South Florida Residential Resales of 20,200 Set 15-Month Record

(MIAMI, FL)—Single-family home and condominium buyers are racing to buy depressed-price properties in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, according to a new report released today by CondoVultures.com

Purchase contracts on residential resale product in the tricounty South Florida region surpassed the 20,000 threshold on Monday, marking the first time in at least 15 months that pending sales reached that level, the report states

Using data from the Florida of Association of Realtors, CondoVultures finds buyers have gone under contract on nearly 9,100 single-family houses and 11,100 condominium units and townhouses in Miami-Dade, (top left skyline photo)  Broward, and Palm Beach counties.

"Buyers are stepping up their purchases of resale product in South Florida," says Peter Zalewski, a principal with the Bal Harbour, Fla.-based real estate consultancy Condo Vultures® LLC.

"Many of these buyers are purchasing all cash as financing is still challenging.

“It is important to note that the resale data does not track sales of new condo product, much of which is located in Greater Downtown Miami, Sunny Isles Beach, and West Palm Beach."

For example, Zalewski says, Greater Downtown Miami was closing an average of nearly 200 condos per month in 2009, and early research shows there has been no slowdown in volume in the first quarter of 2010, according to the Condo Vultures® Official Condo Buyers Guide To Miami™.

On the resale side of the market, pending sales are up 117 percent from 9,300 contracts during Thanksgiving week of 2008 when CondoVultures.com first started tracking the data on a weekly basis.

Additionally, pending sales are up 10 percent since Thanksgiving week of 2009, an increase of more than 1,800 contracts, according to the data.

Miami-Dade County, where Aventura, Miami Beach, (middle right skyline photo)  and Sunny Isles Beach are located, leads the region in pending sales with just over 9,000 contracts. This figure represents 45 percent of the total existing contracts in South Florida.


Broward County, where Fort Lauderdale, (bottom left yacht scene photo)  Hollywood, and Pompano Beach are located, ranks second in the region in pending sales with nearly 8,000 contracts, which represents 40 percent of the deals.

Palm Beach County, where Boca Raton, Delray Beach, and West Palm Beach are located, ranks third in South Florida based on 3,200 contracts, constituting 16 percent of the pending sales, according to CondoVultures.com. #

Contact:  Peter Zalewski, Principal, Condo Vultures® LLC, Office: 305-865-5629, Cell: 305-321-7383, eFax: 1-305-832-0311, Peter@CondoVultures.com, http://www.condovultures.com/