Palm Beach Luxury Condo Prices Plunge 12% In Summer Buying Season
A review of the Palm Beach County luxury condo sales statistics shows the average price per unit fell to $2.2 million in the 2024 Summer Buying Season.
Note: A series of charts are available behind the paywall to members of the Miami Condo Investing Club™. Click here to join the Club.
Palm Beach County luxury condo prices plunged by about 12 percent - or nearly $300,000 each - this Summer Buying Season to about $2.2 million per unit, according to an analysis of statistics compiled by CondoVulturesRealty.com.
As for Palm Beach County luxury unit sales, the drop in the average price per unit failed to boost transactions, which dropped by eight percent during the 2024 Summer Buying Season.
The Summer Buying Season traditionally extends from May through October when visitors and locals, alike, flee South Florida to avoid the humidity, hurricane warnings and limited number of events.
For this report, luxury condos are defined as those units that are listed and sold for a minimum price of $1 million each.
Buyers purchased about 391 luxury condos in Palm Beach County in the 2024 Summer Buying Season.
By comparison, buyers purchased about 425 luxury condos a year earlier in the 2023 season.
This summer’s slowdown represents about an eight percent decrease in Palm Beach County luxury condo transactions on a year-over-year basis.
Luxury condo sales have been erratic since the 2020 summer season, rising by nearly 14 percent in the 2023 season compared to the 2022 season when less than 340 units traded.
The 2022 season was down by nearly 35 percent from a year earlier when nearly 520 units traded.
During the 2021 season, nearly 520 Palm Beach County luxury condos traded in a six-month span as stay-at-home orders from the pandemic were lifted and a plethora of work-from-home employees relocated to South Florida from places such as California, Illinois and New York.
Only about 181 luxury condos traded in Palm Beach County in 2020, according to the statistics.
Looking back at the statistics, the 2021 season represents the peak of luxury condo sales during a Palm Beach County Summer Buying Season since at least 2007.
Industry watchers are at odds as to the direction of the Palm Beach County housing market in 2025.
Bullish investors are predicting housing demand will reignite now that the Federal Reserve has begun to cut interest rates.
Bearish investors contend that home prices are too high and likely to collapse in the months ahead.
Added to this, Florida unit owners are increasingly experiencing the headwinds - spiking special assessments and falling prices from sellers trying to unload their properties - from the looming 2025 condo association financial cliff.
In the aftermath of the June 24, 2021, collapse of the Champlain Towers South in the town of Surfside on the barrier island of Palm Beach County, everyone from residents to building inspectors, politicians to bankers understand better than ever the importance of ensuring that no Florida condo building ever collapses again.
Nearly 100 people died and a $1 billion settlement was reached with the families of the victims.
A federal investigation is currently underway but the preliminary reports suggest a flawed design coupled with a lack of upkeep by the condominium’s association contributed to the disaster.
The Florida Legislature has taken a number of steps - prompted by insurance companies threatening to withdraw coverage in the state - to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again.
Up until now, the state’s measures were being implemented slowly but that all changes in about 30 days when a key funding requirement takes effect.
Beginning in January, condo associations in Florida will be required to start collecting money from unit owners to place into reserve accounts - based on the results of Structural Integrity Reserve Studies (SIRS) conducted by experts - that will be used exclusively to fix, maintain and improve the structural integrity of residential buildings that are at least three-stories tall.
People are dubbing this moment as the 2025 Florida Condo Association Financial Cliff as it is expected to result in significantly higher costs for unit owners. News reports are already chronicling condo owners selling their units at deep discounts ahead of the 2025 deadline.