The Palm Beach County total home sales surged double digits in end of 2020. Palm Beach County total home sales jumped 12% year over year, from 2,700 to 3,000. Palm Beach single family home sales jumped 16% year over year, from 1,500 to 1,800. Palm Beach existing condo transactions increased 6% year over year, from 1,150 to 1,200.

Homebuyers are leaving tax burdened Northeastern states to come and purchase Palm Beach real estate, with record low interest rates and large demand for beautiful weather and less shutdowns people are relocating.

Demand has led to an increase in mortgage applications locally and nationally. Mortgage applications to purchase a home rose 5% last week from the previous week and were a stunning 45% higher from a year ago.

COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the trend of homebuyers from California, New York and cold weather and tax burdened Northeastern states searching and purchasing homes in South Florida.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Palm Beach Real Estate Market was exceptionally strong. Miami real estate had super low delinquencies, no subprime mortgage crisis, very strong demand/low supply, very low interest rates, strong population of growth, huge demand from foreign buyers and lots of tax refugees from tax burdened states, high buyer confidence and a extremely strong job market.

Strong demand coupled with limited real state supply continue to drive price appreciation in Palm Beach. Palm Beach County single family home prices increased 14% year over year in the end of 2020, increasing from $350,000 to $425,000. Existing condo prices increased 18% year over year, from $180,500 to $200,000.

Mid Market and Luxury Home Sales Jump at end of  2020

Palm Beach single family homes priced between $420K to $650K surged 42% year over year to 650 transactions in end of  2020. Palm Beach existing condo sales priced between $400K to $600K increased 35.7% to over 100 transactions.

Palm Beach single family luxury ($1 Million Plus) transactions jumped 75% year over year to over 200 sales in September 2020. Palm Beach existing condo luxury ($1 million and up) sales increased 12% year over year to 50 transactions.

Record low interest rates; a record high S&P 500; the appeal of stable assets in a volatile economy; homebuyers leaving tax burdened Northeastern states to purchase in Florida (no state income tax); and work from home and remote learning policies have all combined to create a robust market for luxury single family properties.

Single Family Home Dollar Volume Increases

Single family home dollar volume increased 50% year over year, from $800 million to $1.25 billion. Condo dollar volume has stayed even year over year at $375 million.

According to Freddie Mac, the average commitment rate for a 30 year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage decreased to 3% in August, down from over 3% in July. This gives consumers incredible buying power. The average commitment rate across all of 2019 was almost 4%.

Palm Beach Distressed Sales Stay Low, Reflecting Healthy Market… Only 2% of all closed residential sales in Palm Beach were distressed last month, including REO (bank owned properties) and short sales, compared to 3% in this time 2020. In 2008, distressed sales comprised 70% of Miami and broward sales.

Seller’s Market for Palm Beach Real Estate

Inventory of single family homes decreased 32% in August from 6,500 active listings last year to 4,250 last month. Condominium inventory increased 1% to 5,321 from 5,275 listings during the same period in 2019.

Months supply of inventory for single family homes decreased 31% to 3 months, which indicates a seller’s market. Inventory for existing condominiums increased 10.6% to 5.2 months, which indicates a seller’s market. A balanced market between buyers and sellers offers between six- and nine months.

Total active listings at the end of August decreased 16.9% year-over-year, from 11,485 to 9,548. Active listings remain about 60% below 2008 levels when sales bottomed.