AGENT MLS HOME FINDER

The Miami Beach real estate market was hit quite hard by the nationwide economic recession, as well as the collapse of the local market and the spike in foreclosures throughout Southern Florida. The residential portions of Miami Beach are mainly composed of condominiums and higher-end properties, which meant that the recession affected the real estate market in a different way than many other portions of the Sunshine State and the American South. The condo market recently took a different direction, thanks to a power play by the Starwood Capital Group and reported by an October 8, 2009 article in the Miami Herald. The article, written by Monica Hatcher, stated that “South Florida’s battered condo market just got a major new player. Starwood Capital Group’s deal to acquire a big stake in a basket of condo construction loans and projects of failed Corus Bankshares from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation puts the Greenwich, Conn.-based private equity giant in charge of roughly 21 percent of the unsold condo inventory in greater downtown Miami.”

An article by Marc Jablon in the Huliq News noted that high-end Miami Beach homes for sale have been in serious trouble recently. According to the article, “While the sales figures of low and middle tier homes in South Florida continue their rapid upward climb, and their prices creep up, sales and prices for high end, luxury homes continue to decline. Prices and sales figures for these high end homes are so far down that, according to Fortune Magazine, lenders, in addition to sellers, are desperately searching for exit strategies. Many consider auction sales the quickest way to offload these white elephants.”

Real estate in Miami Beach has been especially susceptible to foreclosures, as noted by an October 5, 2009 article from Realestatechannel.com. The article, written by Alex Finkelstein, noted that “There is good news and bad news today on South Florida’s foreclosures front for all categories of shelter. The bad news: A new report from Bal Harbour, FL-Based Condo Vultures LLC shows foreclosure actions in the tri-county South Florida region jumped by 25 percent in the third quarter ending Sept. 30 on a year-over-year basis, reaching 22,411 lis pendens filings in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.”