Where You Live & Work Matters! |
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One of the few highlights of the U. S. economy during the middle of a global pandemic was the sale of existing homes in 2020.
Reaching a 14-year high, sales rose 0.7% in December with a median sales price of $309,800, up 12.9% from a year ago. The annual rate of sales rose 5.6% with an astonishing number of sales of 6.48 Million. In 2019, 5.34 Million previously owned homes sold.
Experts attribute the jump in prices and numbers to strong demand as Americans, working from home due to the pandemic, are looking to move to larger homes. In addition, sales have been boosted by mortgage rates that are hitting record lows, a trend that most likely will continue.
The unsold homes inventory dropped to a record low of a 1.9 month supply in December, down from 2.3 months in November and 3 months a year ago. Homes sold in an average of 21 days in December, down from the average of 42 days in December 2019.
While home builders are rushing construction due to the strong demand, supply constraints such as delay of materials and lack of available building lots remain on-going.
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PALM BEACH COUNTY RESIDENTIAL SALES
DECEMBER 2020
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Good local news for Palm Beach County continued in December with a record-setting number of sales of existing homes! Data from Florida REALTORS indicates that 1,784 homes sold in December 2020 which represented a 25.6% increase over December 2019. The Median Sale Price was $425,000, up 16.8% from the previous December, and the total value of sales was OVER $1.5 Billion—a whopping increase of 117% over December 2019!
Of those sales, 96.8% were sold at the median listing price or higher and the median days from listing to a contract was only 28 days.
Not surprisingly, the available homes for sale dropped to 3,551—an astonishing decrease from the December 2019 inventory. This represents only 2.3 months of supply, a 45.6% decrease from December 2019’s 4.2 months.
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SNAPSHOT OF THE EXTRAORDINARY
PALM BEACH MARKET
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Completely blowing away all previous records, the housing market in Palm Beach was, and continues to be, on fire! According to the Palm Beach MLS, in December, there were 64 sales of existing homes which represents a 93% increase over December 2019.
A record $409 Million in sales were posted in December, a 675% increase from the year before! While the Median Sale price was $3,825,000—a 34% increase from December 2019—there were seven sales that posted over $10 Million. Three were between $10-$19 Million, three between $22-$35 Million and one clocked in at $55,150,000. 90.9% were sold at the median listing price or higher and the median days from listing to contract were 110 days.
With the deeply reduced inventory due to this remarkable boom in sales, the active listings fell to 207 existing single-family homes, a 49% decrease from December 2019, which translates to only a 5.2 month supply of inventory at this pace. This is an astonishing decline of 63.9% from the inventory available in December 2019!
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The waterfront Class “A” buildings in West Palm Beach continue to be hot in terms of buying, selling and leasing. Phillips Point, the original trophy WPB waterfront property, is being sold for $282 million by AEW Capital Management to an affiliate of the Related Cos. The twin-tower complex, built in 1985, has been the leader in leasing to the city’s top-tiered tenants.
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Across the street, the owners of the Esperante Building have just signed a deal with NAI/Merin Hunter Codman to head up the leasing of its Class “A” building.
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And Related plans to begin construction this summer on another office tower called One Flagler, a 25-story 270,000 square foot Class “A” tower planed for Flagler Drive—across the street from both Phillips Point and Esperante.
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Related Cos. is also in the process of building 360 Rosemary, an A-Class, 300,000 square-foot 20-story tower next to Rosemary Square. It is anticipated that Stephen Ross, Related Cos. Chairman, will thus pretty much control the Class A space in downtown West Palm Beach.
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His investment reflects the bullish atmosphere of financial, law and service firms looking to escape the high taxes in other states as well as recognizing the ability to work from anywhere, due to the pandemic. |
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After four long years of drawing, submitting and resubmitting plans for the site of the demolished concert hall just south of downtown West Palm Beach, developer Charles Cohen has thrown in the towel for the time being.
With the pandemic changing consumer habits regarding movies, restaurants and housing, size and scale blowback from residents of the El Cid neighbourhood, and traffic concerns, Cohen wisely decided to sit back for a while. Saying “now’s not the time to push through”, Cohen, a part-time Palm Beacher, remains positive on the site and hopes to develop it sometime in the future.
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AMBASSADOR REALTY CORP. NEWS |
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Ambassador Realty Corp. is quite active in our community in terms of supporting various charities. We are currently a Corporate Sponsor for the “Lady in Red Gala” which is the main event each year for Lois Pope and the LIFE organization. We are very proud to support LIFE as the proceeds benefit Disabled Veterans through American Humane’s “Pups4Patriouts” Program and South Florida youth through the Palm Beach County Food Bank’s “Lois’ Food4Kids” Program. To help us in supporting this worthy cause, you may join this Virtual Event starring ‘Empress of Soul’ Gladys Knight and featuring Comedian Dana Carvey. To reserve your private virtual link, please call LIFE at 561-582-8083 or e-mail Life@life-edu.org.
The price is $500. You will be in for a fabulous treat!!
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AMBASSADOR REALTY AGENT NEWS |
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Ginger Gowing just put UNDER CONTRACT unit #1523 ($290,000) and unit #902 ($478,000) at One City Plaza.
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Wendy Roberts SOLD a beautiful luxury condo at Esplanade Grande #703 for $1,575,000.
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Brenda Burnette SOLD a home at 12311 Acapulco Avenue in Palm Beach Gardens for $245,000.
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Tanya Hall JUST SOLD a home at 4791 Catamaran Circle in Boynton Beach for $275,500.
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Sally Kimball has a beautiful waterfront home in Lake Worth Beach for sale at $1,695,000. Built on a deep lot (250' X 50'), this lovely home is decorator ready with 3 bedrooms, 3 ½ baths plus a hidden outdoor shower room off the master bedroom.
With stunning water views and a lush private yard with swimming pool and walkway down to your private shaded pergola area and the beach, there is one more luxury element... permission to have your own private dock!
This home was built to be ready for a second story which could accommodate 3 bedrooms or a large master bedroom facing the water and one smaller guest suite. The 2 car garage has built-in storage closets and there is a private outdoor sitting area perfect for a cozy fire pit just off the living room.
Unusual, great for entertaining indoors or out, partially renovated. Easy to maintain!
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SALLY KIMBALL
BROKER/OWNER
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AMBASSADOR REALTY CORP. WISHES YOU AND YOURS A SAFE, HEALTHY, AND SUCCESSFUL FEBRUARY! |
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ONE CITY PLAZA
801 S. Olive Ave., Ste. 119
West Palm Beach
FL 33401
Office: 561.557.7662
Email: info@ambassadorrealtycorp.com
Web: www.AmbassadorRealtyCorp.com
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DISCLAIMER: The materials on this newsletter have been prepared by Ambassador Realty Corp only for general informational purposes. We assume no responsibility for the accuracy or timeliness for any information provided herein or by any linked site or publication. |
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