Lagging economy hits Palm Beach

SINCE THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED, the following properties sold in PALM BEACH:


402 Primavera Jan. 2009 $2,000,000

Assessed market value: $4,132,000


2267 E Ibis Isle Jan. 2009 $1,360,000 Previous sale: Jun. 2007 $1,725,000


308 Arabian Nov. 2008 $2,850,000 Previous sale: May 2004 $3,200,000

Assessed market value: $3,000,000


300 Parc Monceau Nov. 2008 $4,000,000

Assessed market value: $6,450,000


301 Garden Dec. 2008 $2,500,000

Assessed market value: $3,000,000


1090 S Ocean Dec. 2008 $4,150,000

Assessed market value: $2,020,000


202 Seaspray Dec. 2008 $860,000

Assessed market value: $700,000

280 Orange Grove Dec. 2008 $1,067,000

Assessed market value: $1,600,000


695 S County Rd. Dec. 3,500,000

Assessed market value: $5,450,000 Previous sale April 2006 $7,800,000


166 Everglades Nov. 2008 $2,500,000 Previous sale: Nov. 2004 $2,771,000


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Lagging economy hits Palm Beach as homes languish a little longer on market

By MEGAN V. WINSLOW, Daily News Staff Writer
Saturday, November 22, 2008

Palm Beach has enjoyed a hearty share of eye-popping home sales figures this year, including closings of $77.5 million and $95 million.

And according to a fall 2008 residential market report from Brown Harris Stevens, those heavyweight figures have thrust the average price for Palm Beach single-family homes up 80 percent between April and September compared with the same period last year.

But like other luxury home markets across the country, Palm Beach has also seen an increase in the average number of days single-family homes sit on the market. The Brown Harris Stevens report indicates an 8 percent increase from 171 to 184 days between April and September compared with last year.

That's well above the average number of days on market for single-family homes within luxury ZIP codes across the country. According to a Nov. 16 report from the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing in Dallas, the average among 31 major U.S. metro areas is 137 days. That's up from 120 in September and about 110 in January.

Like those local record sales, the high Palm Beach average could be attributed to a few outliers.

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While Cloninger said it's never been a better time to be a buyer — especially in Palm Beach, where property has historically held its value — Heym believes it could take time before buyers creep out of a money-holding pattern and perhaps scoop up some of the properties languishing on the market.

"Like any other market, (Palm Beach is) dealing with a lot of the same uncertainty that's hitting most of the country right now, with everything that's gone on with the economy," Heym said. "I think that, so far, Palm Beach has fared better than most. And I think we'll learn a lot over the next couple of months."