Thursday 23 April 2009

Article: Miami's Condo Corridor's Woes Create Boon For Renters

An article earlier this week spoke of how some developers and property investors are deciding to rent out their condos for the time being instead of facing the likely notion of offloading them for very low prices indeed. Whilst of course renting property in Florida isn't the subject of this blog...the article is still interesting as it highlights the extraordinary amount of construction that went on in the boom property years in southeast Florida.

I live in London, UK, and often hear that many property owners - from developers of new apartment blocks to those trying to sell family homes - opting to rent their properties for now with a view to then selling when the market picks up. Of course, this brings up further problems: for one, many find themselves in a situation of landlord, of which they have little experience; and secondly, it's very difficult to judge exactly when the property market will recover.

Still, it's interesting to see that some of the same concerns are affecting those on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Miami Herald article concentrated on downtown Miami, the area around what is now a rather plush Brickell Avenue. A truly amazing 23,000 condo units were constructed in the building frenzy that occurred there over the last few years.

Since 2003, 13,000 of these condos have been sold and a whopping 60% have been sold to investors or those who weren't intending to live in these units. Meanwhile, 10,000 condos are still in the hands of the developers of the buildings as they haven't yet been sold.

The offshoot of all this is that some developers are choosing to rent out their condo units instead of selling. The actual main subject matter of the article is that young Miami professionals are finding that they are able to rent out some rather plush pads and enjoy the high life, when such apartments would have been completely unattainable to them only a few years ago.

So, if you ever find yourself wanting to rent somewhere in Miami, it seems that the Brickell Avenue is the place to look - you might find yourself in a luxurious condo for a good deal! but overall, this is an example of just how much over-supply is really out there.

Article: Miami condo corridor's woes create boon for renters (Miami Herald, 21st April 2009)

1 comment:

fee simple said...

There are more types of property owning: fee simple or condominums owning.The two are very different and more people investing on real estate should know this.