Fortunately, for Palm Beach, Hurricane Matthew was just a wind/rain event and Palm Beach residential real estate market trends, as a whole, remain largely unchanged at the close of Q3 2016. Like Brexit and Ebola, Zika frightens initially, but this too shall pass. So facing a slow growing economy, still in the midst of a historically long recovery, coupled with the advancing uncertainty of the presidential election, investors/buyers continue their collective inclination towards risk aversion. Noted in a Merrill Lynch report, historically “markets respond far better to election processes whose outcomes are more predictable.” Given the uncertainty surrounding November’s election and varying degrees of market volatility, subsequent investment risk aversion is to be expected. Post election, the U.S. economy is positioned to continue positive, albeit slow growth, while the rest of the globe sorts through turmoil and/or unrest. Thus premium U.S. real estate, positioned to benefit from demographic and economic pressures, will continue to draw discerning affluent investors.
