Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Low-ball offers are a regular occurrence for downtown West Palm Beach Realtor Susan Hoffman.
A homebuyer, especially someone from out of state or Canada, calls after hearing prices in Palm Beach County are rock bottom. February’s median sales price for a condominium, after all, was $75,050.
So they’ll bid less.
But in Hoffman’s sales area – ZIP code 33401 – the median condo price in February was $135,000.
“It’s very frustrating because people are online reading articles about Palm Beach County prices, but you can’t just look at the entire county and lump it all together,” said Hoffman, who handles mostly condo sales. “Maybe the median price is $75,000, but not in 33401.”
Detailed statewide sales figures weren’t readily available by ZIP code until February, when the Florida Realtors changed the way data had been gathered and reported for decades to offer a sharper picture of the real estate market.
The statewide group contracted with the Minneapolis-based 10K Research firm, which had started producing similar reports for the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches, or RAPB, last year.
Instead of getting only the total number of sales and median prices for 20 regions in Florida, Realtors are now able to retrieve monthly data on every ZIP code in the state. Where previously, Martin and St. Lucie counties were mostly combined, each now gets its own countywide data, as well as by ZIP.
The new information includes a breakdown of total sales and median prices for single-family homes and condominiums – a category that includes townhomes.
“This gives you a better feel for what’s happening,” said Bill Richardson, district sales manager at The Keyes Co. in Boca Raton and immediate past president of RAPB. “The Realtors work in specific neighborhoods with specific properties so the more detailed information we can get for them the better they are served and the better they can help buyers.”
For example, ZIP code 33480, which is in the town of Palm Beach, had the highest median sales price in February at $625,000 for single-family and condos combined. Pahokee’s 33476 ZIP had the lowest at $47,000.
In between were Wellington’s 33414 at $193,000, Boca Raton’s 33432 at $310,000, and West Palm Beach’s 33405 at $77,000.
The data change is part of an effort to provide better home sales information that includes the hiring last year by the Florida Realtors of John Tuccillo to act as the group’s chief economist and lead a new data and analysis department.
Tuccillo is the former chief economist for the National Association of Realtors and has led his own Sarasota-based consultant’s firm.
His plans are to develop a new Florida home price index, similar to the respected Standard Poor’s/Case-Shiller index, that will incorporate tax roll data from the Department of Revenue.
Tuccillo said he’s also working on a project to shed light on what’s happening with distressed sales, such as foreclosures and short sales.
“To get a good picture of the housing market you need more than just prices and sales,” Tuccillo said. “This will be the most complete and comprehensive set of data for Florida that anyone has ever had.”
While the ZIP reports are not available to the public, the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches does publish a report on its website each month that lists sales numbers by city, as well as information for distressed sales, how many days homes are on the market before selling, new listings, and what percentage of homes are selling at the original list price.
The system isn’t perfect. The numbers from RAPB differ slightly from what the state reports for Palm Beach County. That’s because if a property is listed by a broker from outside the three regional Multiple Listing Service groups that operate in Palm Beach County, their sale will not count on RAPB’s report, said Stephen McWilliam, president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Realtors.
Still, it’s hoped that more detailed sales data will help Realtors and their clients navigate the market better.
Hoffman, the downtown West Palm Beach Realtor, said in late March that she had only two condo listings for under $200,000, and fears many people already have lost out on buying cheaply.
“Most of our buildings have flushed out of foreclosures and when the listings come out, they’re coming out high,” she said.
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