Prices Surge for Miami Homes, Condos

For the fourth consecutive month, Miami home prices posted strong gains in March with the median sales price of condominiums surging 46% compared to a year earlier, according to the latest figures from the Miami Association of Realtors.

The median condo price reached $141,700 in March while the median sales price of single family homes rose 13% to $180,000.
‘The fact that Miami home prices have significantly increased for four consecutive months indicates prices have bottomed and have caught up with sales levels,’ said Martha Pomares, 2012 chairman of the board of the Miami Association of Realtors.

‘We expect this trend to continue, as Miami increasingly attracts international buyers and investors, second and vacation home buyers, and migrating US residents,’ she added.

Statewide median sales prices in March increased 20.8% to $105,000 for condominiums and 10.3% to $139,000 for single family homes, according to the Florida Realtors Industry Data and Analysis department. The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $163,800 in March, a 2.5% increase from March 2011.

In March, the average sales price for single family homes in Miami-Dade County increased 21.8% from $279,608 in 2011 to $340,634 in 2012. The average sales prices for condominiums jumped 23% from $212,616 to $261,523.

Sales of existing homes decreased but remain at historically high levels. The sales of existing single family homes in Miami-Dade decreased 12% in March, from 1,039 to 919, compared to record sales levels March 2011. Sales of condominiums were down 10.1% from 1,542 to 1,387, compared to March 2011.

Statewide sales of existing single family homes totalled 18,370 in March 2012, down 5.7% compared to a year ago. Statewide condominium sales totalled 10,012, down 12% from those sold in March 2011.

Nationally, sales of existing single family homes, town homes, condominiums, and co-ops decreased 2.6% from February but were 5.2% higher than they were in March 2011, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).


‘The Miami residential real estate market saw record demand that resulted in an all-time record for home sales. This consistent demand coupled with fewer distressed properties being transacted has logically resulted in notable price appreciation unlike anywhere else in the US,’ said Miami Association of Realtors residential president Patricia Delinois.

From March 2011, the inventory of residential listings in Miami-Dade County has decreased 34% from 18,883 to 12,379 in March 2012. Compared to the previous month, the total inventory of homes dropped 5.1%. Total housing inventory nationally declined 1.3% at the end of March but is 21.8% below a year ago.

Strong demand for bank owned (REO) properties and improved processing of short sales has resulted in rapid absorption of distressed listings and contributed to price appreciation. In March, 49% of all closed residential sales in Miami-Dade County were distressed, including REOs and short sales, compared to 52% in March 2011 and 54% the previous month. Contrary to a year ago, there are now more short sales being transacted than REOs.

In Miami-Dade County, 65% of total closed sales in March were all cash sales, compared to 66% a year earlier. Cash sales accounted for 47% of single family sales and 79% of condominium closings. Nearly 90% of international buyers in Florida purchase properties all cash.

Nationally, all cash sales were 32% of transactions in March, reflecting the stronger presence of international buyers in the Miami real estate market.

by Propertywire Apr 23, 2012



Prices Surge for Miami Homes, Condos

Proposed Solis property slated for trustee sale

The proposed Solis project (formerly Waterview) on Camelback Road east of Scottsdale Road.



A vacant downtown Scottsdale property that was cleared for a luxury hotel and condominiums is scheduled for a trustee sale next week.

A development group headed by Mark Madkour of Scottsdale Canal Development had plans to build the 240-room Solis Scottsdale hotel and 140 condominiums on the 10.57-acre property.

But the lender foreclosed on the property and Scottsdale Canal Development filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last fall.

The site northeast of Scottsdale and Camelback roads and east of the Arizona Canal has been vacant for nearly three years. Madkour's group tore down aging apartments along 73rd Street to prepare the property for development.

Madkour said Scottsdale Canal Development might bid at the trustee sale.

"We still feel we are the best one to move forward with this project," he said. "There's been interest in the northern portion for multifamily development but that doesn't help the situation."

Scottsdale Canal Development had an ambitious $600 million project pegged for the site with a 72-foot hotel, underground parking, six condo buildings, walking paths and two bridges over the canal. The company also planned to move a Salt River Project electrical substation from the site to a spot northeast of 68th Street and Indian School Road.

Most of the opposition centered on relocation of the substation.

Vacant site an eyesore

Tony Viti, who lives north of the site in Villa Monterey Unit 1, said he hopes the property gets developed but he is not sure he will ever see it.

"It doesn't look good," he said. "It's just sitting there with some graffiti on the fences."

Still, the vacant property is an improvement over the apartments that had been on the site, said Viti, who is vice president of the Villa Monterey Unit 1 homeowners association.

"We had all kinds of people walking through our neighborhood," Viti said. "We had guys sleeping back by the canal."

Investors hesitant to buy in

Scottsdale Canal Development defaulted on a series of loans for the project.

Boulder Capital is owed more than $12 million, according to U.S. Bankruptcy Court records.

Madkour said he is trying to line up other investors for the project.

"We have three strong candidates that could come in and help us with a joint venture," he said.

"It's been extremely challenging," Madkour said. "We didn't walk away because we really believe in the project...I firmly believe in the location."

Madkour said he has been trying to lure investors over the past two years but they are hesitant.

"Arizona is just so tarnished by this imploded real-estate market," he said. "It really is on a black list for some people."

by Peter Corbett - Apr. 19, 2012 12:29 PM The Republic | azcentral.com



Proposed Solis property slated for trustee sale

Phoenix Optima condo developer set for 3rd effort

Rendering courtesy of Optima The project will be called Optima Sonoran Village and will be located on nearly 10 acres at the northeastern corner of Camelback Road and 68th Street in Scottsdale, according to co-developers Optima Inc. of Glencoe, Ill., and DeBartolo Development LLC of Tampa.



The developer of two luxury-condominium projects in the Phoenix area said it has secured land and financing to develop a new project near Scottsdale Fashion Square.

The project will be called Optima Sonoran Village and will be located on nearly 10 acres at the northeastern corner of Camelback Road and 68th Street in Scottsdale, according to co-developers Optima Inc. of Glencoe, Ill., and DeBartolo Development LLC of Tampa.

Like its sister project, Optima Camelview Village, 7177 E. Rancho Vista Drive in Scottsdale, Optima Sonoran Village will be a multiphase residential project made up of tiered levels covered with greenery, the developers said.

Unlike the two previous projects, which include Optima Biltmore Towers, 4808 N. 24th St. in Phoenix, the next Optima project will begin as an apartment community.

Optima Sonoran Village's first, 210-unit phase will be developed by Optima Sonoran Village Phase I LLC, a joint venture between Optima, a multifamily-housing developer, and DeBartolo, a real-estate investment firm specializing in multifamily, hospitality, retail and mixed-use projects.

The first phase is scheduled to break ground in 2012 and begin leasing in 2013, the developer said.

Architect and Optima founder David Hovey said Optima Sonoran will be similar to Optima Camelview in that its architecture will be designed to blend in with the surrounding environment.

"Each residential unit will have a private, landscaped green roof terrace creating an indoor-outdoor experience for our residents and a dynamic visual esthetic for the development," he said.

Optima acquired the 10-acre site in July 2009. The company declined to provide estimated development costs, apartment sizes or monthly lease rates.

Optima Sonoran's initial phase will consist of a seven-story terraced building with 210 luxury residential units.

Eventually, five interconnected buildings will be linked by bridges with supporting commercial, retail and restaurant services, and over 5.5 acres of landscaped courtyards interspersed with pools, spas, water features and sculptures, the company said.

The entire project will be completed in five phases and may be converted to condominiums in the future, an Optima spokeswoman said.

Most luxury-condominium developers have been struggling lately, while upscale-apartment operators have been enjoying growth in occupancy and lease rates.

by J. Craig Anderson The Arizona Republic Nov. 24, 2011 06:42 PM




Phoenix Optima condo developer set for 3rd effort

74 downtown Phoenix condos purchased

A California real-estate investment group has purchased 74 unsold condominium units in the high-profile Summit at Copper Square project in downtown Phoenix for $12.7 million.

That works out to about $171,000 each for the units that initially were listed for between $300,000 and $1.2 million.

Still, Hadden Schifman, whose Scottsdale firm Vizzda tracks the commercial real- estate market in metro Phoenix, called the sales price "fairly strong." He noted that some documents pegged the liquidation value of the unsold units at $7.3 million.

Documents show that Howard Wu and Taylor Woods, both principals in Urban Commons LLC of Los Angeles, purchased the units from Scottsdale's Stearns Bank. Stearns foreclosed in July on an original $64 million note secured by the property.

Norm Skalicky, CEO of Stearns Bank, called the sale a "win-win" for both parties.

"The buyers got a great deal, and we were happy with the price," he said

The buyers did not return calls seeking comment on their plans for the property.

The 23-story, multicolored high-rise development, just west of Chase Field, was completed in 2006 at an estimated cost of about $65 million.

When completed, the tower at 310 S. Fourth St.was hailed as a major milestone in the redevelopment of downtown Phoenix as a residential hub.

W Developments LLC sold 91 of the 900- to 1,500-square-foot units at an average price of $415 per square foot before the housing market collapsed in 2008.

After that, sales dried up and the project was beset with lawsuits over unpaid bills. In late 2009, W Developments filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in an attempt to avert the Stearns foreclosure action.

W Developments was unable to put together a Chapter 11 reorganization plan acceptable to creditors. Stearns eventually took back the property.

The original lender was First National Bank of Nevada, which was declared insolvent and closed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in 2008. Records show Stearns purchased the note for an estimated $6.4 million.

by Max Jarman The Arizona Republic Nov. 18, 2011 12:00 AM



74 downtown Phoenix condos purchased

Developer aims to restart condo project

A Dallas-based developer wants to revive a condominium project north of Scottsdale Fashion Square to build hundreds of high-end apartments.

JLB Partners is requesting city approval of its plan to build 369 apartments at what had been called Portales Place, a project that was to include 126 condos priced from $800,000 to $4.5. million.

Scottsdale-based Grace Communities started excavation of the project in December 2005 but did not get far. The failed development left behind a dust bowl and a vacant 10-acre site at Goldwater Boulevard and Highland Avenue.

JLB Partners would build apartments of up to four stories and two-story carriage-house apartments with attached garages, said Kevin Ransil, JLB's Arizona regional partner.

"It's an eyesore for the city of Scottsdale in a prominent location," Ransil said of the site. "We can get that hole filled up that's a reminder of a failed project."

Luxury-apartment projects have replaced condos as the housing choice of Scottsdale developers. The city has approved or is considering plans for 4,900 apartment units, including 700 units for Gray Development's Blue Sky project northeast of Camelback and Scottsdale roads.

The Portales apartments would give residents access to the same lifestyle amenities that downtown condo owners enjoy without having to invest a half-million dollars for a condo, Ransil said.

There is strong demand for apartments downtown since no Class A units have been built in the area in more than a decade, he said.

The apartment site is west of a pair of 65-foot-tall office buildings in the Portales Corporate Center and the 65-foot Optima Camelview condos.

JLB's carriage-house apartments would run along the northern and western edges of the property, adjacent to the Rancho Vista neighborhood to the west and Camelback Park Estates to the north. Both are single-family residential neighborhoods.

Access to the apartments would be on the northeastern edge of the property at Chaparral Road and on Goldwater Boulevard just north of Highland Avenue.

The four-story apartment buildings would include an underground parking garage.

The apartments would range in size from about 600 to 1,300 square feet, Ransil said.

It's too early to project the rental costs, but JLB expects that residents will have an average income of more than $100,000.

With 500 residents expected to live in the apartments, that will bring a lot of purchasing power to downtown, Ransil said.

JLB has developed about 20,000 apartment units in Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, Arizona, New England and suburban Washington, D.C.

That includes Block 1949, a student-housing apartment building with 225 units at 1949 W. University Drive in Tempe that was completed in 2010. JLB has since sold that complex.

ML Manager LLC, the successor of Mortgages Ltd., is the owner of the Portales site. JLB has the property under contract with a scheduled closing in mid-December, said Mark Winkleman, ML Manager chief operating officer.

He declined to disclose the price until the deal closes. A previous Portales deal in the spring that did not close had a sale price of $14.6 million.

Zoning attorney John Berry, who is representing JLB, said the Portales apartment project is below the site's 65-foot height limit and includes more open space than previously planned.

JLB's site-plan amendment must be reviewed by the Scottsdale Development Review Board, Planning Commission and City Council.

The plans were submitted Nov. 3. No dates have been set for public hearings on the project.

by Peter Corbett The Arizona Republic Nov. 14, 2011 09:20 AM




Developer aims to restart condo project

Scottsdale condo prices up nearly 5% as foreclosures fall

Here's a look at home and condo prices for Scottsdale in 2011. Click "Next" to view previous months.

by Peter Corbett The Arizona Republic Oct. 24, 2011 07:51 AM

Scottsdale condo prices up nearly 5% as foreclosures fall