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Originally Posted by BruceH
I don't think the problems with Las Ramblas and ICON had anything to do with demand falling off the cliff in Las Vegas as Perez puts it. Demand for Las Vegas luxury condos is still happening. Our supply is far less than that of Florida, the buyers for our condos are global and demand is solid but no longer speculative as occuring in Florida. Creating good design (not 11 towers on small acreage), knowing your construction costs up front, proper branding and quickly going from reservation to contract to construction has a lot to do with how succcessful you are as a developer in Las Vegas.
We're getting lots of calls from buyers out of Miami, Naples and other Florida cities where they believe the 60,000 condos in the current construction pipeline are a train wreck waiting to happen. They are pulling out of Florida and investing in Las Vegas. Just sold a $4.6 million penthouse to one of them this week and getting more inquiries from Florida than we've seen in months.
Look at the May issue of Inc Magazine and Business 2.0. Las Vegas is the #1 pick and is THE place to work and live. Not Florida.
Las Vegas is in an excellent position to see a smooth, normal condo high rise market as only a limited number of high rises are being built at this time. The next wave won't be for another 1-2 years which further helps smooth out the demand/supply curve. Florida will be making the bad news investment headlines, not Las Vegas.
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Actually, Moody's places LV in precisely the same category as Miami as cities 'on the bubble'. And it has been surprising to me that Miami, though arguably farther along in its boom - and with its far greater supply - has had comparatively few cancellations, possibly fewer than LV.
FYI, though a Floridian, I'm pulling for Miami and LV equally. I'd very much like to see both prosper.