Welcome to Miami, home of the fabulously beautiful and fabulously wealthy.
Foreign buyers — many of them anonymous — have poured cash into Miami's real-estate market for years. Think mansions priced at over $20 million, condos pimped out with private rooftop pools, and spec houses with wild extras. Big-name architects like Renzo Piano, Rafael Viñoly, and Zaha Hadid are knee-deep in the Miami property game, turning the city's skyline into a feast of postmodern towers.
A recent report from RealtyTrac noted that real-estate transactions in South Florida hit a record in 2015, closing 114,002 single-family home and condo sales.
"It's a buyer's market," luxury real-estate broker Oren Alexander of Douglas Elliman told Business Insider. Alexander and his brother, Tal, are known for listing high-end properties in New York and Miami, including the $50 million penthouse at the top of Manhattan's Plaza Hotel.
"There's no bigger transfer of wealth than from New York to Miami right now," Alexander said.
But lately there's been talk of softening markets in New York and Miami. Some have said there has been a slower influx of foreign capital thanks to a weakened Brazilian real and Russian ruble. Meanwhile, stricter regulations on all-cash, anonymous real-estate purchases — a favorite of foreign investors — have been introduced, potentially throwing some cold water on the boom.
Let Business Insider be your guide to some of the most noteworthy pieces of property in this beach paradise.
SEE ALSO: Billionaire hedge funder Ken Griffin is selling his Miami Beach penthouse and condo for $73 million
DON'T FORGET: Follow Business Insider's lifestyle page on Facebook!
This stretch of Florida coast is bursting with high-end properties, from luxury condo developments to celebrity-owned estates. Each neighborhood has its own vibe, whether the urban landscape of downtown or the secluded getaways of Indian Creek.
Market fluctuations don't change the fact that for many, the convenience and benefits of the Miami area just can't be beat, Alexander says. Celebrities and hedge funders have certainly caught on, fueling the continued development and constant sales.
Let's start up north, at Sunny Isles Beach. The Ritz-Carlton Residences is a 52-story tower where a 51st-floor penthouse — with its own infinity pool, terrace, and five bedrooms — has already sold for upward of $21 million. About 60% of the other units are also spoken for, though the tower isn't scheduled to be complete until 2018.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider