By the time you open this, I’ll be a few hours into my “Sunrise-to-Sunset” New Years Eve walk.
(I’m taking a breather again this week from my weekly missive to accomplish another “extreme sport” goal, but have one idea to share below).
Starting from my home in downtown Delray, I’ll walk to A1A, turn south, and walk until sunset. That’s about 10.5 hours of nothing but walking.
Let’s do some math: I should be able to walk a mile, on average, in about 23 minutes. That’s about 27.5 miles. So, I should arrive near Lauderdale By The Sea right in time for Happy Hour!
I did this walk two years ago, and it was a great experience. You get to see so much more at 2.75mph than you see at 45mph.
I’ll walk by Boca Lake, through downtown Deerfield, then through the Hillsboro “tree-tunnel” along the stunning intracoastal waterway and mega-mansions, passing by the Pompano Beach scene… my camera will be hard at work.
My daughter will walk the first half with me, then my wife will take her place around lunch time. My colleague Josh agreed to join me the entire day, and my friends Evan and Mariah will join us along the way until they turn around.
Besides doing something different, or extreme, for New Years Eve, I’ll have hours of time to think about our local real estate market.
*** 2025 was a year for sellers in the first half, then buyers the second half. I see 2026 as the year for real estate agents.
As you can see in the graph above, existing home sales in the US are hovering near their 20-year lows around 4 million units sold. Since late 2021, sales have fallen from over 6 million homes sold – a 33% drop. This put a lot of agents out of business – I’m not complaining.
For surviving agents, 2026 could be one of our best ever. Why? With our government’s will to drive interest rates down, this will trickle over to our real estate industry. And sellers who’ve been unwilling to sell due to the low mortgage rates they got 3-5 years ago are growing impatient to sell.
Many homeowners need to move up, downsize or unwind assets they’ve been holding onto longer than they planned.
So, experts say 2026 will be the year existing home sales increase – by over 10%. Agents are excited. That’s potentially 400k more home sales than in the past few years, with less agents.
Case in point, in the last 30 days I’ve had 5 homeowners ask to meet me to discuss their home’s value and selling their home. I anticipate this trend will continue and am preparing my business to handle growth in 2026.
As for Delray Beach home sales, I will be watching this with an eagle eye.
As for December 2025, there were 247 sales compared to December 2024 of 212. That’s a 16% increase. But for the year, 2025 saw just 4.2% more sales than in 2024.
But one year ago there was a lot less supply in the market compared to now. As we start 2026 there are 1,800 units for sale, while one year ago there were 2,199 – a 400 unit drop.
With this information, Delray Beach home sales should be stronger to start 2026 – a trend for us to watch.
So, if I can be of service to you as you ponder selling your home – call me. I’m here to research and create a Competitive Market Analysis (CMA) for you and discuss your selling options.
I’m bullish about the Delray Beach home sales and our local market for 2026. Supply is plentiful. Demand remains good. There are plenty of tailwinds that’ll help sellers, buyers and agents achieve their goals.
Happy New Year! Wishing you’ll achieve all you set out to accomplish in 2026.
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*** Grab my Q4 Distinctive Downtown Delray Condo Guide here. Then have a look at my downtown Delray condo listing with its 94/100 Walkability Score
*** Thank you for putting your trust in me in 2025. If you shared your experience working with me via a testimonial, I’m forever grateful. Here’s what some customers had to say
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*** South Florida Real Estate Inventory is ABOVE 2019***
Last week’s supply was 57,316
Today’s supply is 56,826
*** Supply is DOWN 23 of 34 weeks…***
