Boca Raton and Palm Beach County Real Estate Market Update - August 2018

Palm Beach County Housing Market Takes A Breather

In taking a closer look at the internal numbers, here are some indicators we are seeing: 

• The median sales price of a single family home in Palm Beach County remained flat at $340,000, which is identical to this time last year, and down slightly from the prices of May, June and July of 2018 – With the median price of a home currently at the lowest levels since January 2018!
•  The number of housing units sold remained relatively the same as last year, but down significantly from monthly sales units earlier this summer. 
• However, trends are different in the condo and townhouse market. The typical Palm Beach County condo that sold in August fetched $185,000, up 5.7 percent from a year ago. 
• Houses priced at $150,000 to $200,000 occupied the hottest spot in Palm Beach County's housing market in August. Properties in that price range found a buyer in a median of just 26 days, while luxury homes continue to take significantly longer to sell.
• It's important to note that home prices still remain well below record levels. During the housing bubble, the county’s median resale price peaked at $421,500 in November 2005 (a sum that adjusted for inflation equates to $537,852 in today's dollars).

As we continue to look for clear trends and market changes our summary takeaways remain the same:

The chronic shortage of single family home inventory continues to create headwinds for the housing markets on a national level.

We are still behind on new construction which has failed to keep up with demand adding further pressure to the shortage.

Our increasing interest rate environment with 30-year mortgage rates reaching 4.65% last week and predictions taking us above 5% in 2019 (the highest levels in 10 years), is causing another yet another headwind for the market to absorb.

Here is a quick video going into more depth of current economic indicators:

Review the Palm Beach County Market Statistics for August in Detail Here:

The Palm Beach County market statistics are courtesy of your REALTOR®, a proud member of the Realtors® Association of the Palm Beaches (RAPB). RAPB represents over 14,000 members involved in all aspects of residential and commercial real estate.