May 09 Real Estate Market Reports for Miami Shores, Bay Harbor Islands, Surfside, Fisher Island, Aventura, Biscayne Park and El Portal

This is a Miami Real Estate Market Report for May 2009 – Can people stop generalizing the Miami-Dade Real Estate Market already!!  There is no way you can compare Coral Gables Real Estate to Miami Shores Real Estate.  There is no way you can compare average sales in Apogee in South Beach to average sales at The Waverly.  How many times do I have to tell you that real estate is local (even within Miami and Miami Beach)!  Compare apples to apples and stop generalizing! It’s like saying that everyone that speaks Spanish is from Spain.  With that said….take a look at past market reports for each area and even then, you will have to focus on particular features and location of each property – working with the right REALTOR makes a huge difference too (that’s my plug for the day).

Miami Shores Real Estate Market Report

There are currently 147 listings in Miami Shores: (12 less than last month)

• Highest priced listing is $3.15 million (bayfront home located at 9179 N. Bayshore Drive)
• Lowest priced listing is $89,899 (bank-owned located at 89 NE 109th Street) – with multiple offers already for quite a while
• Pending Sales (Properties under contract):37 (6 more than Last month)
• Closed sales in May: 10 (compared to 5 in April)

Six out of the 10 sales in Miami Shores were under $300,000.  The lowest closed sale last month was the property located at 9338 NW 2nd Avenue, which started off with a listing price of $250,000 back in June of 2008 and ended up selling for $73,000 as a bank-owned property.   Don’t even talk to me about the short sale market in Miami Shores – showing these properties is like pulling teeth and communication with listing agents and banks is non-existent for the most part.  I wonder if the main criteria for hiring these agents is incompetency.

Bay Harbor Islands Real Estate Market Report

There are currently 25 single-family home listings in Bay Harbor Islands: (same as last month)

• Highest priced listings are for $5,200,000 (9530 W. Broadview Drive – listed since March of 08 and 10200 W. Broadview Drive listed since January of 07)
• Lowest priced listing is $499,000 (9970 E. Bay Harbor Drive – Villa – listed since Feb. 07 – starting price of $659,000)
• Pending Sales (properties under contract):3 (1 less than last month – but who cares when these properties don’t end up closing)
• Closed sales in May: 0

This is starting to get really boring – maybe I’ll pull Bay Harbor Islands market reports off my monthly list – no sales, no sales and still …..no sales. ***hopefully no one has been packing either***

Surfside Real Estate Market Report

There are currently 68 single-family home listings in Surfside: (5 less than last month)

• Highest priced listing is $7,900,000 (for flawless 6 bedroom / 7.5 bathroom modern bayfront home located at 1236 Biscaya with 6,723 square feet of living space and 75′ of bay frontage).
• Lowest priced listing is $299,000 for a short-sale at 9156 Harding Avenue (the bank is playing yo-yo w/ this one having increased and decreased price several times)
• Pending Sales (properties under contract): 4 (2 less than last month)
• Closed sales in May: 3 (2 more than previous month)

Surfside Real Estate is moving slowly, but it’s moving.  The lowest single-family home closed sale this year was $285,000 – and the lowest closed sale in May was $325,000.  In my eyes that means the Surfside market is not that weak and there is light at the end of the tunnel. There are currently 173 condo listings in Surfside: (4 less than last month)

• Highest priced listing: $2,500,000 a 3/3 at Azure

• Lowest priced listing: $120,000 a short sale studio at The Carlisle

• Pending Sales (properties under contract):14 (4 less than last month)

• Closed sales in May: 5 (2 less than last month)

You can still get a good deal on a Surfside Condo – sales last month ranged from $152,900 for a 1/1 at the Carlisle to $704,100 for a 3/3 at Solimar.  Those penthouse oceanfront condos are holding strong though.  Don’t expect great deals on those – views, height and “snob factor”.

Fisher Island Real Estate Market Report

There are currently 151 listings in Fisher Island: (10 less than last month)

• Highest priced listing: $30,000,000 for an exclusive Oceanside 5/5.5 home with artwork and all!
• Lowest priced listing: $335,000 for a 1/1 at Marina Village
• Pending Sales: 7 (5 more than last month)
• Closed sales in May: 1 (Oceanside 7862 Fisher Island Drive for $3,000,000 – listed since 2007 for $7.25 million – that’s what I call a $4 million dollar reduction…..OUCH!)

Oprah’s condo still sits unsold at $1,795,000 – The Summer should show more action in Fisher Island when we get all the vacationers and celebrities that like their privacy.  You would not believe the type of golf-carts you see in the island (main form of transportation) – I should have taken a pic of the Bentley Golf-cart last time I showed property.

Aventura Real Estate Market Report

There are currently 1722 condo listings in Aventura: (47 less than last month)

• Highest priced listing: $6,000,000 for a 4/6 at Porto Vita
• Lowest priced listing: $5,000 for a covered parking space at The Venture (they decreased the price by $7,000)
• Pending sales: 239(15 less than last month)
• Closed sales in May: 85 (26 more than last month)

The highest closed sale in April was Bella Mare in William’s Island, 6000 Island Blvd unit 2701 for $1,650,000 and the lowest was for $50,500 for a bank owned 1 bedroom / 1 bathroom residence at the Point East.

Biscayne Park Real Estate Market Report

There are currently 42 single-family listings in Biscayne Park: (same as last month)

• Highest priced listing $510,900 (730 NE 120 St) **wonder if they played some kind of Astral game to come up with that price
• Lowest priced listing $120,681 (11520 NE 8th Avenue – bank owned) **with same Astral game as the highest priced listing
• Pending sales (properties under contract):6 (4 more than last month)
• Closed sales in May: 1 (same as last month)

Biscayne Park Real Estate is priced well for first time home buyers, and example is the single sale from last month.  862 NE 111 Street sold for $340,000 – that’s a totally renovated 3 bedroom / 2 bathroom home built in 1946 with almost 2,100 square feet of living space and a 11,550 square foot lot.

El Portal Real Estate Market Report

There are 27 listings in El Portal: (8 less than last month)

• Highest priced listing is $549,000 (69 NE 87 St – listed since August 06, started at $749,900)
• Lowest priced listing $150,000 (short sale at 440 NW 90th Street and short sale at 435 NW 90th Street)
• Pending sales (properties under contract):11 (4 more than last month)
• Closed sales in May: 4 (3 more than previous month)

El Portal Real Estate at least is seeing some sales now – May sales were $225,000 for short sale at 400 NE 87th Street, $185,000 for bank-owned property at 155 NW 89th treet, $195,000 for 4 NW 91 Street and $117,000 for bank owned property located at 8633 NE Miami Court. **all information obtained from the SouthEast Florida Multiple Listing Service**