For the data wonks that we had promised to provide some numbers with analysis, we apologize for the delay but we will get to it! But first, an article hit the newswires that we had to comment on: “Florida’s Condo Bust Hits the Courts.”
The early August article, first published in the Wall Street Journal, depicts the situation in which condo owners and developers are squaring off in the court system over forced sales under a law that initially intended to allow for hurricane-damaged condo complexes to be rebuilt quickly.
Without belaboring this heavy topic, we want it told here and now and early, that the next condo bust is going to be bigger and deeper and more painful than the bust spurred by the 2007-2008 market collapse.
We find it interesting that the current condo boom is being played out while some of the participants in the previous boom work out some “legacy issues” as they say.
What’s amazing is that the last boom ended only six years ago and the sky fell. And here we are again watching cranes pop up like weeds over the Miami skyline. The difference is that the current boom is fueled mostly by offshore cash buyers. No one is asking where that money came from…just like in the 1980s. “Say hello to my little friend,” anyone?
