Some condo developers are reporting good news.
Ricardo Dunin is among them. He says his sales team secured contracts for 77 condo sales at his two condo-hotel projects in Brickell, Domus Brickell Park and Domus Brickell Center, within the last 70 days or so. (The average price of the units is $584,000.)
He explains why.
“We’re ahead of schedule. We pay the brokers 100 percent on time. People love that we have a professional management company that will take care of the buildings. And the price point for a luxury product with good taste is very attractive,” he says.
This is not the norm.
“What I hear is everyone else is struggling,” says Dunin, CEO of Oak Capital and co-founder of North Development.
About three years ago, the short-term rental condo project model boomed in South Florida. Investors liked the price point and the promised rental income, or the suggestion that they would earn their money back, and then some. Then the market got a bit oversaturated.
Dunin, who was among the developers of the first big wave of condo-hotels built in the ‘90s, seems to have found a sweet spot. He plans to launch a third Domus-style project by early next year, and is under contract to purchase the site for a fourth development. Domus Brickell Park is 67 percent presold, and Domus Brickell Center is about 30 percent presold, he says.
Thirty-seven percent of his buyers are domestic, which means the overwhelming majority are international, and most of those are Latin American buyers, he said. These are investors looking to purchase small units they can rent out on a short-term basis.
The foreign buyer hasn’t disappeared, though some have retreated.
A new report released by the Miami Association of Realtors and a handful of top brokerages — Cervera Real Estate, ISG World, PMG, Serhant and One Sotheby’s International Realty — states that about about half of the presold units in Miami’s new construction pipeline are being purchased by foreign buyers. Sixty percent of the 9,115 condos are presold or in contract.
The problem we have tracking new development sales is that no public record can corroborate the information developers and brokers put out there, until these buildings are completed and the deeds recorded. So for the years that these projects are in the presales/construction process, the sales teams are the gatekeepers of this information.
And unfortunately, the information that made it into the report is pretty limited. It doesn’t break down sales figures by project, nor does it disclose when these contracts were signed.
It’s meant to help flip the doom and gloom outlook that’s playing out in some areas, projects and segments of the market. The aging condo market, made up of buildings that are 30 years and older, is struggling in part because of increased regulations (a reaction to the deadly Surfside condo collapse in 2021).
Alicia Cervera Lamadrid, managing partner of her family’s brokerage firm, Cervera Real Estate, says the perception that interest from foreign buyers is waning stemmed from The New York Times’ June 5 article titled:
“I looked at it and I thought this is the most ridiculous thing I’ve read in a long time,” she tells me.
The Times’ story referred to the Miami Association of Realtors’ report that found home sales to foreign buyers fell to 10 percent of all transactions in the tri-county region from August 2023 to July 2024. This was the lowest share since 2015. That report was a survey of nearly 2,400 real estate agents in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Martin counties. New developments likely weren’t included.
This prompted Cervera and other brokerage heads to take action. “There were no optics into preconstruction,” Cervera adds.
Alfredo Pujol, chairman-elect of the Miami Realtors, says the idea for the latest report came from “all the [articles] we hear that are negative” — not just the Times. He was surprised by the high share of sales represented by foreign buyers, but not that foreign buyers are still in the market.
Their report tracked new development sales for the 18-month period ending in June.
“We have huge demand from Latin America. Colombia has been strong, Guatemala, Honduras. We’re seeing great demand from Brazil as well,” Cervera says. “People are looking at these as second homes/investment properties. I personally think many of these units may turn into full-term residences.”
Cervera’s leading sales and marketing for Dunin’s projects.
Compass agent Mike Martirena, of the Ivan & Mike Team, and his partner, Ivan Chorney, have been traveling all summer to meet clients abroad.
“My foreign buyers tend to like the condo-hotel component. They look at it like a safe haven.” Martirena says.
Have President Trump’s immigration policies and mass deportations affected his international clients’ mindsets? No, he says.
“They want to make sure their money is safe,” he says, “whether they agree with the politics or not.”
What we’re thinking about: I did hear that construction has slowed way down at one big Brickell condo development, and at a smaller project nearby, the developer has been returning buyers’ deposits. Do you know of any others that are floundering? Send me a note at [email protected].
CLOSING TIME
Residential: Alexandre De Macedo, an executive in the restaurant industry, and his wife Clarissa De Macedo sold their over 9,600-square-foot single-family home at 4725 Davis Avenue in Miami to a trust for $23 million.
Commercial: Clarion Partners sold the apartment complex known as 33 West at 6300 Southwest 24th Place in Davie for $97.5 million. Crow Partners purchased the property.
— Research by Mary Diduch
NEW TO THE MARKET
The new waterfront estate at 2914 North Flagler Drive in West Palm Beach hit the market for $27.9 million. The 8,540-square-foot mansion, with seven bedrooms, eight bathrooms, two half-bathrooms, a saltwater pool, spa, rooftop decks and an outdoor kitchen is listed with William Raveis Real Estate agent Steve Simpson. The nearly half-acre property has 80 feet of direct water frontage and a dock. Property records show a company owned by John Galiher, founder of Preferred Freezer Services, paid $3.5 million for the property in 2021.
A thing we’ve learned
Activate Hospitality paid $10 million for the former Palihouse hotel in Miami Beach’s Faena District. Halstatt Real Estate Partners sold the 71-key property at 3101 Indian Creek Drive, now known as the Hotel Trouvail. Activate’s Sagar Desai tells me the company plans to complete a $1 million refresh of the hotel and will bring in a local food and beverage operator for the ground floor. It will remain open.
Elsewhere in Florida
- The Florida Division of Emergency Management’s heavily redacted hurricane evacuation plan for the Alligator Alcatraz migrant detention center drew criticism from lawmakers and advocates who are demanding more transparency, CBS Miami reports. The plan omits key details like alternate relocation sites and vendor procedures.
- Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal ruled that Miami’s decision to postpone its 2025 election without voter approval was unconstitutional, reaffirming the lower court’s decision in the case and siding with mayoral candidate Emilio González, according to the Miami Herald.
St. Petersburg officials and the Tampa Bay Rays discussed a potential $40 million settlement to end the team’s lease at Tropicana Field instead of repairing the hurricane-damaged stadium. Repair costs are nearing $60 million, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The Rays’ agreement with the city has them playing at Tropicana Field through the 2028 season, which was later extended one year after Hurricane Milton tore through the dome.
