Residential inventory at the top of Miami’s market is short, pushing brokers to look off-market, a trio of top brokers in Miami said at The Real Deal’s Miami Forum Wednesday.
The speakers, Judy Zeder of the Jills Zeder Group, Douglas Elliman’s Dina Goldentayer and Dora Puig of Luxe Living Realty, discussed the region’s “landmaxxing” trend, off-market transactions and international buyers during a panel moderated by TRD’s Senior Reporter and South Florida Bureau Chief Katherine Kallergis.
Land assemblages are increasingly in demand for Miami’s wealthiest buyers, the agents said. When a new listing comes across her desk, Goldentayer said her first step is to call the property’s neighbors and gauge their interest in buying.
Wealthy buyers are increasingly “landmaxxing” by picking up adjacent properties with the goal of creating massive estates. This summer, Oracle founder Larry Ellison added 2.2 acres to his 16-acre compound in Manalapan, for a combined price of $207.4 million.
Few ultra-luxury properties are for sale, the brokers said, meaning off-market deals offered at skyrocketing prices are common.
“If there was more inventory, I think the market would be even exploding further,” Zeder said. “As far as the assemblages go, we are finding one of the difficult things is to find land and homes with land.”
The same concept applies to condos, Goldentayer said, in a trend she called “condo-maxxing.”
“If you have someone who has a three-bedroom condo, and their family has expanded and they need a four or five bedroom, it’s almost impossible to get a condo outside in a reasonable budget,” she said. “But if their next door neighbor becomes available, and they get to buy the two units, it’s such an incredible opportunity.”
Prices have ballooned for the few properties available in Miami, Puig said. Buyers with budgets between $1 million and $10 million are struggling to find homes in their price ranges, she said.
Zeder said she has seen families buy homes for their children, hoping to score properties before they’re priced out. A budget in the $3 million range doesn’t buy what it once did, she said.
Waterfront properties in Miami Beach are rarely asking under $15 million, Puig said, adding that sites at that price point are typically empty lots.
Difficulty selling can typically be traced back to poor pricing or a disconnect in the property’s staging, Goldentayer said.
Interest from international buyers has picked up recently, Puig and Zeder said. In Zeder’s case, that included an uptick in potential Brazilian buyers in the weeks since the country’s presidential election in late October.
The brokers also stressed the importance of developing high-quality luxury condo buildings and that too many developers are throwing around the word “luxury” without delivering the goods.
“We’re getting a lot of developers building, selling luxury, and it’s really not luxury,” Zeder said.
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