may seem very low but keep in mind that it can take up to three weeks for closings to be recorded. However, it normally takes about five days for closings to be recorded. I know for a fact that several extensions have been granted at One Bal Harbour. I have a client who is planning to close on his unit this upcoming week. He will then sell it for a sizable loss to a replacement buyer who contacted me a few weeks ago in a simultaneous closing. I can tell you that WCI has delivered a fantastic product. An investment group that I met with today told me, after seeing a large variety of condo developments throughout South Florida, that One Bal Harbour was by far their favorite. I viewed a $5.7M condo there this past week that was simply amazing!
If you compare last month’s graph to this month’s you will see that there hasn’t been much of a change. Latitude on the River went up about 2%, Star Lofts on the Bay has remained unchanged (they’re in trouble), Onyx on the Bay has gone up about 3.5%, Ten Museum Park has gone up 7.5%, 2 Midtown has gone up about 4.5% and 50 Biscayne has gone up about 6.5%.
I’m actually quite shocked that more closing haven’t occurred since last month’s numbers were released. I realize that the market is slow but I would have thought that 1 or 2 other condo developments would have hit the 70% mark. I especially thought that 50 Biscayne would have had an increase of at least 10%. These figures, when compared to last month’s, are quite an eye opener.
New Condo Construction Closing Rates
The chart above will show you the percentage of total units that each development has closed since closings began. They are in no particular order.
Below, you will find the date that the first closing in each development occurred:
Star Lofts on the Bay and Onyx on the Bay haven’t had any new closings in quite some time. I think they are pretty much done. Midtown 2 has maybe one or two new closings every couple of weeks. Might as well put a fork in them as well.
Latitude on the River has done comparatively well but it seems as if closings have plateaued. I think it will be difficult for them to reach the 80 percent mark within the next couple of months unless a bulk buyer steps in to buy the defaulted condos.
Ten Museum Park has been struggling but I know that an individual has stepped in to buy over ten units there within the past couple of weeks and is still looking to buy more. Only about half of these closings have been recorded. Rumor has it that a separate bulk buyer has a strong interest in buying the remaining units that come back to the developer of Ten Museum Park after all closings have been completed. I think by January we’ll see the percentage of closings at Ten Museum Park top 90 percent.
50 Biscayne began closings on October 1, 2007 and is doing quite well. Most closings get recorded within the first week but there can be a two to three week delay so some condos that have closed within the past two weeks may not be reflected in the numbers above. It will be interesting to see how high the percentage of closings at 50 Biscayne rises by the end of the year.
