Housing shortage: Boca Raton's low inventories keep prices rising

The torrid pace of Boca Raton’s real estate market continued during the month of April.

And while some April category statistics were skewed when matched against those from a Covid-19 Palm Beach County shutdown a year ago, one piece of data wasn’t – inventory.

Single family home (+83.3 percent) and townhouse/condo (+116 percent) closed sales for April were both up significantly, according to monthly, year-over-year reports from Realtors | Broward, Palm Beaches and St. Lucie (Beaches MLS). Those numbers (single family 286 in April 2021 vs. 156 in April 2020 – townhouse/condo 350 this April vs. 162 in April 2020) were paralleled against a city housing market basically shut down a year ago.

Inventories have dropped to lows not seen in years – 1.2 months supply for single family and 1.9 months for townhouse/condo properties.

In April 2020, there were 972 single family homes for sale in Boca Raton, representing a 5.1 month supply. This April there were 328, a 76.5 percent drop. A total of 1,125 townhouse/condo properties were available in April 2020, now just 557 – a 64.8 percent drop.

According to the Beaches MLS report, don’t expect the sinking inventories or rising prices to end anytime soon.

“While housing affordability remains an area to watch as prices continue to rise,” the report states, “strong buyer demand and limited housing supply show no signs of easing soon, pointing to a contination of this market trend through spring and into summer.

An encouraging sign was in new listings, where both single family (362 this April, 167 last April) and townhouse/condo (353 this April, 159 last April) were both up. That, however, isn’t enough to keep up with an ever-increasing number of buyers pouring into the south Florida area.

Other April single family home Realtor | Broward, Palm Beaches, St. Lucie stats were:

• Median sales price up 24.3 percent – $640,000 in April 2021, $515,000 in April 2020
• Average sale price up 70.1 percent – $1,205,503 in 2021, $708,496 in 2020
• Total dollar volume up 211.9 percent – $344,773,859 in 2021, $110,525,450 in 2020
• Percent of original list price received up 3.8 percent – 97.7 percent in 2021, 94.1 percent in 2020
• Median time to contract down 18.3 percent – 49 days to sell a home in 2021, 60 days in 2020
• Pending sales up 153.8 percent – 297 in 2021, 167 in 2020

In the townhouse/condo market, pending sales were way up for the second month in a row – 415 in April and 417 in March.

All those sales helped drive the April average sales price for a townhouse/condo up 27.4 percent – $437,152 in 2021 vs. $343,125 in 2020.

Other April townhouse/condo Realtor | Broward, Palm Beaches, St. Lucie stats were:

• Median sales price up 2.7 percent – $256,750 in April 2021, $250,000 in April 2020
• Total dollar volume up 177.1 percent – $152,129,531 in 2021, $54,905,965 in 2020
• Percent of original list price received up 2.4 percent – 94.2 percent in 2021, 92.0 percent in 2020
• Median time to contract down 1.4 percent – 73 days to sell a home in 2021, 74 days in 2020

For more information on single family, townhouse/condo housing and commercial properties in Palm Beach and Broward counties, visit Petruzzelli Real Estate at their iconic 2325 N. Ocean Blvd. (A1A) office in Boca Raton or call them at 561.362.8413.