As the financial markets danced a stuttering step, step, slide, the Palm Beach property market reverted to its more typical summer rhythm after two years of Covid-busy Junes.
If we had to choose one word to describe the current environment, it would be “quieter.” Not actually quiet, mind you, but decidedly less frenetic. As seen in the above chart, New Pending Sales are at their lowest point in the last 12 months. Low inventory is partly to blame, but Days on Market for the homes that are listed has been climbing too (below). Having said that, attractive new listings will still sell quickly and we continue to see more buyers than sellers. We’ve also been busy with a very active rental market, usually clients who want to get to know Palm Beach better before they buy.
As to the stock market impact, Bloomberg notes that after its first half 2022 slide, the S&P 500 is now simply back where it was in March of last year. As we seem to recall, March 2021 was not too bad a real estate market. Maybe our current pause reflects nothing more than a return to the normal cadence of winter visitors and summer vacations.
