(Article Courtesy of Palm Beach Daily News)

Original Link - http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/special-sections/home-loggia/beyo...

Palm Beach is often compared to Manalapan, its little sister to the south, where a number of waterfront properties have changed hands over the past several months.

The amount of residential estate in the tiny town always reminds me of Spencer Tracy's famous description of Katharine Hepburn's spare figure: "Not much meat on her," Tracy said, "but what there is, is choice."

With that in mind, compare the 2011 "average estimated market value per parcel" for single-family houses in Manalapan to those in Palm Beach, as listed by Palm Beach County Property Appraiser Gary Nikolits' office in the latest tax rolls.

Palm Beach has 2,264 single-family parcels with an average value of $3.81 million, according to figures compiled by John O. Thomas, the county's director of residential appraisal services.

But the single-family values in Manalapan are right on Palm Beach's heels, even if the total number of houses there is far smaller. With just 180 parcels, Manalapan — where the vast majority of the properties face the ocean or the lake — has an average value of $3.37 million.

No real surprise here, but Palm Beach and Manalapan also hold the No. 1 and No. 2 spots, respectively, as home to the highest average market values per parcel among all towns in the county. And the five municipalities that follow them on the list also are confined to barrier islands: Gulf Stream, with 310 single-family parcels and an average value of $1.93 million; Highland Beach, (258 parcels with an average value of $1.78 million); South Palm Beach (four parcels with an average value of $1.16 million); Jupiter Inlet Colony (232 parcels with an average value of $1.14 million); and Ocean Ridge (489 parcels with an average value of $914,497).

Sharp eyes will notice that larger towns with high-end coastal areas such as Jupiter, Boca Raton and Riviera Beach's Singer Island didn't earn a spot at the top of the list. That's because their city boundaries extend west of the Intracoastal Waterway, where lower parcel values bring the averages down.

The figures, by the way, are based on the market values assigned to the parcels on Jan. 1 of this year and apply only to single-family houses.

"Condos and other residential housing, duplexes, townhouses, etc. were excluded from the data," explains Thomas.