Update: New Condo Construction Closing Rates

December 8, 2007

The chart above will show you the percentage of total units that each development has closed since closings began.

One Bal Harbour is the newest edition to this monthly update. Closings began November 16, 2007. The percentage of closings may seem very low but keep in mind that it can take up to three weeks for closings to be recorded. However, it normally takes about five days for closings to be recorded. I know for a fact that several extensions have been granted at One Bal Harbour. I have a client who is planning to close on his unit this upcoming week. He will then sell it for a sizable loss to a replacement buyer who contacted me a few weeks ago in a simultaneous closing. I can tell you that WCI has delivered a fantastic product. An investment group that I met with today told me, after seeing a large variety of condo developments throughout South Florida, that One Bal Harbour was by far their favorite. I viewed a $5.7M condo there this past week that was simply amazing!

If you compare last month’s graph to this month’s you will see that there hasn’t been much of a change. Latitude on the River went up about 2%, Star Lofts on the Bay has remained unchanged (they’re in trouble), Onyx on the Bay has gone up about 3.5%, Ten Museum Park has gone up 7.5%, 2 Midtown has gone up about 4.5% and 50 Biscayne has gone up about 6.5%.

I’m actually quite shocked that more closing haven’t occurred since last month’s numbers were released. I realize that the market is slow but I would have thought that 1 or 2 other condo developments would have hit the 70% mark. I especially thought that 50 Biscayne would have had an increase of at least 10%. These figures, when compared to last month’s, are quite an eye opener.