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| Tower Miami - Your Miami Real Estate Source |
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Thousands of apartment renters were forced out by landlords who converted their units into condos for sale. Last year, about 200,000 apartments were sold for conversion to condominiums, on top of 135,000 new condos.
As renters in sizzling markets have scrambled for anything available, rents have surged. In the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area, "Not only are rental prices up 12 percent to 15 percent in the second quarter, but the number of people signing leases is up 23 percent over last year," says Ron Shuffield of Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell Realtors.
In recent months, though, the inventory of condos for sale has swelled. And buyers have vanished. Developers are turning condo projects into apartments or canceling them. Some landlords are inviting back tenants because they can't sell the units.
There's relief in sight for some renters as the oven-hot real estate markets cool off: A huge number of new condos could be converted into rental properties over the next 18 months.
© Copyright 2006 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.,Noelle Knox.
[Rents Could Fall]
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