Palm Beach County Defies Broader National Housing Slump
Palm Beach County’s residential property market accelerated in July 2026, with sales climbing for an 11th straight month as shrinking inventory, strong cash demand and higher prices fueled a surge in transaction volume.
Home sales across Palm Beach County rose 15% from a year earlier to 2,250 in July, according to monthly statistics released by Miami Realtors. The increase extended the county’s longest sustained run of year-over-year sales gains in recent years and came even as borrowing costs remained elevated.
The strength was broad-based. Single-family home transactions increased 12.74% to 1,336, while existing condominium sales jumped 18.55% to 914.
The market was particularly strong at the upper end. Sales of homes priced at $1 million or more increased 36.5% from a year earlier, rising to 445 transactions from 326.
The combination of rising sales and contracting supply helped drive a sharp increase in the value of property changing hands. Total residential dollar volume reached about $2.2 billion in July, up 41.56% from a year earlier. Single-family dollar volume rose 43.19% to $1.7 billion, while condominium volume increased 35.67% to $481 million.
Inventory Becomes the Market’s Defining Feature
The biggest shift in the market may be occurring on the supply side.
Palm Beach County ended July with 10,443 active residential listings, down 21.1% from 13,235 a year earlier. Single-family inventory fell even more sharply, declining 23.32% to 4,590 listings.
That has pushed the single-family market into territory generally associated with sellers. There were 3.7 months of single-family supply at the end of July, compared with the six to nine months typically considered a balanced market.
Condominium inventory also contracted, falling 19.26% year over year to 5,853 units. At 6.7 months of supply, however, the condo market remained broadly balanced between buyers and sellers.
The tightening supply is significant because it contrasts with the national picture. The U.S. had about 1.54 million homes in inventory in July, according to the National Association of Realtors, down 0.6% from a year earlier, with 4.6 months of supply.
In Palm Beach County, the decline in available homes is much more pronounced, particularly for single-family properties.
Prices Continue to Climb
The supply squeeze is translating into higher prices.
The median price of a Palm Beach County single-family home increased 7.64% year over year in July to $660,090, from $613,250. Since 2011, the median single-family price has risen 193.4%, from $225,000.
Condominiums have posted an even more dramatic long-term gain. The median condo price reached $312,500 in July, up 3.99% from $300,500 a year earlier and 247% from $90,000 in 2011.
The combination of declining condo inventory and continuing price appreciation suggests that the condominium segment, which has historically offered a lower-cost entry point into the Palm Beach County market, is also becoming increasingly constrained.
One pocket of particular strength was condos priced between $400,000 and $500,000, where sales increased 8.3% from a year earlier.
Cash Buyers Remain a Major Force
Palm Beach County’s market also continues to be unusually dependent on buyers who don’t need a mortgage.
Cash purchases accounted for 47.7% of all closed residential transactions in July, substantially above the roughly 26% national share cited by NAR. Cash represented 57.2% of existing condo purchases and 41.2% of single-family transactions.
That purchasing power is helping insulate the market from higher mortgage rates.
Palm Beach County has become a magnet for affluent domestic migrants and international buyers, many of whom can transact without financing. West Palm Beach was ranked the No. 1 U.S. market for all-cash home purchases in a Redfin analysis, underscoring the region’s unusually deep pool of cash buyers.
The area’s appeal extends well beyond its residential transaction statistics. Palm Beach ranked No. 3 globally for prime-property price growth over the five years through 2025 in Knight Frank’s 2026 Wealth Report, while West Palm Beach ranked No. 2 among America’s fastest-growing millionaire hubs in the 2025 USA Wealth Report.
Sellers Are Still Capturing Most of Their Asking Prices
Despite the rise in inventory constraints and prices, buyers aren’t simply bidding without regard to value.
The median single-family seller received 95% of the property’s original list price in July. For existing condominiums, the figure was 92%.
Single-family properties went from listing to contract in a median 41 days, compared with 46 days a year earlier. The median time from listing to sale was 82 days, versus 90 days last year.
Condos remained slower to move. The median time from listing to contract was 69 days, compared with 70 days a year earlier, while the median time to sale was 112 days, versus 110 days.
The figures point to a two-speed market: single-family properties are benefiting from particularly tight supply, while condos have more inventory relative to demand but are still experiencing meaningful sales growth.
Distressed Sales Remain Virtually Nonexistent
Perhaps the clearest indication that the market isn’t being driven by financial distress is the tiny share of distressed transactions.
Only 0.3% of Palm Beach County’s residential closings in July were distressed sales. Short sales accounted for 0.1%, while real-estate-owned, or bank-owned, properties represented 0.4%.
That leaves little evidence of the forced selling that characterized previous housing downturns.
Instead, the July numbers describe a market in which homeowners generally retain substantial equity, buyers continue to transact in significant numbers and available inventory is shrinking.
New Construction Adds Another Layer
The MLS statistics also don’t capture the full scale of South Florida’s housing market.
New-construction, pre-construction and condominium-conversion transactions are largely outside the traditional MLS reporting system. Miami Realtors has begun publishing separate reports to address that gap.
International purchasers accounted for 49% of new South Florida construction, pre-construction and condo-conversion sales during the 18 months through July 2025, according to Miami Realtors’ first New Construction Global Sales Report.
That international component adds another source of demand to a market already benefiting from wealthy domestic migration and unusually high cash-purchase activity.
Taken together, the July figures portray a Palm Beach County housing market that is becoming increasingly defined by scarcity rather than excess supply. Sales are rising, prices are advancing, high-end transactions are accelerating and distressed selling remains negligible.
The result is a market that looks increasingly different from the broader U.S. housing market: more cash, less inventory and a disproportionately affluent buyer base are helping Palm Beach County maintain momentum even as higher financing costs continue to constrain housing demand elsewhere.
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