Residential Real Estate News
Greater Palm Beach Area Residential Sales Downtick 2 Percent in February
Recent data from the Miami Association of Realtors indicates a slight decrease of 1.8% in total residential sales in Palm Beach County for February 2024, dropping from 1,794 to 1,762 units.
Notably, sales of single-family homes in Palm Beach saw a year-over-year increase of 5.2% in February 2024, rising from 975 to 1,026 units. Luxury home sales (homes priced over $1 million) in Palm Beach County experienced a significant boost, surging by 20.8% compared to the same month last year.
Conversely, sales of existing condos in Palm Beach fell by 10.1% year-over-year, from 819 units in February 2023 to 736 in February 2024. This downturn is attributed to a shortage of available units in certain price ranges and the impact of higher mortgage rates.
New residential listings in Palm Beach experienced a substantial increase of 27.26% year-over-year in February 2024, with the numbers climbing from 3,092 to 3,935. This is slightly above the February 2020 figure of 3,917 listings.
The overall inventory for Palm Beach is currently 30.1% lower than its historical monthly average. Historically, Palm Beach has averaged 16,196 listings, but the current inventory stands at 11,322.
At the end of February, total active listings had risen by 41.5% over the year, from 8,000 to 11,322. Inventory for single-family homes and condos increased by 26.1% and 57.1%, respectively, compared to the same period in the previous year.
The current months' supply of inventory suggests a seller's market for single-family homes at 4.4 months, while the condo market, with a 6.3 months' supply, is more balanced.
Median sale prices for single-family homes in Palm Beach County rose by 11.9% year-over-year to $615,000 in February 2024. The median sale price for existing condos also increased, by 4.7%, to $314,000.
Total dollar volume of sales in Palm Beach reached $1.4 billion in February 2024, with single-family home sales volume up 19.20% year-over-year to $1 billion, despite a 11.93% decrease in condo sales volume to $371 million.
Distressed sales, including bank-owned properties and short sales, accounted for only 0.5% of all residential sales in Palm Beach last month, a decrease from 0.8% in February 2023, and well below the national average of 3%.
The median percent of the original list price received was 94.4% for single-family homes and 94% for condos in February 2024. The median time from listing to contract for single-family homes was 38 days, slightly faster than the previous year, and for condos, it increased to 44 days.
Cash transactions made up 55.1% of all closed sales in Palm Beach for February 2024, indicating a higher preference for cash purchases compared to the national average of 33%. Specifically, cash sales constituted 66% of all condo transactions and 47.3% of single-family home sales.
