a real estate rebound in miami?

Here's a headline I didn't expect to see so soon:

Affluent Buyers Reviving Market for Miami Homes

According to the New York Times, even though 20 percent of Miami-Dade County households with mortgages are in foreclosure,

Home sales in the metropolitan area during the first half of the year rose 16 percent from 2010 for the best spring since 2007, according to the research firm DataQuick, far outpacing the negligible growth in the rest of the country. Two-thirds of the sales were all cash.

Prices, after a brutal drop, are firming up or even increasing. During the first six months of the year, there were 439 sales for at least $2 million, up 13 percent from last year.

“People thought it would take at least a decade to get back to this point,” said Peter Zalewski, founder of Condo Vultures, a real estate consultant.

The question is, why? The story drops an intriguing hint that I wish it had followed up on:

“The Brazilians walk in, they don’t even negotiate,” said [do-developer of the beachfront Trump Towers Gil] Dezer, who said he would announce two new projects by the end of the year. “It’s a no-brainer for them.”

Miami is a U.S. city, but it is also a commercial capital of South America. I wonder how much of the rebound in high-end real estate there is due to South American economies growing much more strongly than our own. --b.d.s.

• Posted By: Bruce Snider (Bio) at 9:55 AM
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