How Brazilians are transforming Miami condo market

Brazilians are among Miami’s top investors because they see the city as more than an investment, according to an NPR report. More than 20 residential condominiums on the horizon are targeting Brazilians and other foreign buyers, mostly Brazilian.

The group is at the forefront of a new condo boom. Brazilians “really buy to use the unit,” Carlos Rosso, director of condo sales at the Related Group’s Miami office, told NPR. “So they want it, finished, built, they want it now. It’s very funny when we talk with some Brazilian suppliers here, for example, of furniture and they tell us, well, you know, all the Brazilians come and they all want to be here in Christmas, and they all order the same sofa.”

They have purchased half of the units in some of Rosso’s buildings at cut-rate prices, he said.

“It’s an international destination,” Sorah Daiha, a Brazilian real estate broker, told NPR. “They feel comfortable and they see people from everywhere.”

Miami developer Edgardo Defortuna opened a branch office in Sao Paulo and said he learned that “selling to the right families” is key. A few well-known families from Belo Horizonte bought condos at Trump Hollywood, and then eight or 10 Brazilian families followed suit, Defortuna told the news radio outlet. [NPR] – Mark Maurer