By now our readers probably know that many of the real estate deals concluded in South Florida these days are all-cash agreements. But, what many people may not know is that this also applies to real estate transactions involving properties with sales prices over $1 million.
In fact, according to a recent report, the business of buying and selling million-dollar properties is booming in South Florida. The report indicated that in a comparison of the first quarter of this year to the first quarter of last year, both Broward County and Miami-Dade County saw huge percentage jumps in the number of million-dollar deals that were closed. Broward County deals were up 41 percent, and Miami-Dade County deals were up 42 percent.
The real shocker, however, is that even in real estate sales involving these pricey properties, at least one local realtor reported that a whopping 85 percent of the million-dollar deals he has seen were all-cash deals. Not only that, but the same realtor reported that some of these properties are on the market for only about 30 days, if that.
As has been noted in previous posts here, foreign buyers and investors constitute a large portion of the buyers in these deals. Another realtor who was interviewed for the recent article noted that approximately one-third of the buyers he is dealing with are from another country. He stated that the comparative affordability of South Florida real estate when set next to similarly priced property in places like Paris or London makes a purchase in South Florida the obvious choice. For a seller in South Florida, however, who the buyer is and where they come from is probably of little interest to them, so long as the price is right.
Source: local10.com, “Million-dollar home sales on the rise in South Florida,” Todd Tongen, June 18, 2014
