West Palm Beach is having one of the strongest starts of any luxury housing market in 2017, according to a recent report by Redfin. That’s good news for a South Florida luxury market that has seen many fits and starts in the last few years, but not every wealthy community in the area is seeing the same rebound: Delray Beach and Boynton Beach both had some of the worst starts to the year.
Redfin took a look at average sales price in a number of wealthy markets and major cities to see how home-price growth in the luxury sector compares to the rest of the market. Nationally, prices in the bottom 95 percent of the market outperformed luxury for the ninth consecutive quarter, Redfin said. Luxury home prices rose 4 percent in the first quarter of 2017 for an average price of $1.65 million, while non-luxury homes rose 7 percent to an average price of $307,000.
Some markets saw luxury sales prices eclipse growth in non-luxury sales, however. West Palm Beach had a 21 percent jump in average luxury home sales price year-over-year, good for fifth best jump in the country, according to Redfin. Luxury sales in the market outperformed the rest of the market, which saw average sales price jump 13 percent in Q1.
The top-performing luxury market was in Washington, D.C., which saw sales in the Q1 buoyed by President Donald Trump’s cabinet members buying ultra-expensive homes in the area, according to Redfin. St. Petersburg came in at No. 2 with a 26 percent jump in average luxury sales price.
| Luxury market | Rest of market | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City | Average sale price | YoY change | Average sale price | YOY change |
| West Palm Beach | $1.56 million | 22.40% | $208,000 | 13.00% |
| Worst performers | ||||
| Delray Beach | $2.45 million | -26.40% | $261,000 | 11.50% |
| Boynton Beach | $1 million | -2% | $233,000 | 6.90% |
Some markets taking hits
Not every luxury area in South Florida has enjoyed the successes of a West Palm Beach, however. In fact, Delray Beach saw its average selling price for a luxury home fall furthest of any market, Redfin said. Luxury homes sold on average of $2.45 million in Q1 2017, good for 26 percent less than they did at the same time last year.
Those numbers are influenced by an “unusually” high luxury sales price in the first quarter of 2016, according to a Redfin agent quoted in the study.
“Luxury homes are selling at a normal pace; the average high-end home is on the market about five to six months before finding a buyer,” the agent said. “It’s not a super heated market, but there is steady demand for updated, waterfront properties.”
Boynton Beach finished 9th on Redfin’s list of best performing luxury markets this quarter, with a $1 million average sales price that represents a 2 percent drop year-over-year.