News release: PAMERA Real Estate Partners

Miami - Is the Golden Market back?

The residential real estate market in Miami and South-Florida is staging a comeback. 2011 exceeded the most optimistic expectations and the recovery after one of the most significant downtowns in recent memory is the strongest among any of the US markets. Record sales, rapid absorption of excess housing inventory and rising home prices are projected to appreciate on a double digit pace throughout 2012. The observations of Marc Tetzner, managing partner of PAMERA Real Estate Partners LLC, seem to confirm this trend: "Developers have applied for permits to construct at least 29 new condo towers in South Florida over the next 2-5 years. Buyers and Investors from all over the world are fueling this remarkable real estate recovery. The metropolitan region of Miami currently appears to be the most attractive real estate market for foreign buyers."

Current market numbers taken from PAMERA Real Estate Partners' regular market overview clearly demonstrate the resurgence of this market: Total Miami sales in 2011 exceeded the number of transactions that closed in 2005 at the height of the real estate boom when plenty of available financing alternatives. Total 2011 sales in Miami-Dade County, including both condo-miniums and single-family homes, were 24,929, up 4% from the 24,025 in 2005 and 46% from 17,068 in 2010. Closed sales of condominiums surged 54%, from 9,760 in 2010 to 15,009 in 2011. Total single-family home sales increased 36% from 7,308 in 2010 to 9,920 in 2011. With the current trend of shrinking inventory and new projects coming to the market earliest at the end of 2013, a housing shortage is very possible in the near future, likely resulting in continued real estate price increases.

During 2011, average sales price for single-family homes in Miami-Dade County increased 8.3% in December, from $302,098 in 2010 to $327,060. The average sales prices for condomin-iums jumped 21.5%, from $223,962 to $272,186. The inventory of residential listings in Miami-Dade County dropped 39% to 14,087. 2011 also saw records broken in the ultra-luxurious sector. Penthouse A in the renowned Setai fetched a sales price of $21.5 million, the highest condo price ever to be paid in Miami. The 20 most-expensive Miami real estate sales in 2011 fetched a total of $244,539,495, averaging an unbelievable $12.2 million per property.