John Wilson of Douglas Elliman on the new Palm Seashore actual property market
Palm Seashore and West Palm Seashore have been experiencing a really lively actual property market.
Each locations are positioned inside Palm Seashore County in sunny South Florida, with the previous sitting on a barrier island and the latter simply throughout the Lake Value Lagoon.
Palm Seashore County noticed over 13,300 single-family residence gross sales transactions and 9,900 rental and townhouse offers shut in 2024, in accordance with a report from Broward, Palm Seashores and St. Lucies Realtors.
Single-family homes in Palm Seashore, Florida, U.S., on Wednesday, April 7, 2021. Buy contracts for single-family homes priced at $10 million or extra surged 306% in March from a yr earlier, the most important achieve for the reason that pandemic began, appraiser ( Marco Bello/Bloomberg by way of Getty Photos / Getty Photos)
“Right now, South Florida real estate in general, but especially West Palm Beach, Palm Beach is extremely active,” Douglas Elliman gross sales affiliate John Wilson advised FOX Enterprise in an interview, including the world has “bunches of new development.”
There have been 398 new signed contracts for Palm Seashore County single-family houses and 335 for condos final month, a report from Douglas Elliman confirmed. Some 1,600 houses have been newly listed.
Rental signed contracts and listings have been each additionally up year-over-year in January.
Palm Seashore and West Palm Seashore’s luxurious markets have been significantly flourishing.
“A lot of the, let’s say like $700,000 to $2 million, that’s sort of an interest rate driven market, so it’s not as much, where mainly what we’re dealing with on the island and in West Palm Beach, and we do a lot of new development, a lot of that’s cash,” Wilson mentioned.
He mentioned he has “never seen anything like this” within the West Palm Seashore market.
West Palm Seashore skyline options Royal Park Draw Bridge, West Palm Seashore, Florida. (Picture by: Visions of America/Joseph Sohm/UCG/Common Photos Group by way of Getty Photos) (Visions of America/Joseph Sohm/UCG/Common Photos Group by way of Getty Photos / Getty Photos)
“West Palm, I describe it this way … It was kind of like the outside of the island if you know what I mean and sort of quiet and really wasn’t over developed, but now, with all the developers and stuff coming here, this place is on fire, and it’s exciting because there’s just so much new things happening. It’s like a renaissance, if you will.”
Wilson mentioned demand in Palm Seashore and West Palm Seashore’s luxurious markets had grown “exponentially” in current months.
“Right before the election, it was sort of like ‘wait and see.” Sure, there was exercise, however I feel folks have been holding again, and it simply appeared like after the election, the market simply lit up. It simply obtained far more lively, far more folks have been trying,” he said.
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New signed contracts for single-family homes worth at least $1 million in Palm Beach County clocked in at 138 in January, up from 90 in the same month last year, the Douglas Elliman report found.
He noted that ultra-luxury market properties in the Palm Beach and West Palm Beach area had been trading before the November election “even in season, which is {the summertime},” but said the luxury market “undoubtedly” saw a boost in activity after the election.
Palm Beach County notched 132 sales of homes worth more than $10 million over the course of 2024, according to a recent report from Compass. That marked a 21.1% year-over-year jump.
Wilson also weighed in on what he thinks is driving demand in the two locales.
“Folks wish to be right here,” he said. “Everybody’s all the time identified about Palm Seashore Island, however I feel throughout Covid, what occurred is folks rediscovered it, and what you had is you had a complete new group come rolling into city throughout Covid, after which what occurs? Like all issues in life, the entire sudden, you begin telling your pals ‘I’m having a lot enjoyable’ and ‘you gotta see this,’ after which increasingly more folks come.”
Building development in West Palm Beach played a part as well, according to Wilson.
West Palm Beach, Lake Worth Lagoon and marina. (Photo by: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images / Getty Images)
He also said young families have been moving to the area because of new development and “what’s occurring with all of the hedge funds.”
More than 300 hedge funds, private equity firms and financial services call Palm Beach County home, according to the Development Board of Palm Beach County.
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It has helped the area, particularly West Palm Beach, earn the nickname “Wall Avenue South.”
Wilson also told FOX Business “there’s all the time going to be demand on the island [Palm Beach], however you’ll be able to come over to West Palm Seashore, get an attractive residence, whether or not that’s a brand new growth rental or a home for lots lower than on the island, and actually simply cross a bridge and nonetheless be on the island and all of the exercise and Value Avenue and the purchasing.”
Worth Avenue is an area in Palm Beach known for its restaurants and high-end shopping.
Wilson said there are “no new growth buildings” in Palm Beach so “there’s so much occurring and there’s so much being traded within the rental market, however the single-family residence market is extraordinarily sturdy” and “continues to stay very sturdy.”
Florida (iStock / iStock)
West Palm Beach is seeing a lot of new luxury condo buildings being developed, he also said.
The real estate markets in the two cities didn’t become hot overnight, according to Wilson. Rather, it has been going on for “a couple of years now,” with the boom during the pandemic helping drive that.
He was bullish about the future for the real estate markets in Palm Beach and West Palm Beach.
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“I feel it’s going to proceed to go increased due to demand,” Wilson said, noting many people from the Northeast and California are coming to the area.
“In the event you’re taking a look at long-term development potential over the following two to a few to 5 years, I might say this market’s going to proceed to drive increased.”
Houses in Palm Seashore had a median itemizing value of $3 million in January, in accordance with Realtor.com. In West Palm Seashore, it was $374,200.
