Darrell Hofheinz, Palm Beach Daily News
“The monthly sales reports prepared by Rabideau Klein can be accessed at RabideauKlein.com.”
The power of private real estate deals in Palm Beach — and the resiliency of the local market — forged a common theme in second-quarter sales reports just released by several agencies that do business in the wealthy town.
Take, for instance, the four transactions recorded at $60 million or more in April, May and June. Of those, three were off-market deals, the reports show.
And one of those private deals was a whopper — a $148 million sale that closed in June for a landmarked oceanfront estate known as Amado at 455 N. County Road.
That deal wasn’t even the most expensive of the quarter. Its price trailed the highest-dollar sale — recorded at $150 million — of 10 Tarpon Isle, a private island where the sole house was renovated and expanded as a speculative project. Tarpon Island was, however, marketed for sale in the multiple listing service when it sold.
Those high-dollar deals — and the other second-quarter transactions — combined to set a new average-price record for single-family properties sold in Palm Beach. The report released by the Corcoran Group showed the average price soared 68% to $28.6 million in a year-over-year comparison.
The average price of a single-family transaction “has exceeded ($11 million) each quarter since 2021, highlighting the strength and demand of Palm Beach’s luxury real estate market,” the Corcoran Report report said.
A report released by Brown Harris Stevens also took note of the significant leap in the average sale price. The median price, however, saw a much smaller increase of 13%, according to the Brown Harris Stevens analysis. The median is the price at which half of the properties sold for more and half for less.
In all, the dollar amount generated by sales of Palm Beach houses, condominiums and co-operative units in the second quarter either slightly exceeded or almost scraped $1 billion, depending on the report. The reports used different criteria and analytics to measure sales, so apples-to-apples comparisons among them can be difficult. But general trends emerged.
During the second quarter, 10 single-family properties sold at prices recorded at $35 million or more, according to the report prepared by Sotheby’s International Realty. A year ago, there were just five deals in that price range, according to sales reports prepared by the Rabideau Klein law firm in Palm Beach.
Even with the higher sales prices, the overall number of single-family transactions hit nearly 30 and was slightly down, year over year, the reports agreed.
“The number of transactions remains fairly low, and there are fewer new listings compared with the second quarter of 2023,” Brokerage Manager Jessica Shapiro wrote in her report for Sotheby’s International Realty.
Yet April, May and June saw a far more robust level of sales activity compared to the year’s first quarter, which was marked by unusually wet weather in January and February. Weeks of rain dampened spirits and sales sheets, real agents reported at the time.
The second quarter’s strong off-market sales and other higher-end closings demonstrate the vibrancy of Palm Beach’s single-family market, even with a relatively limited number of homes listed for sale, the reports suggested. The pickings have been especially tight for better-quality homes — those newly built or freshly renovated; and those on the ocean or the Intracoastal Waterway.
That inventory crunch left some determined buyers — and their real estate agents — to pursue off-market deals, according to the report prepared by Frisbie Palm Beach Real Estate, a group led by Corcoran Group agent Suzanne Frisbie.
The second quarter “witnessed some of the highest-priced transactions in the history of Palm Beach, many of which occurred off-market, again signaling inventory constraints, ” Frisbie’s report said.
Of the single-family sales recorded during April, May and June, nearly 25% were private deals, according to the same report.
“Limited inventory continues to put pressure on the number of transactions, while today’s prices and ultra high-end trades more than compensate for lost sales,” Frisbie’s report said.
Although inventory remains tight, the situation eased a bit in the second quarter, according to Douglas Elliman Real Estate’s Report. The number of houses listed for sale rose about 13% in the second quarter in a year-over-year comparison, the Elliman Report showed. More condos and co-ops also were marketed in the MLS, with inventory rising nearly 24% over the same quarter in 2023.
“Inventory is coming into the market, but it’s still sharply below long-term levels,” said analyst Jonathan J. Miller of New York City-based Miller Samuel Inc., who prepared Elliman’s report. “The numbers are still very low — but they are coming off record lows.”
Here are a few other takeaways from the second-quarter reports.
- Not every single-family sale in Palm Beach hit the stratosphere, especially on the North End, which is home to the majority of the island’s least-expensive houses. Eleven of the 13 single-family sales on the North End in the second quarter sold for less than $12 million, and five of those closed for under $7 million, according to the report prepared by Tina Fanjul Associates.
- The island is still seeing fallout from the real estate boom that began in the late spring of 2020 after the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic. Tina Fanjul Associates’ report shows that in the second quarter, four North End properties changed hands after previously selling during the pandemic — and they saw an average sale price hike of 96%.
Of those sales, a property at 218 Everglade Ave. sold three times after the pandemic arrived, the same report showed. It first changed hands in December 2020 for $2.5 million, with another sale recorded in February 2022 at $8.5 million. The buyers in the latter deal completed a new house on the lot and then sold it in May for $12.5 million.
- Some buyers of outdated North End homes raze them to build anew. But the sales report prepared by Linda R. Olsson Inc. reported two sales of vacant North End land during the second quarter. A lakefront property measuring about an acre at 940 N. Lake Way sold for $50 million, while a dry lot of about a quarter acre sold at 200 Arabian Road for $8.5 million.
- Condos and co-ops that sold in the second quarter “experienced double-digit annual declines” in the prices they fetched, the Corcoran Report said.
The same report attributed the lower sale prices “to a 10% increase in the market share of closed sales priced under ($1 million), mostly concentrated on the South End.”
- The number of condo and co-op sales also declined in all parts of town, according to the report from Frisbie Palm Beach Real Estate. Units north of Sloan’s Curve saw a 16% drop in sales, while sales of those on the South End fell 21%, the report said.
The complete sales reports are expected to be available at BHSUSA.com/palm-beach, FanjulRealEstate.com, Inhabit.Corcoran.com, Elliman.com, FrisbiePalmBeach.com, LindaOlsson.com, and SothebysRealty.com. The monthly sales reports prepared by Raideau Klein can be accessed at RabideauKlein.com.