County’s housing market cools offff

While sales, prices dipped in July, other indicators stayed strong.

After a torrid June, Palm Beach County’s housing market cooled a bit in July.

The number of single-family home sales dipped to 1,810, and the median house price fell to $289,250, the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches said Thursday.

“We had our spring boom, and now it’s a little quieter because people are getting back to school,” said Joan Rosenberg, an agent at MAX Prestige in Royal Palm Beach. “We’re getting back to a more normal, pre-2003 market.”

However, signs of a hot market still exist. Houses fetched a median of 93.9 percent of their asking price, up from 93.5 percent last month. And the typical house that sold in July was on the market for only 38 days, down from 40 days the previous month.

Palm Beach County Property Appraiser Gary Nikolits offffffffffffers one example of just how fast homes are selling: He recently listed for sale a Jupiter condo that he bought as an investment.

The property went on the market on a Thursday and was under contract by Saturday, he said. Nikolits bought the unit in 2011 for $235,000. It’s under contract for $339,900, according to Zillow.

“I took my own advice and bought at the bottom of the

market,” Nikolits said.

Demand is especially robust for entry-level homes. The typical marketing time for homes priced at $100,000 to $250,000 was only 25 days.

“I put properties on the market, and they’re under contract in days or weeks,” Rosenberg said.

John Mike, an agent at RE/MAX Prestige in Royal Palm Beach, said he listed a modestly priced home on Wednesday and had six showings scheduled for Thursday.

“I put listings out and they’re flooded with showings,” he said.

Palm Beach County’s condo market also saw a slight slowdown. The number of condo sales fell from 1,353 in June to 1,315 in July, and the median price dipped to $145,000 from $149,450.

The dip in prices likely means not that home values are falling but that first-time buyers are returning to the market and skewing the statis- tics. In a sign that Palm Beach County’s market is getting back to normal, only 36 percent of Palm Beach County houses sold for cash last month, compared to 40 percent in June.

After a dizzying boom and a wrenching bust over the past decade, many Realtors say today’s tempered market is more to their liking.

“We’re a little short on inventory, but I’ve noticed prices haven’t gone crazy,” said Victor Defrisco, owner of Exit Realt y Premier in suburban Lake Worth. “It’s more like a normal climb.”

Palm Beach County’s median house price rose 3 percent over the past year, a level of appreciation that reflects not a buoyant market but a healthy one, said Ben Schachter, president of Signature Real Estate Cos. in Boca Raton.

“Now people are looking at things more carefully,” Schachter said. “I think it’s gotten more balanced.”