Real estate brokers say people who are buying are eager to escape the Northeast, and the potential for another lockdown if cases of the coronavirus ramp up. They also want to get out of large, dense cities south of Palm Beach County.

The pandemic’s pause on Palm Beach County’s residential real estate market looks to be over.

Some houses are selling the day they are listed. Others are being viewed online dozens, if not hundreds, of times.

Real estate brokers say people who are buying are eager to escape the Northeast, and the potential for another lockdown if cases of the coronavirus ramp up.

They also want to get out of large, dense cities south of Palm Beach County.

Even before the pandemic, Palm Beach County attracted people drawn to its good weather and low-tax environment, said Jeff Lichenstein of Echo Fine Properties in Palm Beach Gardens.

Lichtenstein said the nation’s civil unrest following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis highlights a new priority for home buyers: Safety.

Palm Beach County’s dozens of gated communities, many of which feature manned guards stations, could attract residents who once traded suburban country club living for urban condominium living.

“But it’s too soon to tell” if safety concerns over civil unrest will translate into sales, Lichtenstein said.

Closed home sales in April fell 30 percent from the same month in 2019, but the median sales price rose 4 percent to $365,000. Anectodal evidence points to a rebound in May, real estate experts say.

Douglas Rill of Century 21 America’s Choice brokerage in West Palm Beach said he’s selling homes in a variety of price ranges. They include homes from the $200,000s, homes priced from $400,000 to $600,000, and houses costing millions of dollars.

“Business is more active than normal,” Rill said. “We don’t usually see much action from the Northeast this time of year.”

Some homes receive hundreds a searches a day on real estate websites such as Zillow, compared to less than a dozen searches normally, Rill said.

Communities such as Admiral’s Cove in Jupiter are especially hot, said Rob Thomson of Waterfront Properties.

One Intracoastal home in Admirals Cove sold for $10.3 million to Nathan Saks of Miami-Dade County, according to the Palm Beach County property appraiser. Jupiter-based Waterfront Properties handled both sides of the deal.

Thomson said Saks “was attracted to our less densely populated area because of the coronavirus.”

Buyers also are coming from all city sizes in the Northeast, Thomson said. He has buyers who sold their homes in Northeast suburban cities, such as Greenwich, Conn., to New York City residents fleeing the Big Apple.

“They’re coming directly from New York City and from the markets that New York City feeds,” Thomson said. “It’s a ripple effect.”

Overall, Thomson said the number of homes he’s sold this year is up 300 percent from this time last year. “And the homes are selling at 95 percent of asking price,” he added.

Lichtenstein reports his brokerage also is handling sales in pricey country club communities, including Old Palm and Rialto in Palm Beach Gardens. “The market is really strong, which is crazy for a pandemic, unemployment” and civil unrest, Lichtenstein said.

Although single-family homes are garnering most sales, some condos, particularly large ones, are attracting buyer interest, too.

Group P6, which plans to build the Royal Palm Residences condominium in Boca Raton, said it has received a flood of inquiries from the Northeast.

In emails, buyers list their phone numbers, including area codes 929 (new York City), 631 (New York State) and 973 (New Jersey).

Todd Richardson, Group P6 vice president of sales, said he’s used to seeing one or two emails a day from Northeast residents inquiring about Royal Palm Residences.

But starting in March, he began receiving a steady stream of inquiries.

“I can’t keep up with them,” Richardson said. “I’ve never seen interest this strong.”

The nine-story boutique condominium will feature only 48 units, priced from $1.75 million to $4 million. In just 45 days of selling, the property’s sales have hit 35%, or 16 pre-construction sales contracts, Richardson said.

Minkoff said buyers from the Northeast are thinking about how they will use their homes. Many of them are Millennials with young children. After being locked up for weeks with their families, buyers are interested in large properties again.

“The virus has done two things,” Minkoff said. “It shows that people can work from home, and it demonstrates that it’s a huge issue for people who have children to work from home. Covid will redefine how we’re going to work and what kinds of homes we are going to live in.”

Minkoff said home buyers now want to know if homes have an office, a separate play area for children, and space for a home gym.

Demand for extra space is so strong that Lichtenstein said he’s added a new search field on his company’s website for mother-in-law suites and guest houses.

Buyers are weighing whether to keep aged parents near them instead of at nursing homes where the virus can spread quickly. Many also are now dealing with college graduates who have had to move home due to the massive job losses nationwide.

Real estate agents said they’re leaning hard on technology to sell to buyers reluctant or unable to personally tour prospective homes.

Waterfront Properties has a 24-person marketing team. Echo Fine Properties uses the latest in 3D video technology. In fact, all real estate agents say virtual visits are a key way to show homes.

Empty homes are most sought after by buyers because the risk of infection spread is minimized, said Ken Johnson, associate dean at Florida Atlantic University’s College of Business.

The supply of homes was hurt by the pandemic when some sellers took homes off the market, Johnson said.

As people become more comfortable with safety measures, more homes will go up for sale. But Johnson cautioned the sales track may be uneven for a time, especially if cases of the virus spike.

However, in the long term, Johnson is confident the real estate market in Palm Beach County will do well, thanks to a continued demand for housing. Even before the pandemic, the population was expected to grow by 15 percent in the next 10 years within a 50-mile radius of Boca Raton.

“I think that number is only going to be bigger,” he said.