January mansion sales in Palm Beach County soar

Month saw 28% spike in sales of homes priced at $1M-plus, Realtors say.

Palm Beach County’s typical house sold for $325,000 in January, a 4.8 percent increase from a year ago, the Realtors of the Palm Beaches and Greater Fort Lauderdale said Wednesday.

While the overall market has been in a holding pattern, mansion sales rose sharply. Realtors reported 104 sales of homes priced at more than $1 million in January, a 28 percent spike from January 2017.

Jeffrey Levine, a West Palm Beach broker and president-elect of the Realtors association, called the increase “remarkable.”

However, there are still signs of softness in the mansion market. Homes priced at $1 million or more needed 205 days to go to contract, compared with just 32 days for houses priced at $250,000 to $300,000.

And super-luxurious listings can languish for years. For instance, the oceanfront palace at 1071 N. Ocean Blvd. in Palm Beach has been on the market since March 2015. After three years and four price cuts, it’s listed at $64.9 million.

Meanwhile, Palm Beach County’s condo market perked up in January. The median price jumped to $170,000, up 13 percent from a year ago, and the number of sales rose nearly 8 percent.

Nationally, home prices rose 5.8 percent to a median of $240,500, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. January’s price increase marked the 71st consecutive month of year-overyear gains.

But NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun lamented the lack of inventory and price increases that are outpacing wage growth.

“It’s very clear that too many markets right now are becoming less affordable and desperately need more new listings to calm the speedy price growth,” Yun said.

Nationally, there’s just a 3.4month supply of homes for sale, a statistic that reflects a strong sellers’ market. Buyers have an easier time in Palm Beach County, where there’s a 5.3-month inventory of houses for sale and a 6.2month stockpile of condos and townhouses.

A six-month supply is generally considered a balanced market, one that favors neither buyers nor sellers.

CHRISTIAN ANGLE REAL ESTATE The Palm Beach Board of Realtors this week lists eight properties under contract priced above $10M, including this seven-bedroom estate at 254 Tangier Ave. Its asking price is $14.9 million.