Purchase contracts on residential resale product in the tricounty South Florida region surpassed the 20,000 threshold on Monday, marking the first time in at least 15 months that pending sales reached that level, according to a new report by CondoVultures.com.

Buyers have gone under contract on nearly 9,100 single-family houses and 11,100 condominium units and townhouses in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, according to the report prepared based on the Florida Association of Realtors.

"Buyers are stepping up their purchases of resale product in South Florida," said Peter Zalewski, a principal with the Bal Harbour, Fla.-based real estate consultancy Condo Vultures® LLC. "Many of these buyers are purchasing all cash as financing is still challenging. It is important to note that the resale data does not track sales of new condo product, much of which is located in Greater Downtown Miami, Sunny Isles Beach, and West Palm Beach." 

For example, Greater Downtown Miami was closing an average of nearly 200 condos per month in 2009, and early research shows there has been no slowdown in volume in the first quarter of 2010, according to the Condo Vultures® Official Condo Buyers Guide To Miami™. 

On the resale side of the market, pending sales are up 117 percent from 9,300 contracts during Thanksgiving week of 2008 when CondoVultures.com first started tracking the data on a weekly basis. Additionally, pending sales are up 10 percent since Thanksgiving week of 2009, an increase of more than 1,800 contracts, according to the data.

Miami-Dade County, where Aventura, Miami Beach, and Sunny Isles Beach are located, leads the region in pending sales with just over 9,000 contracts. This figure represents 45 percent of the total existing contracts in South Florida.

Broward County, where Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, and Pompano Beach are located, ranks second in the region in pending sales with nearly 8,000 contracts, which represents 40 percent of the deals.

Palm Beach County, where Boca Raton, Delray Beach, and West Palm Beach are located, ranks third in South Florida based on  3,200 contracts, constituting 16 percent of the pending sales, according to CondoVultures.com.

Peter Zalewski of Condo Vultures® can be reached at 800-750-0517 or by email at peter@condovultures.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Don't forget to sign up for our weekly Market Intelligence Report™ for detailed condo reports. Looking for a property at a deep discount? You are encouraged to take a peek at the Vultures Database™ or view our Video Gallery. Looking for bulk projects direct from developers or lenders? Visit the Condo Vultures® Bulk Deals Database. Our new books, the Official Condo Buyers Guide to Miami™ , Official Condo Buyers Guide To South Beach™, Official Condo Buyers Guide to Sunny Isles Beach™, Miami's Great Condo Crash: A Chronicle of the Boom and Bust™ , and the First-Time Home Buyers Guide To South Florida™ are now available. Want to see every foreclosure filed in South Florida since 2007? Check out our Foreclosure Database™.

Copyright © 2010, Condo Vultures® LLC