Waves of wealthy foreigners are landing on Miami’s shores and buying up millions of dollars worth of vacation condominiums, giving rise to an increase in the real estate market in Florida.
According to the city of Miami, the luxury condo market is hotter than at any point in history. Nearly 20 percent more million-dollar condos were sold in 2011 than in the previous peak year of 2006.
"There was a lot of inventory, maybe, 18 months ago, and then all of a sudden, there was a lot of foreign investment to the Miami market, people coming in from Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, a lot of Russian buyers, specifically on the high end luxury," Danny Hertzberg , a real estate agent for Coldwell Banker in Miami, according to an ABC report.
A buyer recently paid $25 million for this three-story, five-bedroom, 7.5-bath Miami penthouse. It has 25-foot-high walls of windows commanding ocean and city views. The record price for a Miami condo was shelled out by an Italian buyer who wishes to be anonymous, says CBS Miami.
In L.A., a stadium-sized manor recently sold for $85 million. Meanwhile, In New York, a Russian billionaire bought an $88 million condo, reportedly for his daughter to use as a crash pad. He was outdone two months later when an anonymous buyer snapped up an unfinished penthouse for $90 million, now the most expensive home in Manhattan.
