A report from First Coast Connect in Florida. "Real estate broker Gabriel Miranda thought it could take a while to sell unit 905. The vacant condo is in Echo Brickell, a recently-built, sleek residential tower that overlooks Biscayne Bay and Key Biscayne. The building has elevators for cars, an enormous aquarium in the main lobby and a $42 million penthouse. But unit 905 has been on the market since February. And although its price has dropped more than 10 percent, making it the lowest-priced two-bedroom condo at Echo Brickell, Miranda is still waiting for a good enough offer."

"Buyers from Latin America have fueled much of the boom, Miranda and other real estate analysts say. They have bought many of the new condominiums as investments in hopes of flipping and selling them for profits. But a lot of the units are vacant, and demand for them is lagging behind supply. The resulting glut is causing a decline in prices across greater Downtown, says Christopher Zoller, a realtor with EWM Realty International."

"'When you’ve got too many loaves of bread on the shelf, the next day you’re going to see day-old bread sold at half price,' Zoller says, using a metaphor to describe the Downtown market."

"In the greater Downtown area, there is a 32-month backlog of condos, says Peter Zalewski, a real estate consultant who runs the website cranespotters.com. Online listings show thousands of units for sale at luxury condo towers including Rise, SLS Brickell, the Bond and 50 Biscayne. Some of the condos are listed for more than $6 million, and others have been on sale for longer than a year. Values for several units have dropped more than 20 percent."

"Many of the luxury condos for sale in Downtown are sitting unused. Zalewski walks around the area several nights each week and monitors the number of lights on to estimate how vacant the buildings are. There are obviously other reasons for the dark windows—snowbirds and people on vacation or just out for dinner. But Zalewski says the buildings, or 'ghost towers,' are unlit regardless of the day and time."

"Zoller says the oversupply is forcing some people to sell their units for less than what they bought them for. And, on average, condos are staying on the market longer, making them less attractive to buyers who are turned off by units that have been on sale for a while. Zoller's warning to clients: 'If you don’t have to sell now, don’t sell now.'"

"But some people do not have that choice. And the glut is even affecting people who do live in their condos, like Deborah Shelton-Tynes. Shelton-Tynes owns two units at the Marquis across from Museum Park. She previously listed her units for about a combined $3.5 million in 2015 before deciding not to sell them. She’s now listing them for less than $2.3 million. 'There’s just too much competition out there,' she says. 'By 2016, everything started to go down. I started watching properties going down.'"

"Shelton-Tynes, who plans on moving to Key West, says she will not drop her price because she can afford to wait for a buyer who is willing to pay more. But several other Marquis residents have already sold their units for losses, she says. People 'lose their shirts.'"

"Seth Denison, a principal with the real estate firm Brickell Ventures, says prices will continue to decline as more units go on the market. Condo owners are now renting out their units until they are sold. And developers are even shelving projects until values rebound. "