The Palm Beach County Median Hides Two Different Markets in 2026

Two homes closed in Palm Beach County last spring at roughly the same price. One was a three-bedroom single-family house inland from I-95. The other was a two-bedroom condo in a mid-rise built in the late 1980s. On a spreadsheet they look interchangeable. In practice, the buyers walked into two entirely different economies, with different clocks, different lender rules, and different definitions of what "the price" actually means.

That gap is the story the countywide median is quietly hiding right now. If you are considering a move into the county from another state or from elsewhere in Florida, the single most useful thing you can do before opening a portal is separate the two markets in your head.

One county, two clocks

The April 2026 report from MIAMI REALTORS shows Palm Beach County total home sales rising year over year for the eighth month in a row, up 4.7% overall. Underneath that headline, the numbers split cleanly. Single-family dollar volume climbed 11.96% to $1.8 billion. Condo dollar volume slipped 0.67% to $680 million. Single-family months of supply sat at 4.4, which is a seller's market by the standard definition. Condo months of supply sat at 8.2, which is balanced trending toward buyers.

Condo transactions are up, but condo dollars are down. That is the tell. Buildings are clearing at lower prices, and inventory is shrinking mostly because sellers who cannot get their number are pulling listings, not because demand is sweeping the stock. In the same report, Palm Beach County condo inventory was down 17.74% year over year to 6,904 listings, still well above pre-pandemic norms.

Portal medians blend these two streams. The Redfin figure for the three months ending May 2026 came in at $538,000, up 1.6% year over year, with a median 80 days on market. The Zillow Home Value Index sat at $471,499, down 2.1% year over year as of the May 31, 2026 update. Both are true. Neither tells you which market you are actually shopping in.

Why the condo side is running on a different clock

The mechanism is Senate Bill 4-D, the 2022 Florida law passed after the Champlain Towers South collapse. It requires condominium and cooperative buildings three stories or taller to complete a milestone structural inspection at 30 years, or at 25 years in coastal jurisdictions that elect the earlier threshold under Florida Statute 553.899. It also requires a Structural Integrity Reserve Study, and it strips boards of the old right to vote reserves down to zero for structural components. HB 913 in 2025 added some scheduling flexibility. It did not remove the financial obligation.

Before SB 4-D, associations kept monthly dues attractive by underfunding reserves and paying for major work through special assessments after something failed. Owners paid the same money either way. The bill moved the money from the deferred column into the current column. For older buildings, that has translated into monthly dues commonly rising 20% to 40% to meet SIRS-required contributions, plus one-time special assessments that have run anywhere from five figures to, in extreme cases, $134,000 to $400,000 per unit.

Keith Poliakoff of Government Law Group described the result at 2026's midpoint as a market that has "split in two," with newer buildings performing normally while many older buildings face declining values driven by insurance, reserve requirements, and shrinking financing options. That is not a marketing framing. It is a description of how underwriting now works.

The paperwork clock a serious condo buyer runs

Because the friction has moved from the unit to the association, the condo side of Palm Beach County now runs on a documents timeline as much as an inspection timeline. Under updated 2026 disclosure rules, a buyer has seven business days from the date the association delivers its governing documents to cancel with no penalty. That window is where the real due diligence has to happen.

The documents worth reading closely, in order of what actually catches people off guard:

1. The Phase 1 milestone inspection report, if the building has reached its age threshold. A clean report is a meaningful asset. A report flagging "substantial structural deterioration" means Phase 2 testing is coming and larger costs sit behind it.
2. The Structural Integrity Reserve Study, with attention to remaining useful life and funded percentage on the roof, waterproofing, and structural components. A roof at three years of remaining life and 15% funded is a special assessment on a countdown.
3. Two years of budgets and actual financials, cross-checked against the SIRS. Are reserves being funded at the study's recommendation, or is the board still catching up?
4. Five years of special assessment history, both levied and pending. A pattern of small reactive assessments reads differently from a single large planned one.
5. Insurance renewal notices and carrier correspondence. Post-SB 4-D, carriers price off milestone outcomes, and a handful have stopped writing certain older buildings entirely.
6. Two years of board meeting minutes, which show whether the board is executing the SIRS plan or negotiating around it.

Association records are part of the official record under Chapter 718 of the Florida Statutes, and declarations can be pulled through the Palm Beach County Clerk of the Circuit Court. If documents are "unavailable" during the buyer's seven-day window, that is a signal in itself.

The lending friction most out-of-state buyers do not see coming

Even if a building's paperwork is clean, financing has narrowed. Of roughly 2,397 condominium buildings across Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, only 21 are approved for FHA loans as of the April 2026 MIAMI REALTORS release. That is 0.9%. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are also eliminating the limited review option for many condo loans beginning August 3, 2026, which means more buildings will require full project review, and more full reviews will surface deferred maintenance and reserve gaps that flunk the loan.

The offset is cash. Palm Beach County cash transactions have hovered near 44.8% of all sales, and closer to 88% at the $1 million-and-up tier. In a cash-heavy market, mortgage rates matter less and carrying-cost surprises matter more, which is exactly what SB 4-D produces. A buyer using conventional financing on an older condo is competing with cash offers that can absorb a fresh assessment and still close on time.

None of this shows up in a median price. All of it shows up in a closing statement.

What this means for the single-family side

The single-family market is running the older, more familiar clock. A 4.4-month supply is not a bidding-war market like 2021, but it still favors prepared sellers. Days on market for single-family homes that sold averaged 38 days in the most recent Palm Beach reporting, up from 32 the year before. That is friction, not distress. Buyers can negotiate. Sellers who price to the current comp set are still moving inventory.

The trade-off is one of substitution. A relocation buyer working with roughly $500,000 in Palm Beach County is looking at very different property types across the two segments: inland single-family with a private lot and a longer list of maintenance items on their own shoulders, or a condo where the roof, elevator, structure, and insurance are pooled but the association's balance sheet is now the second inspection. Neither is universally better. Each is a different risk profile priced through a different mechanism.

Talya Lerman, a Palm Beach County agent quoted by CBS12 earlier this year, put the practical version plainly: condos in the county are now often sitting two to three months before selling, and "not all condos are created equal." The buildings that read cleanly on paper are moving. The ones with unresolved milestone or SIRS obligations are the source of the extended days-on-market number.

A short set of questions worth asking early

If the median is up, why do people keep saying condos are down? Because medians mix two segments. Palm Beach County condo dollar volume was down 0.67% year over year in April 2026 while single-family dollar volume was up nearly 12%. The countywide median hides that split.

How do I check a building's milestone status before I even write an offer? Ask the listing agent for the association's official records package, which the association is required to provide on request. Milestone inspection reports are also filed with the local building official under Florida Statute 553.899.

Is the condo market a bargain now or a trap? It is both, depending on the building. A well-funded building that has already completed its milestone and SIRS work often trades at a discount to what it will be worth in twelve months. A building that has been deferring both is priced for a reason.

Does any of this apply to a single-family home? Not the SB 4-D reserve and inspection framework. It applies to condominium and cooperative buildings three stories or taller. Single-family homes and duplexes are exempt, though Florida's homeowners insurance market applies broadly and deserves its own line in your budget.

Palm Beach County in 2026 rewards buyers who understand which of the two markets they are actually in before they fall in love with a specific address. If you are planning a move and want a second read on a building, a neighborhood, or the trade-offs between single-family and condo ownership at your budget, Omar Santamaria is happy to sit down and work through it with you. Let's Connect.