Palm Beach County home prices up, but investors still buying | www.mypalmbeachpost.com

Invitation Homes is buying up 3 bedroom, 2 bath properties in Palm Beach County at a feverish pace. They aren't doing much around here or downtown West Palm Beach. Their focus is on western and northern county gated communities. Jack McCabe, previous High Noon in Lake Worth guest, in our conversation was concerned about this trend eventually creating another real estate bubble. Here he is quoted in the article, click title for link.

 "It’s unclear how long Invitation Homes will continue to buy in Palm Beach County. Jack McCabe, chief executive of McCabe Consulting and Research in Deerfield Beach, said, for now, paying higher prices benefits the company because it increases the values of homes overall, including ones they’ve previously purchased.

Also, while South Florida home prices have increased, they are still 37 percent below the peak of the market in December 2006, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index.

“As long as they still have sums of cash in their war chest, it behooves them to keep buying,” he said.

It certainly worked to the advantage of a client of Palm Beach Gardens-based Realtor Bob Graeves. The client insisted on listing his 2,000-square-foot townhome for $319,500 even though the highest comparable sale in the area was $290,000.

“Lo, and behold, this hedge fund comes in and pays $315,000 in cash,” Graeves said.

The buyer was Invitation Homes."