I am so glad I got out of this market just in time.
Condo Crash Coming
In a few markets where developers have been incautiously building more condominium units than can possibly be absorbed at once ? including Miami, Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale in South Florida with 25,888 apartments under construction and Chicago, where 15,013 units have been started, according to Torto Wheaton Research/Dodge Pipeline ? industry watchers are expecting prices to collapse. In those markets, where experts believe that 70% of the new condominiums are being purchased by investors, prices could drop by 30% between 2006 and 2007. By contrast, about 9,600 condominiums are being built or converted in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, and experts think that they can be absorbed, particularly because they cost less than single-family homes and are an attractive alternative to prospective buyers who can?t afford a house. Some 7,000 condominiums were sold in Washington during the first half of this year. Since 2001, condominium sales have increased almost 50%, according to Condo-Mania!, a report by Wachovia Securities. But the volume is still relatively small, with $13.2 billion in sales during the first quarter of this year, compared to $300 billion in single-family sales during that time. (
www.housingfinance.com)
Apartment Finance Today (Nov.-Dec. 2005); Bendix Anderson
http://www.nbnnews.com/NBN/issues/20...ast/index.html