The Q1 2020 Miami Real Estate Report: The 5 Best Miami Neighborhoods for Great Deals

Brickell Condos $1M-$2M

What to buy? Brickell Flatiron, SLS and Reach hold the most inventory, which makes them the most susceptible to low offers. It seems buyers have recognized this market as one ripe for deals and when they come up they are getting grabbed. Negotiations have ranged from as much as 12% down to 4%. The median is 7% to 8% discount. With an average of 286 active days on the market we are going to be seeing some increasingly motivated or desperate sellers in the next few months.

If you want to vulture a deal at the lowest price per SF then Villa Regina, The Palace and Brickell East are worth looking at. However be aware of inflated maintenance fees or assessments.  If you want a new generation building built post 2010 then 1010 Brickell or Brickell Heights West are going to be the best options. Interestingly 1010 Brickell also has the units with the highest average days on the market coming in at 433 at the time this report was generated as well as a whopping 98 months of inventory!

Edgewater Condos Below $1M

What to buy?

One Paraiso, Paraiso Bay and Biscayne Beach are the most desirable condos in this market. It is possible to buy in Biscayne Beach under $500 per SF and with 61 current listings in Biscayne Beach and 54 options in One Paraiso (163 months of inventory!) you will be spoilt for choice! Buildings with high inventory (besides One Paraiso) are Gran Paraiso, Aria on the Bay and Paraiso Bayviews.

Want to vulture a deal at a very low price per SF? Focus on Cite on the Bay or 1800 Biscayne Plaza where you will see listings comfortably under $300 per SF and sales at $286 per SF!
GREAT DEAL ALERT: I know of a large 3 bedroom, newly finished corner unit at Biscayne Beach which will trade at a little under $900k.

Aventura Condos Below $2M

What to buy? 

Prive, Echo and Marina Palms are the newest buildings in this market and inspiringly also achieve the highest prices per SF. Marina Palms prices have come massively off their previous achieved prices. Back in 2015 the average sales price per SF was $619 while in 2019 this average came down to $492 per SF ($428 per SF in Q1 2020).

Both markets show several condos with very high months of inventory where there are good chances to get vulture deals. Condos like Marina Palms and the Parc are great to get deals from desperate buyers. At Marina Palms we just sold a brand new completely designer-finished 3 bedroom, 2,500 SF unit with furniture overlooking the vast body of water (inter-coastal and ocean) for just $1.42M. A little over $1.5M and you can get your own boat dock too!

The average discount off current asking prices (which is already adjusted from original to last asking price) is around 8.5%. For condos below $1M we see the discounts range between 3% and 12% with a median of 6%, while the properties of $1M to $2M range between 3% and 16% with a median of 10%.

Bellini is another example of a condo that was achieving $675 per SF back in 2016, which has now dropped to $375 per SF.  With an average of 22% this building has the largest historical discount between asking prices and last listing prices. Plenty of choices even under $300 per SF at Hamptons west, Alaqua and Aventura Marina 1 being discounted heavily.

Sunny Isles Condos $3M+

What to buy?

The highest achieving condos are Porsche, Regalia, Jade Signature and the Mansions at Acqualina. The sales jumped in 2019 on account of the big discounts, but potentially because new developer sales slowed down, which typically would drive the Sunny Isles luxury market.

You have to be careful about shadow developer inventory clouding the figures and your judgement. Truly it is hard to see value with buying developer units right now, unless you are going to parry a fair deal, in light of such big reductions on resales product. Do not get suckered into developer deals by your agent, because for the most part they are getting motivated by the bigger commission checks! Come to the developer sales office with us and armed with our analytics tables we can get you that true deal.

Take advantage of current luxury buildings holding substantial inventory that you can make multiple offers on: Jade Ocean and Porsche Design Tower being excellent examples.  Trump Palace and Trump Royale are the cheapest in this market coming in the $750 – $900 per SF range. In this market there will always be exceptional deals and this will need to be analyzed on a case by case basis, so please call me to discuss.

Miami Beach Single-Family Homes $3M-$5M

What to buy?

If you do want or need to be on Miami Beach this is the time to take advantage and get a deal. There are an equal bunch of golf course and waterfront homes for sale as there are normal dry lot homes, so focus on these as they are in short supply on the mainland and equally expensive. Don’t be afraid to negotiate hard and use our analytics to gauge the values. Don’t look at previous sales figures, start to look under that as benchmark because home values shift downwards.

Miami Beach home buyers are now focusing on prime gated communities such as ‘Bay Point’, which is located on the other end of the 195 coming from the beach. The absorption rate here is very good with 6 sales and pending deals in the last 3 months, which gives 10 months of inventory. With 20 active listings ranging from $1.3M to $20M there are plenty of options for most budgets and solid room for appreciation. This unique single-family neighborhood still gives excellent proximity and an easy drive to the beach, but it also benefits from almost walking distance to the design district and the oh-so cool Wynwood neighborhood.