In today's New York Times business section, an article claims "Troubles Hit Real Estate at High End." A problem for Maui? Not if the article is accurate. What anecdote are they describing? A planned condominium conversion of the Royal Palm Hotel in South Beach that has had no sales and has gone into the bankers' hands. Here's the key to the entire article:

While Wall Street bonus money and foreign investors have kept the luxury market far stronger than most segments of Florida real estate, Seth Semilof, a former broker and publisher of the Miami lifestyle magazine Haute Living, says that buyers are becoming more cautious about the types of Miami luxury condo projects they will buy.Consumers are rejecting any projects that involve developers turning existing hotel units into condominiums because the consumers fear that they could lose their deposits if these projects are never converted. Instead, Wall Street bankers, baby boomers and Europeans are more often snapping up condominiums from developers with projects that are being built from the ground up.”The market is separating the contenders from the pretenders,” Mr. Semilof said. “The consumer is not buying projects where they sell units and then do the conversions. People are willing to put money where they know where the building is going to be built.”

What is going on here on Maui? Maluaka, Ho'olei, Kanani Wailea, Honua Kai, Papali, the Residences at Kapalua and the soon to come Villas at the Royal Hawaiian are all being built from the ground up. If this is unwillingness to pursue high-end condominium conversions is going to be a problem on the mainland, it isn't going to be one here.

Our developers are too smart.