More Than 120 Distressed Miami-Dade County Condos Currently Listed For Sale During COVID-19 Pandemic

Less Than 200 Distressed Condos Traded In Miami-Dade County First Half Of 2020

(This Report Is Powered By The Condo Vultures® Podcast Series Featuring Expert Peter Zalewski

DOWNTOWN MIAMI (Aug. 10, 2020) - More than 120 distressed condo units - both shortsales and real estate owned (REO) by lenders - are formally listed for sale in the South Florida county of Miami-Dade during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report from Condo Vultures® Realty LLC.

Based on distressed condo sales of about 32 units monthly in the first six months of 2020, Miami-Dade County now has nearly a four-month supply of REO and shortsale units available for purchase in the tricounty South Florida region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach during the traditional Summer Buying Season, according to the report based on data from the Southeast Florida MLS Matrix.

A balanced market is generally considered to have about six months of supply. More months of condo supply listed for sale suggests a buyer’s advantage and less months typically indicates a seller’s advantage in the market.

In this new COVID-19 pandemic era, numerous questions exist about how the South Florida residential real estate market will perform going forward, both in the short- and medium-term periods. After a typical start to the new year, the South Florida residential real estate market began to change dramatically at the end of the first quarter of 2020. 

When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a "state of emergency to create a pathway to obtain funding and resources to stop the spread of COVID-19" on March 9, 2020, the South Florida residential real estate market continued to function, albeit with changes for safety that included social distancing and a push for virtual tours instead of buyer actually visiting properties.  

Nearly a month later on April 3, 2020, DeSantis instituted a 30-day "statewide stay-at-home order" that effectively shut down the Florida economy but in doing so deemed residential and commercial real estate businesses "essential services," according to an industry press report.

Despite the ability to transact real estate during the "stay-at-home order," it is unclear how many buyers have been willing to view properties - either in person or virtually - in hopes of purchasing residences. It is also unclear how many sellers have opened their properties to potential buyers given the contagiousness of the COVID-19 virus. 

Once the "stay-at-home order" was finally lifted on May 4, 2020 for nearly all of the state - excluding the tricounty South Florida region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach - the Florida economy was thought to be in recession like much of the United States. Palm Beach County eventually opened its economy on May 11, 2020, and a week later both Miami-Dade and Broward counties opened for business on a limited basis on May 18, 2020.

A month later during the week of June 22, 2020, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties instituted mandatory mask wearing in public areas in response to a "spike" in the number of COVID-19 cases in the South Florida region, according to a press report. 

Broward County - located between Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties - did not mandate masks in public areas.

After Independence Day, Miami-Dade County took a step backward and shut back down restaurant dining rooms, party venues, gyms and short-term rentals due to a spike in new COVID-19 cases, according to a press report.    

With the situation worsening, the state of Florida surpassed New York on July 12 for the distinction of having the most new COVID-19 cases reported in a day with more than 15,300, according to a press report.  

A day later on July 13, an additional 12,624 new cases were reported in Florida, pushing the state number of COVID-19 cases to at least 282,435 with more than 121,000 cases in the tricounty South Florida region. On a county-by-county basis, Miami-Dade has nearly 67,715 cases, Broward has nearly 31,485 cases and Palm Beach has more than 21,800 cases, according to a press report. 

As of July 24, Florida had more than 402,300 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with nearly 5,700 deaths, according to the Florida Department Of Health's COVID-19 Data And Surveillance Dashboard.

On that same day, the tricounty South Florida region had about 172,440 confirmed cases - representing about 43 percent of the Florida total - and about 2,660 deaths - representing about 47 percent of the state total, according to the state dashboard. 

As of Aug. 10, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in nearly 537,000 confirmed cases and more than 8,400 total deaths in Florida. In the tricounty South Florida region, there are about 232,000 cases and more than 3,630 deaths, according to the state website. 

On a county-by-county basis, Miami-Dade had about 132,700 confirmed cases and nearly 1,875 deaths; Broward had nearly 62,400 confirmed cases and more than 820 deaths; and Palm Beach had about 36,900 confirmed cases and more than 935 deaths, according to the state website.   

This being said, about 120 distressed condo units are currently under contract - or pending - and waiting to transact in Miami-Dade County. 

On the REO front, the average asking price of the 79 Miami-Dade County REO condos currently listed for sale is about $505,012 per unit. This works out to an average asking price of about $340 per square foot, according to the data compiled by CondoVulturesRealty.com.

In the first six months of 2020, the average transaction price of a Miami-Dade County REO condo was more than $199,750 or about $191 per square foot.

This means the current asking price of a Miami-Dade County REO condo listed for sale is nearly 153 percent higher than the average transaction price achieved on a per-unit basis and about 78 percent higher than the average transaction price on a per-square-foot basis between January and June of this year.

In the first half of 2020, the lenders that were able to unload their REO units needed about 55 days to transact a Miami-Dade County condo listed for sale. The current Days-On-The-Market average for a Miami-Dade County REO condo listed for sale is about 133, according to the statistics.

On the shortsale front, the average asking price of the 43 Miami-Dade County shortsale condos currently listed for sale is about $579,229 per unit. This works out to an average asking price of about $307 per square foot, according to the data compiled by CondoVulturesRealty.com.

In the first six months of 2020, the average transaction price of a Miami-Dade County shortsale condo was about $199,611 or about $198 per square foot.

This means the current asking price of a Miami-Dade County shortsale condo listed for sale is more than 190 percent higher than the average transaction price achieved on a per-unit basis and about 55 percent higher than the average transaction price on a per-square-foot basis between January and June of this year.

In the first half of 2020, the sellers who were able to unload their shortsale units needed about 137 days to transact a Miami-Dade County condo listed for sale. The current Days-On-The-Market average for a Miami-Dade County shortsale condo listed for sale is about 187, according to the statistics.

CondoVulturesRealty.com is a licensed Florida brokerage that specializes in assisting buyers and tenants in value-oriented condo acquisitions and leases in the tricounty region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach.

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