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South Florida

Flipper’s paradise: Ultra-rich score on Palm Beach sales

With few move-in ready homes available, flips are garnering up to 86% returns

6 Via Los Incas, 241 Jungle Road and 150 El Vedado Road with Designer Tom Ford, Josh Harris and Rob Heyvaert
6 Via Los Incas, 241 Jungle Road and 150 El Vedado Road with Designer Tom Ford, Josh Harris and Rob Heyvaert (Google Maps, Getty, Motive Partners)
By
Jan 19, 2023, 4:54 PM

It’s safe to say buying and selling in Palm Beach can pay dividends, especially right now.

Despite a cooling in the national residential market, and even across parts of South Florida, prices keep rising in the Palm Beach luxury market. It’s a boon for wealthy flippers, Bloomberg reported.

Move-in ready homes were a scarcity among the roughly 48 listings as of the end of December, according to the outlet. Buyers looking to get into a home during the island’s busy season, which typically runs from New Year’s through April, are paying top dollar for finished homes.

The high demand and squeeze on inventory has meant returns as high as 86 percent for flippers, like the entity tied to Apollo Global Management’s billionaire co-founder Josh Harris.

The Harris-linked entity bought the 8,500-square-foot oceanfront mansion at 6 Via Los Incas for $35.4 million in June of 2021. It sold the property to a TT 47th LLC for $66 million in December, an 86 percent return in 18 months.

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Another recent eye-popping flip in the tony town was Tom Ford’s purchase of the estate at 241 Jungle Road from Motive Partners founder Rob Heyvaert for $51 million. The December sale marked a record price for non-waterfront Palm Beach homes. Heyvaert had bought the property for $35.8 million in 2021, realizing a $15.2 million gain on the 10,200-square-foot mansion.

Alden Global Capital co-founder Randy Smith also flipped a multimillion-dollar property this month, selling the house at 150 El Vedado Road for $23 million. He bought the property for $7.9 million last January, and completed renovations of the 5,200-square-foot home.

The flips are big and the prices are strong in Palm Beach, just as they have been in the past several months. In the fourth quarter, the median price in Palm Beach for single-family homes rose nearly 50 percent, year-over-year, to $12.7 million, and by about the same percentage compared to the third quarter, according to Douglas Elliman’s fourth quarter reports.

Overall, South Florida’s luxury market is coming down off a two-year pandemic high, and sales volume has dropped dramatically. In May, developer Todd Glaser flipped a non-waterfront Palm Beach home at 215 Indian Road for $15.5 million, a 142 percent markup from the $6.4 million he and his partners paid for it.

— Kate Hinsche

Tags
FlipsHome SalesPalm BeachWaterfront Properties