July Flowers! Staggering Palm Beach County Housing Numbers

Sales in July 2020 far exceeded sales in June 2020 both in Palm Beach County and Nationwide (24.7%).  That isn’t surprising because current sales are always a reflection of what happened 30-60 days in the past. Meaning April (showers) and May under contracts become July (flowers) sales. Because of shutdowns in April and May economic uncertainty, it’s not surprising that June sales would be much less than July.

But the big headline for me is July 2020 sales versus July 2019 sales.  We talk about this live on Real Estate Roundtable on ECHO TV LIVE at 9am or ECHO Facebook. That involves looking head on at a healthy market a year ago versus today’s market past shutdowns.  And July 2020 delivered FIREWORKS! The stars have never aligned for selling a home like they are now. Here are the numbers, an in-depth analysis and what might be coming in future months.​

• Single Family homes had sales of 1,940 units versus 1,775 units. That is a 9.3% increase.

• The average sales price for the month was up 12.4%.  It rose to $399,000 versus $355,013.

• Asking price moved from 95% of list price to 95.9% of list price.

• New pending sales which we see in our upcoming August and September sales jumped 20.3% from 1,720 sales in July 2010 to 2,067 in July 2020.

• But the big one is active inventory. Right now in Palm Beach County only 4,642 homes are on the market whereas a year ago we were at 6,494 homes. That’s at whopping -28.4% decrease in homes.

• Hand in hand with that is months of inventory is down to 3.4 or 28.5% months for July 2020.

So, why is this transpiring?  I bring you back to my articles from this blog from May 26^th which was right on target.  Why Is The Market So Hot?!? And Why is Our Market So Strong Right Now on June 6^th.

There are some wildcards to watch…..

1. Condo & Townhome Sales. Condo and sales are mixed with townhomes so its harder to get exact information, but that category is not as on fire as single-family homes. Condo and townhome sales were up 7.1% and the average sales price rose 10.2%. However, inventory went up. There were 5,462 condos/townhomes on the market in 2019 versus 5781 in 2020. Months of inventory rose from 4.9 months to 5.7 months. And in Broward which has a big condo market, condo/townhome sales were off 14.3%.

2. Rental evictions and Home foreclosures are still being delayed which influences inventory.

3. Pent up demand of people who are looking to buy from up North is real. We have lots of Buyers waiting to come down. Some are waiting to sell a home. Some are making major family decisions and career changes. Businesses are moving. As it gets colder and restrictions level off, (Florida just lifted its 14-day quarantine as our numbers have gotten better) we will see lots of movement to Palm Beach County from all over the country.

4. The Economy. Residential real estate has always been a haven to put money in when times are uncertain. If the economy is sluggish, we think we will see more accelerated movement to the Palm Beaches, especially because of our state income tax advantages.

Jeff Lichtenstein is owner and broker of Echo Fine Properties, a luxury real estate brokerage selling real estate in Jupiter  and homes in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He has 20 years of real estate experience, has closed over a 1,000 transactions, and manages over 50 agents in a non-traditional model of real estate that mimics a traditional business model.  Some publications he has been quoted in.

Feel free to ask him a question directly at jeff@EchoFineProperties.com.