One prime example of Miami real estate’s rise, fall and rebound is Sunny Isles Beach.
High-end buildings in the waterfront area, north of Bal Harbour and south of Golden Beach and Aventura, are moving units at a rapid pace after some significant price decreases.
Over at Trump Towers, which has sold more than 40 percent of its 271-unit third tower since launching sales there in December, prices are averaging upwards of $500 per square foot and more than 80 percent of deals are all-cash. The development overall is selling about 25 condos per month, at an average of about $1 million per unit. And higher-floor units, like three 2,928-square-foot residences that were purchased by a single Brazilian buyer for a combined $5.275 million, are getting $600-plus per square foot. In addition to that combined purchase, a recent four-day span saw six 2,928-square-foot residences sold to buyers, mostly from Brazil and Argentina, for about $1.6 million to $1.8 million each.
“That’s still off the $800 to $900 a foot we sold [Trump Towers] units for in 2006, but pretty good considering the bloodbath we went through,” says developer Gil Dezer, president of Dezer Properties, who notes that he has a sales display inside an Artefacto store in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The story is similar at the Jade Beach and Jade Ocean developments, two Sunny Isles Beach buildings with about 250 condos each. Jade Beach sold out a few months ago, and Jade Ocean, which is selling about 10 units a month, has less than 50 condos left. Average prices at Jade Ocean once peaked at more than $800 per square foot but are now about $700 per square foot.
The international market, especially all-cash buyers from Latin America, has been key at the Jade properties, as well.
“Between both buildings, we have 22 nationalities,” says Edgardo Defortuna, president and CEO of developer Fortune International, who has opened up an office in Sao Paulo and partnered with American Airlines to bring in potential buyers. (Fortune is also selling Icon Brickell downtown, which is now averaging about $425 per square foot and unloading around 50 units a month.)
A three-bedroom furnished Fendi Casa model unit at Jade Ocean recently sold for $2.1 million — $965 per square foot — to a Brazilian.