Home sales

be up against an investor every time.”

Cash sales, an indicator of investor activity, made up 46 percent of purchases completed in 2014, a 6 percent decrease from the previous year.

The median price for a Palm Beach County single-family home was $275,000 last year. While that’s a more historically normal 4.2 percent gain from 2013, it’s a 42 percent jump from the 2011’s post boom low of $193,000.

Statewide, median single-family sale prices in 2014 were $178,000, up 5 percent from the year before. Closed sales increased 8 percent state- wide to 244,543.

Palm Beach County’s Realtors focused on how fast homes were selling in 2014 and a bump in supply driven by higher prices.

Sale contracts were signed in a median of 55 days last year, down from 61 days in 2013. Inventory grew by 7 percent to a 5.5 months’ supply.

“This is a major indicator that Palm Beach County has become a more balanced market and has the supply to meet the demands of a growing population,” said Matt Halperin, president of the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches.

Last year also marked a shift in distressed home sales. A push to move aging foreclosures through the courts resulted in a massive 91 percent increase in the sale of bankowned homes. Short sales, where a lender agrees to sell a home for less than what is owed on the mortgage, dropped 52 percent from 2013.

Many economists believe 2015 will herald the return of a normal housing market, but not everyone is predicting a continued boost in prices and sales. Jack McCabe, chief executive of McCabe Consulting and Research in Deerfield Beach, said foreign buying-power is lower because of weakened currencies overseas.

With fewer international purchases, demand could dip as supplies increase, McCabe said.

Florida has the larg- est share of international buyers in the country with 23 percent of total foreign purchases made in the Sunshine State, according to a 2014 report from the National Association of Realtors. The majority of Florida’s foreign buyers are from Europe, Latin America and Canada.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if prices stay flat this year,” McCabe said. “We’ve got some things changing, including a stronger dollar, that could impact sales.”

First-time homebuyers could replace foreign investors in the market, but they won’t wield the same buying power, McCabe said.