Jay Phillip Parker, CEO of Brokerage, Florida Region/President, Douglas Elliman/Douglas Elliman Development Marketing, Florida

Jay Phillip Parker, chief executive officer of brokerage for the Florida region at Douglas Elliman and president of Douglas Elliman Development Marketing in Florida, sat down with Invest: to discuss the firm’s strategic role in shaping South Florida’s luxury real estate landscape through numerous major pre-development projects. Parker also spoke about evolving buyer demographics, pricing dynamics, and how Douglas Elliman is advising developers to meet rising demand for wellness, sustainability and lifestyle-driven living.

What can you tell us about Douglas Elliman’s role in shaping the Palm Beach County and South Florida markets?
The Palm Beach and West Palm Beach markets are very different from one another. Part of our expertise is understanding the fabric of each market’s nuances and understanding how to extract from our developers’ products, as well as the elements of attraction that resonate with the buyers. I’ve lived in both West Palm Beach and Palm Beach, and over the years, we’ve played a meaningful role alongside developers in shaping the evolution of these markets. One of our most pivotal projects was The Bristol, the first true luxury building in West Palm Beach. Our success there stemmed from a deep understanding of how to attract sophisticated, ultra-high-net-worth buyers across the bridge into a new and emerging market. Thanks to our team’s efforts, we were able to create a sense of comfort and confidence that helped redefine the area’s appeal. That momentum has continued, fueling the transformation of West Palm Beach into what it is today, and what it’s poised to become in the future.
A few of our projects include the Mr. C Residences in West Palm Beach, the Ritz-Carlton Residences in both West Palm Beach and Palm Beach Gardens, Forté Luxe on Jupiter Island, Alina Residences and Glass House in Boca Raton, and Casa Avenida in Delray Beach.
The Mr. C Residences and the Ritz-Carlton in West Palm Beach cater to a different user and buyer profile, though both very special and important. The Mr. C product beautifully blends a wide spectrum of buyer interests. The Ritz-Carlton is more of a traditional play, offering a bespoke living environment, complemented by the expertise of branded residential services. As one of the leaders in the space, they are drawing less on a legacy of brand and more on a legacy of experience. They deliver a vertical residence option to those who are transitioning or priced out of the Palm Beach Island market. I foresee the Ritz-Carlton capitalizing on being one of the first branded residences in a vertical luxury nature in the West Palm Beach market.
In both of these cases, you are dealing with residential development firms, which is another important element for the Palm Beach market. The market did not have the same degree of vertical residential offerings. In the past, what has been built in that market was catering to more of a second-home buyer or investor buyer as opposed to a primary resident type buyer. Being able to capture the internal and external elements of lifestyle in our market puts us in a very special place to lead the market in terms of our residential offerings. The projects that we have worked on in West Palm Beach are a great indication.
The Boca Raton market had the same kinds of opportunities as West Palm Beach when it comes to the amount of inbound migration. Retirement, empty nesters, and second homes also play a role. Boca having a lower density environment while still having access to great beaches, culture, and restaurants has contributed to the success we have seen in some of these projects.
Consumers are looking for safety, security, and the overall aesthetic appeal, which makes these markets extremely desirable. I believe that these markets will continue to attract an even broader spectrum of buyers. The average age in Boca Raton is 42, however, 10 years ago it was closer to 62. We are attracting a younger demographic and that stimulates many other parts of the market and economy. That is what makes Florida so much more of an exciting destination for people to live in.

In Palm Beach, luxury homes often command very steep premiums per square foot. How do you model the ceiling for price per square foot in this marketplace, and what factors are driving those premiums now?
The scarcity of inventory, particularly the types of inventory that we are focused on, allows us to work together with the developers to create opportunities for early adopters in the pricing models. Buyers are looking for opportunities but those are gauged by time, risk, and appetite. We are able to manage our inventory release strategies so that the early adopters can gain an economic benefit from that. We manage that very carefully with our developers. Overall, we are aligned together with the communities. We are bringing the best product to the market and the more we can escalate pricing, the better everybody does. It would be very disappointing if you bought into a product and by the time you closed it was worth less. We believe very strongly in the South Florida markets as a great place for investment. We aim to build real value and are very fortunate to work with the leading developers in the nation.

Given that luxury inventory in Palm Beach has expanded in recent quarters, at what point do you expect pricing pressure?
I do not anticipate there ever being a dip in values in Palm Beach. The wealth there is typically ultra-high in net worth and multigenerational. The difference in volatility that we have seen historically versus where they are today is the difference between an investment asset and a primary home. The last thing anyone is going to jeopardize is where their family lives. I believe that the sustainability of our markets is much more solid today than it has ever been. That, combined with the fact that we live in a very welcoming environment for business, culture, lifestyle, weather, etc. The attraction to this market is getting stronger and stronger and do not foresee a big retraction.
Inventory continues to remain at historic lows, particularly in the luxury sector. What you may see at different periods is a larger gap between an asking price and a selling price versus an actual decrease in the ultimate value of assets in the market. At the beginning of the second quarter, we saw this tariff war concept come to the forefront and caused many people to pause. That then led us into the summer months, which is a time where we traditionally see less activity in the Florida markets. We did see a five-month period of slowness, resulting in some sellers adjusting their prices. All of this is also impacted by interest rates. We all believe that interest rates will come down and as that happens more momentum and opportunities will be created in the market.

How is Douglas Elliman advising developers and sellers to better meet evolving buyer preferences?
We work with the leading developers in the market. They are going to deliver a product that represents the integrity of the overall offering. Amenities are not going to shift the needle all that much in the overall cost. Putting in a lap pool, cold plunge, utilizing materials that are more environmentally appropriate, and repelling heat are all things that go into the overall equation of what the product is. Wellness has become a more attractive element of sales for us. Our developers are authentic in the delivery of those. These developers want to maintain their legacy in markets and are very credible in their products. They do not cut corners on what they say they are going to deliver. We leverage our agents, experience, and data to benchmark products against one another to help differentiate, distinguish and understand what the market is craving.