Almost double the number of buyers, compared to the same quarter last year, bought properties in Fisher Island, South Beach, Mid-Beach, North Beach, Surfside, Bal Harbour, Sunny Isles Beach and North Miami Beach, according to sales data from the Miami Association of Realtors. Condo sales totaled 1,672 in the eight communities during the July-through-September period, up from 854 in the third quarter of 2020 and 876 in the same stretch of 2019. However, monthly coastal condo transactions did dip 34% from July to September, from 688 to 454 completed deals, showing there were jittery prospects who held off buying. Sales numbers in September actually reflect activity in July and August since it takes 30 to 60 days for sales under contract to close. The 10 real estate brokers and market experts the Miami Herald interviewed for this story were divided on what caused that monthly beachfront condo-buying slowdown from early to end of summer. Some blamed the collapse, others the area’s usual summertime sales lull. Many calls from interested prospects and real estate agents’ condo showings stopped in the initial days after the 12-story Champlain Towers South crumbled on June 24 at 8777 Collins Ave., killing 98 people. Some residential real estate experts had expected a lingering slowdown to the condo frenzy given escalating safety concerns regarding the structural integrity of condos across Miami-Dade County, especially along the coast.

Sierra Drew plays with her son Shai Librati, 2, at Jade Signature Condominium at 16901 Collins Ave., Sunny Isles Beach on Friday, Dec. 3, 2021. Third-quarter condo sales figures for the eight Miami beachfront communities showed a slew of buyers closed purchases compared with a year ago.

“I thought it was going to have a longer and profoundly more chilling impact throughout Miami. It wasn’t the case,” said Danny Hertzberg, sales associate at Jills Zeder Group, an affiliate of Coldwell Banker.

Bill Hughes, clinical professor and research director at the University of Florida’s Kelley A. Bergstrom Real Estate Center, has been studying the effects of the collapse on the area real estate market with University of Florida Warrington College of Business assistant director Fernando Mattar. “The pandemic increased demand for housing,” Hughes said, with people spending more time at home. “Now we have the counter event (the collapse). It looks like it has dampened the market, (but) it has not shut down the market.”

Sunny Isles Beach and North Miami Beach experienced the strongest buying activity during the third quarter, with just over 660 sales. Fisher Island had the least, with 16 deals during the three months. Summer buyers were attracted mainly to high-rises built after 2000, including Jade Signature in Sunny Isles Beach, Ritz-Carlton Bal Harbour and Icon South Beach.

“People were coming to newer buildings,” said Sandra Chartouni, director of sales at Jade Signature. “Did they ask about the construction? Absolutely.” But those that came often bought a unit, Chartouni said. Her tower saw seven deals since July, ranging in price from about $3 million to $7 million. One of Sabrina Cohen’s prospective buyers did cancel condo shopping plans due to the Surfside collapse, fearing high-rise living. The Coldwell Banker Miami Beach sales associate said that was her only cancellation since the tower fell. She later sold three units in coastal communities during the third quarter, two in South of Fifth and another along the Venetian Causeway. Buyers often asked about a condo building’s recertification status, a process that checks structural and electrical condition and safety, said RE/MAX Advance Realtor Vivian Fernandez. She sold a handful of South Beach units to buyers from Boston and Washington, D.C., during the recent quarter that ended Sept. 30. “It’s a question that they ask: ‘Is it safe?’” Fernandez said of careful buyers. After she tells them a building passed its 40-year recertification process or is in the middle of one, the buyers “move onto the amenities, do they allow pets, do they allow rentals. “You can tell the difference when a building has been taken care of. If you see that it was maintained,” she said, “well that helps calm the nerves.” Meanwhile, median sale prices from July to September soared by 154% in Fisher Island to $7.5 million, 21% in North Beach to $345,000, and 34% in Surfside and Bal Harbour to $740,444. Prices dipped in that time by about 20% in South Beach down to $365,000, 2% in Mid Beach to $477,450 and 2% in North Miami Beach and Sunny Isles Beach to $470,000. Most experts expect condo sales to keep increasing, given companies expanding to South Florida and the lifting of a pandemic-related travel ban in November. However, last week the Biden administration placed new restrictions on foreign travelers entering the country due to the new omicron coronavirus variant. Time will tell if omicron affects the Miami coastal condo and broader housing market.

“The switch has been flipped since the travel restrictions” expired last month, said Scott Diffenderfer, a Realtor at Compass. The 17-year industry veteran has several prospective buyers from Europe. Last week alone, Diffenderfer showed a handful of coastal units to three Germans and two Italians. Avoiding predictions, University of Florida’s Hughes and Mattar are waiting to see monthly Miami-Dade beachfront condo sales figures from October through January. “That reduction in the number of sales (from July to September) seems to be influenced by the condo collapse, because we don’t see that pattern elsewhere,” Hughes said. “If, in fact, the Miami condo market has tracked downward significantly that would have to be due in part to that particular event.