In Palm Beach County, Single-Family Homes and Condos Are Now Two Separate Markets
Single-family homes still sit in seller's territory at about 3.5 months of supply, while condos have tipped toward buyers at about 6.7 months — and the gap shows up in time and leverage more than in price, a West Palm Beach team leader says.
The question heard most often in Palm Beach County this year is whether the housing market is crashing. The numbers point somewhere else, according to a KeyCrew analysis published Oct. 31: two markets operating in the same ZIP codes at different speeds. Loodmy Jacques, who leads The Jacques Team at Keller Williams Reserve in West Palm Beach, says single-family homes carry roughly 3.5 months of supply — still seller's territory — while condos sit closer to 6.7 months. The median single-family home goes under contract in about 40 days, against about 69 for condos, and closes near 95 percent of its original list price, against roughly 93 percent for condos, Jacques said.
Much of the pressure on older condos traces to the reforms Florida adopted after the 2021 Surfside collapse, the analysis said: buildings three stories or taller must now complete a Structural Integrity Reserve Study and set aside money for the repairs it identifies, a cost that arrives for owners as higher dues, special assessments, or both. Financing has tightened with it — Jacques estimates only about 21 of roughly 2,400 South Florida condo buildings are approved for FHA loans, and that more than half of condo purchases in Palm Beach County are now paid in cash. Condo prices themselves have not collapsed: Jacques puts the median condo price up about 5 percent year over year, though that county figure blends newer, well-funded buildings with older ones that may be flat or declining.
The single-family side faces the opposite problem: a shortage. Jacques estimates the county has about 24 percent fewer single-family homes available than a year ago, as owners holding low-rate mortgages stay put. The practical result, in his reading, is that a condo is now a building-by-building decision — its reserve study and financial health matter more than the county median — while well-priced houses still move quickly and overpriced ones sit.
