Brown Harris Stevens Miami broker Mark Zilbert teased a new feature on his website called “The 100 Biggest Price Drops” late last week, resulting in the greatest number of hits that Zilbert.com has ever received.
Over the past two weeks, some sellers in Miami-Dade cut prices by nearly 50 percent, suggesting more price adjustments are on the horizon as showings begin to resume and brokers get back to the office. The report looked at all homes and condos priced at $500,000 and up that have dropped prices since May 11.
“It created a massive surge in traffic,” Zilbert said. “It’s a metric that apparently people really, really want to see.”
Between May 11 and Tuesday, May 26, the property with the biggest price haircut is the four-bedroom, three-bathroom house at 410 Southwest 27th Road in Miami. The 2,286-square-foot home is now asking $1.06 million, down 47 percent from $1.99 million earlier this year. It’s been on the market for 136 days. Similar homes in the neighborhood are priced closer to today’s asking price.
“Many, if not most, of these properties are decent deals, but the massive price drop is more a reflection of adjusting an unrealistic listing price down to one that is closer to market value,” he said.
Though Zilbert says there is no market data that suggests prices are dropping significantly across the board in Miami-Dade, there’s a perception among buyers that now is the time to buy.
“There is a massive buyer base that has their eyes on Miami, looking for price drops,” he said. “Buyers believe people are going out of business.”
A four-bedroom, three-bathroom unit at St. Tropez condo in Sunny Isles Beach is now asking $750,000, a 43 percent discount off the original ask of $1.32 million.
At Echo Brickell, lower penthouse 5101 is on the market for nearly $3.4 million, 38 percent off the asking price of $5.5 million. The developer sold the three-bedroom, 2,378-square-foot condo to the current owner for $4 million in February 2018, property records show. That means it’s now asking less than its original purchase price.
A recent report from Condo Vultures Realty found that luxury condos in Greater Downtown Miami sold for about $3.3 million on average in the first quarter, but the average asking price dropped in May to just over $2 million.
Zilbert added that though the discounts between the original asking price and today’s asking price may be significant, that doesn’t mean the price is now below market value. It could mean that a property was overpriced to begin with, and/or that it’s already gone through a few rounds of price reductions.
“I always tell a buyer, ‘pay no attention to the asking price,’ he said. “It’s all about perception.”
In an email preview of his new website feature, Zilbert said that many buyers have been calling him over the past few weeks looking for the best deals, hoping the pandemic will force sellers to act quickly.
It looks like buyers are already taking advantage. Though the number of condo closings has generally remained steady over the past few weeks in Miami-Dade County, closed sales dollar volume is on the decline.
“This is when the seller is most likely to cut the best deal because of uncertainty,” Zilbert said. “The opportunity is going to close up.”