For such diverse companies as Home Properties, Equity Residential, and Merrill Gardens, it's all about selling off multifamily portfolios in particular geographic areas and using the proceeds to move in to more lucrative markets, or funding new opportunities for growth.
After five years of condo craziness, reality has returned to South Florida. Just ask Harvey Hernandez. “We were living in a marketplace that wasn't real. It's not real to sell a 400-unit project in a weekend,” says Hernandez, president of H&H Development, based in Coral Gables, Fla. “I think we're changing and becoming more real.” So is the South Florida multifamily market. At its 2005 peak, sales of existing condominiums reached 34,820 in the Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach/Boca Raton markets, according to the Florida Association of Realtors. But by 2006, sales had tumbled more than 20 percent, to 27,328 units.
