Ultra-luxury deals surged this spring, cementing island’s rank among top markets
The outlook was sour when Palm Beach season kicked off this winter. The weather was rainy and glum, and hardly anyone was buying homes.
For the island’s real estate agents, though, the clock was ticking to sell their multi-million dollar listings. 2021 and 2022 had been record years for the island, followed by a slowdown in 2023. It had more listings over $50 million than anywhere else in the U.S., but the question remained: Would they sell? This was the season for Palm Beach to prove it wasn’t a one-hit wonder, but a newly emerged power on the global luxury real estate stage.
Then, in February, the sun began to shine and activity picked up. A flood of eight-figure sales closed in April and May, landing the island among the top performing luxury markets in the the world.
It was a “slow start, strong finish,” said West Palm Beach developer Blair Brandt.
“It proves that Palm Beach is here to stay,” Margit Brandt, an agent on the island with Premier Estate Properties and Blair Brandt’s wife, said of the market’s performance this season. She represented Tarpon Island’s buyer, who closed on the megamansion for $152 million in May.
“There’s a lot of people that have said, ‘Oh, you had this boom, it’ll go back down.’ Some of these people were sitting on the sidelines saying the pricing won’t maintain,” Brandt said. In her view, this season proved the naysayers wrong.
So do the numbers. Palm Beach sales for properties priced $10 million and up closed $1.1 billion in dollar volume in the first quarter of the year, according to a report from Knight Frank. That was up from $617 million in dollar volume in the first quarter of 2023.
Still, some of the season’s biggest listings didn’t sell. After listing two adjacent oceanfront lots for $200 million with Premier Estate Properties’ Jim McCann, cosmetics heir William Lauder re-listed them separately for $88.9 million each with Christian Angle of Christian Angle Real Estate.
Aspirational pricing was less likely to find success this season, and price cuts were more common than in recent years. The cadence of this season, with its slow start and late spring crescendo, marked a return to Palm Beach’s pre-covid rhythm, according to Corcoran Group’s Suzanne Frisbie.
“If you go back and look, Q2 and 3 are where the lionshare of the closings are,” she said. “We’re back to what I would call season and off-season. And now we are in the off-season.”
Despite it being the off-season, there are still some buyers on the hunt and last-minute deals to be closed, agents said.
“It has been an active end of season,” said Douglas Elliman agent Samantha Curry. “I have three offers on three different listings right now.”
With most Palm Beachers settled at their summer homes, here’s a look at the biggest deals of the season:
$152M | 10 Tarpon Isle | Sellers: Todd Glaser and partners
In its second season on the market, spec developer Todd Glaser found a buyer for the 2.3-acre Tarpon Island, which closed for $152 million at the end of May. Glaser first listed it for $218 million in 2022. He and his investment partners bought the island for $85 million in 2021 and renovated and expanded the mansion to nearly 24,000 square feet, with 11 bedrooms, 15 bathrooms and seven half-bathrooms. The estate has two pools, a dock, a lighted tennis court, a catering kitchen and a wellness wing with a cold plunge, steam room, sauna, salon parlor, massage room and gym. Frisbie and Chris Leavitt of Elliman had the listing, and Brandt represented the buyer.
$85M | 108 El Mirasol | Seller: Anand Khubani
Ideavillage founder Anand Khubani sold an oceanfront vacant lot for $85 million in April. Lawrence Moens of Lawrence A. Moens Associates had the pocket listing for the one-acre lot at 108 El Mirasol, and Dana Koch of Corcoran brought the buyer. Khubani and his wife, Neeta Khubani, bought the El Mirasol property for $12.7 million in 2005, according to property records.