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Published: December 19 2011

A Delaware corporation has paid $10 million for the final 19 units of a new waterfront condo complex in the Downtown Fort Lauderdale and the Beach market, according to a new report from CondoVultures.com.

The buyer - Hemingway Landings LLC with a permanent address in Williamstown, Mass. - paid an average of $238 per square foot for more than 42,000 square feet of livable space at the Hemingway Landings in a deal that transacted on Nov. 22, 2011, according to Broward County records.

"As a result of this bulk deal, there are now fewer than 50 developer units that remain unsold in the Downtown Fort Lauderdale and the Beach submarket from the last South Florida real estate boom," said Peter Zalewski, a principal with the Bal Harbour, Fla.-based real estate consultancy Condo Vultures® LLC. "Depending upon how new unit sales go in the fourth quarter of 2011, the Downtown Fort Lauderdale and the Beach submarket could be sold out by the end of the year. If this does not happen, it is only a matter of time until the boom-era condos in the Downtown Fort Lauderdale and the Beach market are eventually sold."

As of Sept. 30, 2011, developers had sold 99 percent of the nearly 5,100 units created in the coastal Downtown Fort Lauderdale and the Beach market since 2003, according to a recent CondoVultures.com report.

At the time, the 298-unit condominium-hotel project formerly known as the Trump International Hotel & Tower - which had not yet begun sales - on Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard was not included in the total.

Since 2003, developers constructed and converted 40 projects of 15 units or more in a stretch of Downtown Fort Lauderdale and the Beach market from Sunrise Boulevard south to State Road 84/Southeast 24th Street, Northwest 7th/Southwest 4th Avenue east to the Atlantic Ocean, according to an analysis based on the Condo Vultures® Official Condo Buyers Guide To Downtown Fort Lauderdale and the Beach™.

The surge in new condo construction increased Fort Lauderdale's total inventory in the Downtown and Beach neighborhoods to nearly 12,800 units located within 180 projects that feature a combined 1,500 floors of residential living, according to the report.

Prior to the bulk deal at the Hemingway Landings project, buyers had purchased two units in the three-building complex located just north of the 17th Street Causeway for nearly $2.7 million for an average of more than $600 per square foot in December 2009, according to a review of Broward County Property Appraiser records.

As of Dec. 14, 2011, the Hemingway Landings project has three condos being marketed on the Multiple Listing Service starting at nearly $440 per square foot based on the association's condominium declaration recorded with Broward County.

Overall in the Downtown Fort Lauderdale and the Beach market, there are about 385 condominium units are on the resale market at a median price of more than $330 per square foot as of Dec. 14, 2011, according to an analysis by CVR Realty™.

An additional 115 Downtown Fort Lauderdale and the Beach market condo units - at a median asking price of nearly $215 per square foot - are currently under contract waiting to transact, according to the analysis based on Florida Realtors association data.

In the first 11 months of 2011, buyers have acquired nearly 750 units at a median price of more than $210 per square foot in the Downtown Fort Lauderdale and the Beach market, according to the analysis.

It is important to note there are various stages to a residential real estate transaction in South Florida.

A transaction begins when a property is made available for sale and ends when a title is conveyed from one party to another party as a result of the recording of a deed with the local government.

As part of the process, a property typically goes under contract and into a due diligence phase by which a deal can be canceled.

The CondoVultures.com new condo sales report is based on completed transactions where a deed is recorded and taxes paid as a result of the sale.

Condo Vultures® LLC is a real estate consultancy and marketing company based at 1005 Kane Concourse, Suite 205, Bal Harbour, Florida, 33154. You can reach Condo Vultures® LLC at 800-750-0517.

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