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By: Lieba Nesis
As more than 100 Wall Street firms relocate to South Florida, wealthy employees are scrambling to find their next abode in Palm Beach. Recent headlines laughably had a judge valuing Donald Trump’s West Palm Beach 20 acre estate at Mar-a-Lago at $18 million while brokers have consistently placed its price tag at closer to $1 billion. A 4,000 square foot non-beachfront house on Palm Beach’s Clarendon Avenue is listed at $22 million as the median sales price for single family homes were $14 million in September 2023 -a 117 percent increase over the past year. With the average sales price topping $20 million and the average price per square foot reaching $4,554 it is easily the priciest market in the country. Inventory is way down with current levels at 9,304 whereas historically average monthly inventory was 16,196. In June 2023 clothing mogul Tommy Hilfiger flipped his property for $41.4 million less than 6 months after buying it for $36.9 million as prices continue to rise.
This superthin barrier along the Atlantic Ocean was transformed into the glitzy town of today in the 1890’s by Standard Oil tycoon Henry Flagler who established the 1,100 room Royal Poinciana Hotel the largest wooden structure in the world in 1894. Two years later the Palm Beach Inn which was renamed The Breakers effectively turned the formerly quiet Island into a refuge for industry titans and social swans. The Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, Astors, Andrew Carnegie and J.P. Morgan were just a few of the barons who vacationed on the island when the Breakers prices in 1904 hit an astronomical $4 a night including three meals a day-its now up to $4,000 per night. Comparing this uber wealthy enclave to billionaire haven East Hampton manifests the out-of-control wealth of Palm Beach where the median listing home price in East Hampton in December 2023 was a measly $2.7 million.
The streets of Palm Beach are literally paved in gold as residents step out in their $20,000 sartorial ensembles which usually include Loro Piana, Kiton, Gucci, Birkin and an excess of diamonds-leave the Skechers at home. Thankfully Palm Beach is safer than 86% of all cities in Florida as police peruse the perennially quiet streets. Stepping on the shopping thoroughfare of Worth Avenue requires you to be “worth” millions. The cost of living in Palm Beach is 96 percent higher than the Florida average with the average annual income of residents clocking in at $160,000 as compared to the national average of $54,132. And that’s not all Palm Beach home values are $3.4 million as compared to the average of $383,000 while utilities are also nearly four times the price at $413 per month compared to the national average of $117 per month-even the homeless have gone elsewhere.
Palm Beach ranks as the most popular place to relocate nationwide as favorable weather, low taxes and even lower inventory have created an insatiable demand that shows no signs of abating. In April 2020 there were a measly 43 billionaires on Palm Beach where it now taps out at 57- an astronomical amount considering there are only 3,194 billionaires worldwide. Some of the mega moguls on the island include Julia Koch ($60 billion), Stephen Schwarzman ($27.8 billion), Leonard Lauder ($21 billion), David Tepper ($18.5 billion), Stephen Ross ($11.6 billion), Robert Kraft ($10.6 billion), Charles Schwab ($7.5 billion), Steve Wynn ($3.2 billion) and Nelson Peltz ($1.5 billion). I would be remiss if I didn’t mention 55-year-old CEO of Citadel Ken Griffin ($35.2 billion) who bought more than 20 acres of prime Palm Beach property which he is transforming into a mega 50,000 square foot house that will be worth over $1 billion.
With plans to originally house his mother in this edifice Griffin, along with fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos, has relocated to Miami where his Citadel offices moved. Along with the influx of wealth includes a host of private clubs with most containing initiation fees beginning at $100,000 including the Everglades, the Bath and Tennis Club, the Palm Beach County Club, the Sailfish Club, The Breakers, Mar-a-Lago, and Carriage House. If you want high society over-the-top-galas there is AMFAR, Red Cross, Policemen’s Ball, and Opera and Ballet Galas galore. There are few areas as suited for the $2,500 a plate nights that sell out months in advance. Finally, the season concludes at the beginning of May and the uber rich head to their homes in New York and the Hamptons where exercise shorts and ripped jeans can finally be whipped out with abandon.
