Condo Mania in South Florida
Anything To Break Out Of Their Contracts 
As dozens of condominium towers conceived during Florida’s real estate boom near completion, investors who snatched up units in the preconstruction phase in hopes of turning a quick profit are increasingly trying to break contracts, even walking away from fat deposits.“Motivated” sellers are flooding online forums like Craigslist with advertisements for condo units still months or years from being finished.
The demand has dropped markedly, and people who thought they could “flip” condos — buying, then selling for a steep profit before construction is done — are parting with that fantasy. After years of stunning price increases — 25% in the West Palm Beach-Boca Raton area, for example, from March 2005 to March 2006 — condo prices have started dropping. Many buyers want out — not an easy prospect unless they are willing to forfeit the 10% or 20% they put down, from $15,000 for an inexpensive studio unit to hundreds of thousands of dollars for a waterfront penthouse.
The condo mania of recent years also beset cities like Las Vegas, Phoenix and Washington, but while those markets are also full of resales, analysts say South Florida drew the most investors. Many speculative condo buyers were foreigners, especially Latin Americans looking to shelter their wealth from precarious economies in their home countries.
