An reasonably priced shelter within the land of pastel polos and large bleach-blonde blow outs? Go fish. But for home hunters dead set on targeting pecunious Palm Beach, there may be some relief in sight.
“We’ve had this frenzy of costs greater than doubling over the past 4 years,” said Jonathan Miller, CEO of appraisal firm Miller Samuel. The excellent news? “Now we’re seeing pricing stabilize.”
It’s not that prices are dipping, exactly. There are far too few properties in the marketplace for that to occur. But the onslaught of northeasterners, who swarmed South Florida through the pandemic seeking suntans and tax breaks, has slowed. As a result, buyers may find they’ve a bit of more to work with.
Roll your golf cart over to 550 Island Drive on Palm Beach’s Everglades Island to see the idea in motion.
This roughly 5,000-square-foot home listed with Brown Harris Stevens in April 2023 for $39 million. Built in 1955, it has seven bedrooms, five bathrooms and a covered loggia with a hearth overlooking a backyard with an infinity pool that borders 150 feet of waterfront.
Today, the owners are in search of just $32.5 million. That sounds swell until you realize that it sold for just $9 million a decade ago.
From here, cruise up North County Road to the historic home at 245 Dunbar Road, which hit the market last March asking $28 million, also with BHS. Featuring a large-for-the-area lot and a five-bedroom, five-bathroom principal house, it’s a character-filled charmer. The verdant backyard, swimming pool and a four-bedroom, four-bathroom guest house are gravy. But more recently, its ask was slashed to $26 million.
The query becomes: With supply relatively low and demand relatively high — inventory remains to be down about 50% from pre-pandemic levels, in keeping with Miller’s Q4 Douglas Elliman market report — why are we seeing price relief in the primary place? The answer, in keeping with Douglas Elliman broker Cara Coniglio McClure, boils right down to sentiment.
The “emotional component” that drove the market throughout the height of the pandemic “has been taken out,” she said. “Now, it’s shifted to simply a standard, healthy market where the buyers have a bit of bit more power.”
McClure’s listing at 266 Alhambra Place in West Palm Beach is further proof.
The newly built contemporary-style home spans 6,200 square feet and has 4 bedrooms and 4½ bathrooms plus a guest house with a further bedroom and loo. It was listed pre-construction in March 2022 for $6.5 million, but has since been reduced to $4.45 million.
Similarly, her 4,400-square-foot listing at 3101 Washington Road in West Palm Beach hit the market in late January 2023 for $7.5 million, but is now asking $6.9 million.
The three-bedroom, 3½-bathroom home dates to 1920 but has been fully updated with a kitchen with a Wolf range and quartz countertops, a backyard with a pool and a barbecue area, and a separate guest cottage with a bedroom and a full bathroom.
“Both listings were priced at the peak of the market, and so there was a bit of little bit of aspirational pricing,” said Lisa Wilkinson, McClure’s partner at Elliman. “I wouldn’t really say that our market is falling, it’s more that houses that were placed on in the course of COVID have had to regulate.”
While stabilizing home prices don’t answer the inventory problem, a wave of roughly 600 condos that can hit the market over the following 4 years in the world could. New condo buildings like Olara and Shorecrest — now selling units from $2 million and $1.3 million, respectively — are a part of the large-scale redevelopment of West Palm Beach. However, don’t expect that provide to absorb the demand, said Holly Meyer Lucas, a real-estate agent with Compass.
She points to the 1000’s of people that followed high-paying jobs to the Sunshine State over the past few years.
“The individuals who relocated listed here are here to remain,” she said. “The folks that are here straight away — the teachers, the nurses, the on a regular basis Americans that live in Palm Beach County — in the event that they are still renting they usually have the power to purchase, they must buy something.”
