While New York real estate continues to chug along, albeit it at a more measured pace than a year ago, other major cities that have been on building sprees have felt a sharp reversal in the market. In places like Miami, Chicago and San Diego, where the percentage on non-occupant owners is much higher than New York, the condo-flipping ponzi scheme is starting to crumble like a house of cards. At the Jade Residences at Brickell Bay in Miami, for example, more than 20 percent of the 352 units are on the market. In San Diego, about a third of the 96 units in the Alicante, a condo that opened last fall, are on the market and sellers are already starting to cut asking prices. Of course, New York is not totally immune to this trend: At 120 Riverside, which the Donald already cashed out of, more than 20% of the units are on the market. With so much inventory, says Ilan Bracha, a broker with Prudential Douglas Elliman, “the buyers are coming in, checking the best views and then they negotiate. This is the reality.”
Farewell, Condo Cash-Outs [NY Times]