There are too much condos and apartments in South Florida, leaving no homes

South Florida’s skyline had changed in the last few years. Many residential buildings had come up in the area. There are not only apartments but condominiums for the well-heeled too.

The housing bubble has burst. Now the real estate developers are wondering what would happen to the buildings – foreclosure is one of the answers. Home prices in Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Miami have just nose-dived. According to a survey, only Miami overbuilt the urban area during the housing boom. About 40 per cent of the condominiums have not been sold so far.

In Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, developers are still clinging on to condominiums. Experts say that both the areas would emerge from the housing bust.

All the three areas built tall residential towers so that lights would not be switched off when people leave for their homes in the suburbs after 5 pm.

There was a frenzy of construction activity in Miami. That suddenly led to the building of 25,000 condominium units. This was revealed by the Downtown Development Authority in Miami. According to the findings of the survey, 38 per cent of the condominiums have not been sold so far.

That at least defied the common perception that a majority of the high-rises are still empty. DDA Vice Chairman Neisen Kasdin says that many people moved into the homes in recent times.

However, the situation in West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale is quite bad. Fort Lauderdale witnessed the building of 4,185 condominium units. The mayor of Fort Lauderdale Jack Seiler says that the area did not witness much of a boom. There was no frenetic construction work here as witnessed in other areas. That is in part due to the developmental laws that put a barrier on construction activity.

There was a limit to the construction activity. When that was reached developers asked for the permission to build 13,000 more. Broward County approved only 3,000. But just before these condominiums could be built, recession had set in and several projects had to be cancelled.

In West Palm Beach, nearly 4,200 residential buildings had come up over the last nine years. According to the findings of a recent survey, only three were not sold. Some projects did not take off because of the downturn. There are people who say that the buildings are dark after dusk. No wonder, it is true. But it may take a while for the housing sector to recover.

foreclosure homes

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