Through the first two-and-a-half months of 2024, Volusia County has already seen the sale of at least 41 luxury homes for $1 million or more.
That number already exceeds the 38 million-dollar-plus homes sold during the first three months of last year.
Most, although not all, high-end homes in Volusia County are purchased in cash, according to Realtors. A few deals involve financing, but not as much as for homes sold for less than a million dollars. That’s why luxury home sales are not as affected by high interest rates as properties listed in lower price ranges.
Here’s a look at the top luxury home sales in Volusia County so far this year.
1. 1316 N. Peninsula Ave., New Smyrna Beach
SALE PRICE: $7.4 million
DATE SALE CLOSED: Feb. 7, 2024
DESCRIPTION: Built in 2005, this 3-story riverfront home has 5 bedrooms, 7 baths and 7,439 square feet of living space on a 0.41-acre lot. The open-concept floor plan includes floor-to-ceiling windows in the grand living area and panoramic views of the Indian River and surrounding landscape. The home includes a gourmet kitchen and a separate combination kitchen/family room. Outside, it offers an expansive terrace along with a pool, spa, covered patio and a dock and boat house with a boat lift. The property also includes an attached 2-car garage.
WHO HANDLED THE DEAL: The listing agent was Loretta Burn of Haven Waterfront Real Estate in Edgewater. The buyers were represented by G. Scott Yurchison of Collado Real Estate in New Smyrna Beach.
2. $5.18 million: 700 N. Peninsula Ave., New Smyrna Beach
SALE PRICE: $5.185 million
DATE SALE CLOSED: March 1
DESCRIPTION: Built in 2009, this 5-bedroom, 6-bath house along the Intracoastal Waterway offers 5,120-square-feet of living space and a 3.5-car garage. It sits on a half-acre lot with 57 feet of frontage along the river as well as a dock. The backyard includes a covered lanai and an outdoor kitchen as well as an infinity pool and spa and a view of the Ponce Inlet lighthouse located just a mile to the north.
WHO HANDLED THE DEAL: The listing agent was Realtor Terri Jackson of The Keyes Company in New Smyrna Beach. The buyers’ agent was Pat Collado, the broker/owner of Collado Real Estate in New Smyrna Beach.
More:Ormond mansion of Hawaiian Tropic’s Ron Rice finally sells for $3.6M
3. $3.6 million: 175 Ocean Shore Blvd., Ormond Beach
SALE PRICE: $3.6 milllion
DATE SALE CLOSED: March 15
DESCRIPTION: Built in 1987, this 4-bedroom, 5-bath oceanfront home was the longtime home of the late Hawaiian Tropic founder Ron Rice, who died in May 2022 at the age of 81. The massive three-story house offers 12,400 square feet of living space and sits on a full acre that includes 200 feet along the beach.
The home includes a room that Rice used as a discotheque modeled after the famous Studio 54 in New York City. The mansion’s crowning glory is its huge indoor pool adorned with statues of winged fairy nymphs that connects to one of the property’s two outdoor pools.
WHO HANDLED THE DEAL: The listing agent was Bill Navarra, the broker/owner of Realty Pros Assured in Ormond Beach. Navarra wound up representing both the Ron Rice Estate as well as the buyers, a couple from the Carolinas whose son plans to relocate from South Florida to live in the house.
4. $3.4 million: 357 N. Beach St., Ormond Beach
SALE PRICE: $3.4 million
DATE SALE CLOSED: March 4
DESCRIPTION: Built in 2012, this 4-bedroom, 4.5-bath riverfront home offers 6,813 square feet of living space. It sits on a 0.67-acre lot that includes 150 feet along the Halifax River as well as a refurbished dock. The backyard includes a pool and spa. The view from the house includes the river as well as the Granada Bridge.
WHO HANDLED THE DEAL: The listing agent was also the property’s seller, Janelle Mertins, a Realtor and former owner of Pegasus Realty & Associates in Ocala. Mertins bought the home two years ago as a vacation getaway. The buyers’ agents were Matthew Renshaw and Ann Alexander, both with Realty Pros Assured in Ormond Beach.
5. $3 million: 1000 Sudbury Lane, Ormond Beach
SALE PRICE: $3 million
DATE SALE CLOSED: March 15
DESCRIPTION: Built in 2021, this 5-bedroom, 6.5-bath custom home in Ormond Beach’s Plantation Bay community offers 5,835 square feet of living space and includes a four-car garage. It overlooks a golf course. The 1.03-acre property includes a pool, an outdoor kitchen, and a full bath. The house includes an additional apartment suite.
WHO HANDLED THE DEAL: Realtor Debbie Spelman of Venture Development Realty (based at Plantation Bay) represented the sellers. Her colleague at Venture Development Realtor, Realtor Carol Paquette, represented the buyers.
This is a view of the Halifax River from inside the great room at the home at 357 N. Beach St. in Ormond Beach that sold on March 4, 2024 for $3.4 million.
Pegasus Realty & Associates
This riverfront home at 357 N. Beach St. in Ormond Beach sold on March 4, 2024, for $3.4 million.
Pegasus Realty & Associates
This is a view of the golf course at Plantation Bay from the screen-in pool for the 5-bedroom, 5-bath home at 1000 Sudbury Lane in Ormond Beach that sold on March 15, 2024 for $3 million. The home has 5,835 square feet of living space and includes a 4-car garage. It was built in 2021.
Venture Development Realty Inc.
This 5-bedroom, 5-bath home at 1000 Sudbury Lane in Ormond Beach’s Plantation Bay community sold on March 15, 2024 for $3 million. The 5,835-square-foot home is along a golf course and includes a screened-in pool. The listing agent was Debbie Spelman. The buyers were represented by Carol Paquette. Both are Realtors with Venture Development Realty Inc.
Venture Development Realty Inc.
This is the pool and spa at the riverfront home at 357 N. Beach St. in Ormond Beach that sold March 4, 2024 for $3.4 million.
Pegasus Realty & Associates
This is the dock behind the riverfront home at 357 N. Beach St. in Ormond Beach that sold March 4, 2024 for $3.4 million.
Pegasus Realty & Associates
This riverfront home at 357 N. Beach St. in Ormond Beach sold March 4, 2024 for $3.4 million. Built in 2012, it has 4 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, 6,813 square feet of living space and is on a 0.67-acre property that includes a backyard pool and spa, a dock and 150 feet of frontage along the Intracoastal Waterway. The listing agent also also its seller, Realtor Janelle Mertins of Pegasus Realty in Ocala, who owned it as a vacation home.
Pegasus Realty & Associates
This is the kitchen inside the home at 700 N. Peninsula Drive, New Smyrna Beach.
The Keyes Company
The great room inside the home at 700 N. Peninsula Drive, New Smyrna Beach, offers views of the Intracoastal Waterway.
The Keyes Company
This home at 700 N. Peninsula Drive in New Smyrna Beach was sold by listing agent Terri Jackson of The Keyes Company on March 1, 2024 for $5.185 million, the most paid for a single-family home in Volusia County this year through mid-March. Built in 2009, the 5-bed, 6-bath home has 5,120 square feet of living space. The half-acre property is on the Intracoastal Waterway. It includes an infinity pool, outdoor kitchen and dock.
The Keyes Company
This home at 700 N. Peninsula Drive in New Smyrna Beach was sold by listing agent Terri Jackson of The Keyes Company on March 1, 2024 for $5.185 million, the most paid for a single-family home in Volusia County this year through mid-March. Built in 2009, the 5-bed, 6-bath home has 5,120 square feet of living space. The half-acre property is on the Intracoastal Waterway. It includes an infinity pool, outdoor kitchen and dock.
The Keyes Company
An “R” can be seen on the gate entrance to the oceanfront mansion of the late Hawaiian Tropic founder Ron Rice at 175 Ocean Shore Blvd. in Ormond Beach on Monday, Nov. 28, 2022 in Ormond Beach.
David Tucker/News-Journal
This is an aerial view, taken in the 1990s, of the oceanfront mansion of the late Hawaiian Tropic founder Ron Rice at 175 Ocean Shore Blvd. in Ormond Beach. The property is across the street from Oceanside Country Club (visible at the top).
Provided Image
Artwork and memorabilia fills the great room in the oceanfront mansion of the late Hawaiian Tropic founder Ron Rice on Monday, Nov. 28, 2022. Rice’s estate put the luxury home at 175 Ocean Shore Blvd. in Ormond Beach up for sale on Thanksgiving Day 2022.
David Tucker/News-Journal
The oceanfront mansion of the late Hawaiian Tropic founder Ron Rice at 175 Ocean Shore Blvd. in Ormond Beach is pictured on Nov. 28, 2022. The property was recently put under contract to be sold.
David Tucker/News-Journal
Bill Navarra, the broker/owner of Reality Pros Assured, and Linda Kramer, the longtime personal assistant to the late Ron Rice, stand next to the original trash can that Rice used to mix his first batches of Hawaiian Tropic suntan lotion in the late 1960s. They are seen here on Monday, Nov. 28, 2022, inside Rice’s Ormond Beach mansion at 175 Ocean Shore Blvd. which his estate put up for sale on Thanksgiving Day. The asking price is $5,999,900.
David Tucker/News-Journal
This is a view of the great room in the oceanfront mansion of the late Hawaiian Tropic founder Ron Rice on Monday, Nov. 28, 2022. Rice’s estate put the luxury home at 175 Ocean Shore Blvd. in Ormond Beach up for sale on Thanksgiving Day 2022.
David Tucker/News-Journal
Bill Navarra, the broker/owner of Realty Pros Assured, and Linda Kramer, the longtime personal assistant to the late Ron Rice, stand next to the original garbage can that the Hawaiian Tropic founder used to mix his first batches of suntan lotion back in the late 1960s. The garbage can was later plated in silver. Navarra is the listing agent for Rice’s oceanfront mansion at 175 Ocean Shore Blvd. in Ormond Beach which was put up for sale on Thanksgiving Day 2022. He and Kramer are seen here in the mansion’s great room on Monday, Nov. 28, 2022.
David Tucker/News-Journal
This is an indoor pool at the oceanfront mansion at 175 Ocean Shore Blvd. in Ormond Beach. The 12,414-square-foot four-bedroom, five-bath custom home belonged to the late Hawaiian Tropic founder Ron Rice. It was put up for sale on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2022 with an asking price of just under $6 million. It sits on a full acre that includes 200 feet of beach frontage.
Provided Image
This is the indoor pool inside the oceanfront mansion of the late Ron Rice, seen here on Monday, Nov. 28, 2022. The pool connects to one of the property’s two outdoor pools and is adorned by statues that are giant-sized replicas of the trophies Rice used to give out to winners of his suntan lotion company’s Miss Hawaiian Tropic International pageants. The luxury home at 175 Ocean Shore Blvd. in Ormond Beach was put up for sale by Rice’s estate on Thanksgiving Day 2022.
David Tucker/News-Journal
This outdoor pool connects to an indoor pool at the oceanfront mansion of the late Hawaiian Tropic founder Ron Rice on Monday, Nov. 28, 2022. Rice’s estate put the luxury home at 175 Ocean Shore Blvd. in Ormond Beach up for sale on Thanksgiving Day 2022.
David Tucker/News-Journal
This is the master bedroom suite in the oceanfront mansion of the late Hawaiian Tropic founder Ron Rice, seen here on Monday, Nov. 28, 2022. The suite was redecorated by Rice’s daughter Sterling when he decided to use one of the first-floor bedrooms instead. The luxury home at 175 Ocean Shore Blvd. in Ormond Beach was put up for sale by Rice’s estate on Thanksgiving Day.
David Tucker/News-Journal
The indoor pool connects to the large outdoor pool in the oceanfront mansion of the late Ron Rice, seen here on Monday, Nov. 28, 2022. The luxury home at 175 Ocean Shore Blvd. in Ormond Beach was put up for sale by Rice’s estate on Thanksgiving Day 2022.
David Tucker/News-Journal
Artwork and a dart board adorn the walls inside the dining room in the oceanfront mansion of the late Hawaiian Tropic founder Ron Rice on Monday, Nov. 28, 2022. Rice’s estate put the luxury home at 175 Ocean Shore Blvd. in Ormond Beach up for sale on Thanksgiving Day 2022.
David Tucker/News-Journal
DAYTONA BEACH − A new national ranking lists Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach as the ninth-slowest metro area in the country to sell a house.
The ranking by CreditNews.com comes as a surprise to P.W. Mabry, president of the Daytona Beach Area Association of Realtors.
“We’re selling properties like crazy right now,” said Mabry, an agent with Re/Max Signature in Ormond Beach. “Our numbers (volume of homes sold) are going up.”
How did they come up with the ranking?
New York-based CreditNews.com based its ranking of the nation’s 10 fastest and 10 slowest metro areas to sell a house on data from real estate website Zillow.com, which found that it took a median of 39 days for a listing to be put under contract to be sold in the “Deltona” metro area in January.
“When referring to ‘Deltona,’ we meant the entire metro area, encompassing Deltona–Daytona Beach–Ormond Beach,” confirmed Dan Runkevicius, chief editor for CreditNow.com in an email. “The data was sourced from Zillow’s ‘for-sale inventory’ data set.’ Housing inventory was then adjusted to account for the size of the metro population.”
Florida Realtors Association data showed the “median time to contract” for existing single-family homes in Volusia County in January was actually 41 days, according to a copy of the report provided to The Daytona Beach News-Journal by the West Volusia Association of Realtors.
The Daytona Beach Area Association of Realtors reported that the median time to contract for properties listed by its members was 53 days.
The statewide median time to contract in January was 43 days, according to the Florida Realtors Association.
Nationally, the median time to contract for homes to be put under contract was 36 days in January, according to the National Association of Realtors.
It’s based on a ‘Zestimate’
Mabry said he takes data provided by Zillow with a grain of salt.
“(Real estate) brokers must click on a button that allows Zillow to get their information,” he said. “I know for a fact that not all brokers click on that button.”
“Zillow also has in small print on its reports that when they give you an appraisal value for a property that they call it a ‘Zestimate.’ That’s so they can’t be sued (if the information is incorrect),” said Mabry. “It’s their personal opinion.”
“We have people tell us all the time that ‘Zillow says my house should sell for a half-million dollars,’ but that’s not necessarily the case,” he added. “Their ‘Zestimates’ are only within 5% of the actual sale price of a home about half of the time.”
John Adams, president of Adams, Cameron & Co. Realtors in Daytona Beach, also expressed skepticism regarding Zillow’s latest ranking for the Deltona metro area.
“Zillow has a very good statistics team and generally produces good results, however, in this case, I can’t agree,” said Adams.
Adams, Cameron has 300 agents in eight offices in Volusia and Flagler counties, the most of any real estate brokerage in the combined two-county area.
Local market back to pre-pandemic levels?
Florida Realtors Association data for the Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach area, which encompasses the combined Volusia County-Flagler County area, showed that the median time to contract for homes locally rose to 33 days in 2023, up from 13 days and 11 days in 2022 and 2021, respectively.
Despite the increase, the median time to contract remained lower than in 2019 (41 days), the year before the COVID-19 pandemic-fueled real estate boom in Florida began.
“I like the (Florida Realtors) view over time, because it is more objective,” said Adams.
What CreditNews had to say about its rankings
The report by CreditNews.com stated that its study “reveals a major shift in best-selling markets since the onset of Covid. None of the top fastest-selling metros pre-COVID remain on the list today, and vice versa.
“Part of the reason behind this realignment is different inventory levels across the nation − which, we found, has a strong connection with how fast listings sell.”
What do the latest local housing numbers say?
According to countywide data provided by the West Volusia Association of Realtors, Realtors in Volusia County sold 509 homes in January, up 3% from 494 a year ago. The median sale price rose to $350,000, up 4.8% from $333,990 in January 2023. The inventory of active listings climbed 21.8% year-over-year to 2,384, compared with 1,957 a year ago.
Still, the month’s supply for Volusia, meaning how long in theory it would take to deplete the inventory if no new listings are added, remained tight at 3.3 months, compared with 2.5 a year ago.
The statewide month’s supply in January was 3.8, according to Florida Realtors.
According to the National Association of Realtors, that means the local real estate market remains tilted somewhat in favor of sellers. “Historically, six months of supply is associated with moderate price appreciation, and a lower level of month’s supply tends to push prices up more rapidly,” the NAR website states.
Who else made the fastest and slowest lists?
According to CreditNews.com, the 10 fastest metro areas to sell a house in January, along with the median days on market, were as follows: 1. Hartford, Connecticut (8 days); 2. tie between Rochester and Syracuse, New York, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (9 days); 5. tie between Richmond, Virginia, Grand Rapids, Michigan, and New Haven, Connecticut (11 days); 8. tie between Boston and Worcester, Massachusetts, and Columbus, Ohio (12 days).
Jacksonville was the other Florida metro area, along with Deltona to make the 10 slowest metro areas list: 1. Austin, Texas (66 days); 2. McAllen, Texas (53 days); 3. Poughkeepsie, New York (51 days); 4. San Antonio, Texas (49 days); 5. New Orleans, Louisiana (48 days); 6. Jacksonville, Florida (42 days); 7. tie between Cape Coral, Florida, and Colorado Springs, Colorado (41 days); 9. Deltona, Florida (39 days); 10. New York, New York (37 days).
Why do some homes take longer to sell?
While some homes locally sell within days of being listed, others can go months without receiving an offer, often resulting in a lowering of the asking price.
“When homes sit on the market, there can be a lot of reasons,” said Mabry. “In some cases, it could be a property that requires extensive repairs or updating. Being over-priced is almost always the No. 1 reason. You have sellers out there trying to get top dollar for their home, in some cases against the advice of their Realtor.”