Plaza Resort & Spa in Daytona Beach. September 2011

I have not been writing about Plaza Resort & Spa, a premier condo-hotel in Daytona Beach, for quite some time. It is time to revisit it and look at what is happening in the market.

Plaza Resort & Spa is one of the oldest condo-hotels (with only Hawaiian Inn being 4 years older), but it is one of the nicest resorts in the area, a higher end property and it is reflected in the overall ambience and in higher rates and higher occupancy.

The developer accumulated a lot of oceanfront properties, both hotels and vacant land, but Plaza Resort & Spa was the only one that they converted to condo-hotel to pay for massive expenses of making this resort their flagship property.

323-room resort is located right on the ocean very close to Volusia County Ocean Center, and this is one of the reasons they attract visitors to the Convention Center. The resort also has its own very sizable convention and meeting space, which is actively used during the year.

Developer converted the resort to condo-hotel at the end of 2005, and practically all closings took place in February and March 2006. This was the highest peak of the market in the area. Then the sales stumbled, developer did not want to lower the prices, and this left 100 unsold units under their control, which allowed them to retain the control over the association.

The law, as far as I know, allows developers to retain control for not more than 5 years, and it should be transferred to owners association, but I do not know whether that transition has been done.

About 2 years ago, when owners tired of market not improving, started defaulting on their huge mortgages, the wave of foreclosures came and drove the prices from way over $100K to $40s, $30s, and even lower. The number of units for sale reached astronomical figure – 52 units, and this was the time when shrewd investors bought units for excellent prices.

There are 24 units for sale at this time, so, as you can see, inventory dropped. Of course, when inventory drops that dramatically, we see rising prices. The lowest is $54,900, and it is a flip as the unit was recently bought for $36,900. Below is the list of all units sold in Plaza Resort & Spa so far this year:

Increasing prices reflected in fewer sales. 21 unit was sold from January to September in 2010, and 19 units were sold in the same period in 2011.

Interested in units in Plaza Resort & Spa or any other condo-hotel or residential condo in Daytona area? Call me at 386-405-4408.