Palm Beach County home prices tie all-time high at $500,000 for single-family home

The South Florida real estate market in October continued its crazy swings, with the median price of homes and condominiums in different counties jumping, dropping or completely reversing course.

In Palm Beach County, the median price of a single family home shot up 6% to match its all-time high this summer of $500,000, according to new data from the Broward, Palm Beaches and St. Lucie Realtors.

October’s gain came after a two-month decline, which saw the median price for a single-family home in September drop to $469,900. Still, the median price in October was 19% higher than one year ago, the group reported.

“The Palm Beach County market is red hot right now," said Karen Johnson, president of Broward, Palm Beaches & St. Lucie Realtors. "Northerners are flocking to Florida for the winter months and continue to explore all the opportunities our area has to offer."

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The percentage of cash sales in Palm Beach County dropped slightly from 40.4% to 38.8%, while the total dollar amount of homes sold held steady at $1.2 billion.

A 'For Sale' sign sits in front of a new home in Florida. The housing market, with a limited supply of homes for sale, has made it a challenging time to be a Realtor, despite escalating prices. (Getty Images)
A 'For Sale' sign sits in front of a new home in Florida. The housing market, with a limited supply of homes for sale, has made it a challenging time to be a Realtor, despite escalating prices. (Getty Images)

And while single-family home prices went up, the median sales price for townhomes and condominiums fell almost 4% to $237,000. The drop followed a 6% increase in condo prices last month, but still represents a 22.7% increase from one year ago.

The percentage of cash sales for condos dropped from 58% to 56.9%, while inventory for both homes and condos dropped slightly from a 1.4 month supply to a 1.3 month supply. Inventory remains well below the 5.5-month supply indicated for a healthy market, indicating strong demand and short supply.

In Broward County, the median single family home price dropped to $489,000 after hitting $499,450 in September. At that time, prices in Broward exceeded median home prices in Palm Beach County by 6% and in St. Lucie County by 33%.

It was a very different story with condos and townhomes in Broward, which skyrocketed almost 7% in October from $213,000 to $227,950. The median condo now costs 20.6% more than one year ago, and the median home price is 17.8% higher than one year ago.

In St. Lucie County, the median single family home price increased slightly from $330,000 in September to $335,000 in October. That follows an increase every month since November 2020 and represents a whopping 27.6% higher median cost than one year ago.

"Competition among buyers has been stiff, leading to a 37.5 percent drop to 10 median days on market," said Johnson.

The median condo price dipped slightly from $247,000 to $245,500, but with inventory still at a low of 1.3 months, October’s median price was still 29.3% higher than one year ago.

@WendyRhodes

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Real estate: Median Palm Beach County home prices tie all-time high