Palm Beach homes go for $305 - $646 per square foot

Palm Beach County has terrific transparency for home sales and assessed values from a great website:

http://www.pbcgov.com/papa/aspx/GeneralSearch/GeneralSearch.aspx



From the palm beach county tax records of transactions, it is clear that current price per square foot is NOT anywhere near the $1000 / sq ft that is quoted by real estate agents in palm beach:


$544 per sq. ft. 695 S County Road (Dec. 2008)

$438 per sq. Ft. 280 Orange Grove (Dec. 2008)

$357 per sq. ft. 402 Primavera (Jan. 2009)

$366 per sq. ft. 2267 E Ibis Isle (Dec. 2008)

$646 per sq. ft. 166 Everglades (Nov. 2008)

$561 per sq. ft. 4 Lagomar (Oct. 2008)

$305 per sq. ft. 222 Cherry Lane (Oct. 2008)

Moody's Economy : Palm Beach home prices will settle at 62% down from 2006 peak

Moodys technical website economy.com now predicts that prices in South Florida (Broward andPalm Beach counties) will settle in late 2010 after prices have fallen 60% from the peak (2006) prices.

This is beginning to be reflected in recent home sales (January 2009 home sales on Plam Beach Island): Prices are DOWN from their 2006 peaks and falling fast as more inventory comes on the market on the island.

From Blockshopper.com :
" Mr. Abony Lorne Abony bought a four-bedroom, 6.5-bath home at 695 S. County Road in Palm Beach for $3.5 million from Cement Pond Holdings, LLC, on Dec. 30.
Cement Pond Holdings, LLC, paid $7.8 million for the property in April 2006. The 6,426-square-foot home was built in 1953."


Now, he is paying 44 cents on the dollar from the Peak (2006) so what looks like a "steal" is actually a seller realizing where the market will end up (i.e., down 60% from peak 2006 prices) and selling now, rather than race to the bottom over the next 2 years with the other homes that are coming on the market every week on Palm Beach island.