By Wendy Rhodes, Palm Beach Post
If you’ve been waiting to buy a home in Southeast Florida until prices drop a bit, the April reports from Broward, Palm Beaches & St. Lucie Realtors might not be the news you were hoping for. But if you are thinking of selling, it will be music to your ears.
The median cost of a single-family home in Palm Beach County reached an all-time high of $466,000 in April, surpassing the median price of a home in Broward County by $2,000. It also is 58% higher than in St. Lucie County, where the median single-family home now costs $295,000.
Condominiums and townhomes in Palm Beach County have also seen a significant rise in value, with the median sale price in April reaching $240,250. Comparatively, the median condo price in Broward County was $220,000.
And while St. Lucie County homes sold for significantly less than those in Palm Beach County, the median price of condos in St. Lucie was $261,000 — exceeding by almost 9% condo prices in Palm Beach County.
The Palm Beach County median home price in April represents a 27.7% increase over the same time last year and is a whopping $44,000 higher than it was in January, the reports show. It is also $101,000 more than the median sale price in April 2020.
Perhaps an equally significant factor reflecting the record-high demand for housing is the amount of real estate sold in the county in April: $2.1 billion, or almost double a year ago.
Sellers received almost 99% of asking prices
Sellers received an average of 98.5% of asking prices in April, up from 97.6% in March and 95.8% a year ago. The average time from listing to contract is now 13 days, down from 27 days at the start of the year.
New pending sales have decreased to 1,624 from a 12-month high in March of 2,142. New listings have increased 77.8% over last year to 2,248.
Inventory remains low at 2,901 homes, down almost 53% from the same time last year. That number represents a 1.8-month supply of homes, well below the 5.5-month supply indicated for a healthy market.
While the majority of homes sold in Palm Beach County were between…