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Presidential visits may be hurting Palm Beach real estate sales

Posted at 5:51 PM, Apr 21, 2017
and last updated 2017-04-21 21:49:18-04

Palm Beach is the home of the Winter White House and is one of the wealthiest real estate markets in the country.

However, frequent visits from President Trump, the island's most famous snowbird, may be hurting home sales on the island.

The average median sale price for a home on Palm Beach is nearly $7 million.

"Tremendous homes," says luxury broker Senada Adzem.

Adzem used to work for President Trump. She says three of her clients passed on buying a home on Palm Beach.  "Just don't want to deal with the traffic."

Adzem says only 22 homes were sold in Palm Beach during this first quarter, an eight percent drop from last year.

She says road closures, traffic and security are to blame.

"We had not anticipated the level of security and we hadn't anticipated clients being concerned by tremendous lack of privacy because you have many journalists, you have gawkers," says Adzem.

On the flip side, Adzem says markets to the south are the complete opposite.

"Manalapan, Delray Beach have actually benefited from the traffic congestion we've seen here," says Adzem.

Adzem expects the trend to continue if the president makes Palm Beach County a constant destination.