Palm Beach, Florida World’s Hottest Real Estate

Home sales in Palm Beach, the exclusive island retreat of the president and countless billionaires, tripled in the third quarter as the wealthy fled the cities and higher-tax states of the Northeast. The average home price in Palm Beach, Florida, was more than $7 million during the third quarter, according to a report from Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel. The strength shows little signs of slowing as signed contracts jumped 62% in September. The inventory of homes for sale on the island fell by 79% in the third quarter compared with a year ago. There is now less than a five-month supply. Among the big recent sales in Palm Beach was the $28 million sale of a “teardown” mansion owned by telecom tycoon Donald Burns. Billionaire Jude Reyes sold his oceanfront mansion for $19 million and pulmonologist Norman Traverse sold his seven-bedroom waterfront estate for $51 million. In Miami, luxury home prices surged 42% in the quarter, with the average sale price hitting $2.8 million. Average home prices in Ft. Lauderdale increased 16%, and they were up 11% in Boca Raton.