S. Florida, Palm Beach home sales outperform rest of nation

Palm Beach County total home sales rose year-over-year as South Florida real estate continues to outperform the nation, according to October 2023 statistics released by the MIAMI Association of Realtors and the Multiple Listing Service system.

Palm Beach County home sales rose 3.8% year-over-year, from 1,927 to 2,001. The statistics don’t include South Florida’s robust developer new construction market and volume.

“Palm Beach real estate continues to prove its resiliency and strength in the wake of elevated mortgage rates,” JTHS-MIAMI President Martha Gillespie-Beeman said. “Palm Beach home sales, median prices, new listings, dollar volume and more increased last month.”

Palm Beach single-family home sales increased 3.5% year-over-year, from 1,049 in October 2022 to 1,086 in October 2023.

Palm Beach existing condo sales increased 4.2% year-over-year, from 878 in October 2022 to 915 in October 2023.

Palm Beach total pending sales rose 6.24% year-over-year in October 2023 to 1,940 transactions.

“Two telling indicators of the positive momentum are the increase in single-family pending sales and new listings in all the counties of Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Martin, something we have not seen since 2021 when mortgage rates were at historic lows,” MIAMI REALTORS Chief Economist Gay Cororaton said. “I think the housing market is poised for a strong comeback in 2024. Rising mortgage rates have gravely hurt affordability this year and that pent-up demand will show up next year.”

Palm Beach new listings increased 15.90% year-over-year in October 2023, from 2,938 to 3,405. The Palm Beach market remains in a seller’s market, but the fresh supply of listings will give buyers more options.

Palm Beach single-family homes new listings increased 11.4% while Palm Beach condo new listings jumped 21.8% year-over-year.

Home sales are sensitive to mortgage rates changes and after surging to near 8%, rates have declined for the past three weeks. National Association of REALTORS Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said at this month’s NAR NXT conference that rates have peaked and will now head to the 6% range by spring 2024.

According to Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 7.44% as of November 16. That’s down from 7.50% the previous week but up from 6.61% one year ago.

Another leading indicator for sales are showing appointments. South Florida showing appointments declined 1% year-over-year in October 2023 to 181,633 appointments. South Florida showing appointments increased five consecutive months year-over-year before October 2023.

Total inventory is down 92% from the historical average for Palm Beach. The historical average for Broward existing inventory is 16,196 and current inventory is at 8,435.

Total active listings at the end of October increased 14.7% year-over-year, from 7,351 to 8,435.

Inventory of single-family homes decreased 1.4% year-over-year in October 2023 from 4,286 active listings last year to 4,224 last month. Condominium inventory increased 37.4% year-overyear from 3,065 to 4,211 listings during the same period in 2022.

Months’ supply of inventory for single family homes is 3.6 months, which indicates a seller’s market. Inventory for existing condominiums is 4.2 months, which also indicates a balanced market. A balanced market between buyers and sellers offers between six- and nine months supply.

Nationally, total housing inventory registered at the end of October was 1.15 million units, up 1.8% from September but down 5.7% from one year ago (1.22 million). Unsold inventory sits at a 3.6-month supply at the current sales pace, up from 3.4 months in September and 3.3 months in October 2022.

Palm Beach County single-family home median prices increased 9.3% year-over-year in October 2023, increasing from $570,000 to $622,733. Existing condo median prices increased 8.6% year-over-year from $290,000 to $315,000. Local home prices have risen with South Florida’s wealth migration. In-migration boosted South Florida household income by $16 Billion in 2021, according to MIAMI REALTORS analysis of the 2020-2021 migration data released by the Internal Revenue Service.

New households moving into Miami Dade in 2021 had an average adjusted gross income of $229,300. New households moving into Broward County had an average adjusted gross income of $102,600.

New households moving into Palm Beach County had an average adjusted gross income of $242,200.

Every time a home is sold it impacts the economy: income generated from real estate industries (commissions, fees and moving expenses), expenditures related to home purchase (furniture and remodeling expenses), multiplier of housing related expenditures (income earned as a result of a home sale is re-circulated into the economy) and new construction (additional home sales induce added home production).

The total economic impact of a typical Florida home sale is $122,000, according to NAR. Palm Beach sold 2,001 homes in October for a local economic impact of $244 million.

Palm Beach total dollar volume totaled $1.45 billion in October.

Single-family home dollar volume increased 1.3% year-over-year to $986.3million.

Condo dollar volume increased 33.1% year-over-year to $462.9 million.

The median percent of original list price received for single-family homes was 96.1% in October. The median percent of original list price received for existing condominiums was 95.2%.

The median number of days between listing and contract dates for Palm Beach single-family home sales was 21 days, down from 28 days last year. The median time to sale for single-family homes was 64 days, down from 71 days last year.

The median number of days between the listing date and contract date for condos was 31 days, up from 27 days.

The median number of days to sale for condos was 71 days, up from 69 days.

Cash sales represented 54.8% of Palm Beach closed sales in October, compared to 48.6% in October 2022.

About 29% of U.S. home sales are made in cash, according to the latest NAR statistics. Cash buyers are not deterred by rising rates.

The high percentage of cash buyers reflects South Florida’s top position as the preeminent American real estate market for foreign buyers, who tend to purchase with all cash as well as some moving from more expensive U.S. markets who can buy more with their profits from real estate sales.

Cash sales accounted for 63.1% of all Palm Beach existing condo sales and 47.9% of single-family transactions.