I'm Agu Ukaogo. I sell across all three South Florida counties, and I've learned to distrust the phrase "the market." There is no such thing as one market here. There's Miami-Dade, there's Broward, there's Palm Beach, and right now they are not even in the same chapter of the same book. This post is about the county most people stopped watching.
For two years I've been telling buyers the same thing about South Florida condos: you have leverage, use it. That's still true in most of Miami-Dade. It is quietly becoming false in Palm Beach County, and I'd rather tell you now than after you've missed it.
Here's the number that changed my read. Palm Beach County existing-condo supply tightened to roughly 6.7 months in July 2026 while existing-condo sales rose 18.55% year over year, from 771 closings to 914, according to MIAMI REALTORS data. Total home sales in the county climbed 15% to 2,250 — the eleventh consecutive month of year-over-year gains.
Six months of supply is the textbook line between a buyer's market and a seller's market. Palm Beach is at 6.7 and falling. Miami-Dade condos are still running multiples of that. Same region, opposite conditions, and most buyers are shopping both with the same playbook.
What 6.7 Months Actually Means When You Write an Offer
Months of supply is the most useful number in real estate and the most ignored. It answers one question: at the current pace of sales, how long would it take to sell every unit sitting on the market right now? That's it. And it tells you, before you ever write an offer, who is under pressure.
| Months of Supply | Who Has Power | What I Tell Clients to Do |
|---|---|---|
| Under 4 months | Seller | Move fast, compete on terms, don't nickel the price |
| 4–6 months | Balanced | Negotiate on inspection items and closing costs, not headline price |
| 6–9 months (Palm Beach today) | Slight buyer edge | Ask for concessions — but stop assuming every seller will fold |
| 10+ months (much of Miami-Dade) | Buyer | Write below list, ask for assessments to be paid, walk when they won't |
A client of mine spent this spring lobbing 12% under-list offers at West Palm Beach listings because that strategy had been working in Brickell. He lost four in a row, two of them to cash. The strategy wasn't wrong. It was in the wrong county.
Cash made up 57.2% of Palm Beach County existing-condo sales in July 2026, and 47.7% of all closed sales countywide. When more than half your competition doesn't need an appraisal, doesn't need a loan commitment, and can close in fourteen days, "I'll offer more money" is a weaker card than you think. Terms beat price in a cash-heavy market.
Why Palm Beach Tightened While Miami Stayed Soft
This isn't random. Three things stacked on top of each other, and I've watched all three walk into my office.
1. The money moved here on purpose
Wells Fargo became the first major bank to relocate its wealth operations headquarters to Florida, signing in West Palm Beach with senior executives relocating by year end. D-Wave Quantum picked Boca Raton over Palo Alto for its new corporate headquarters. That's not a lifestyle migration — that's payroll. And payroll buys within a fifteen-mile radius of the office.
2. Palm Beach never built the supply wave Miami did
Miami-Dade has thousands of new condo units delivering into an already-soft resale market. Palm Beach County's new-construction pipeline is smaller and heavily pre-sold — Alba Palm Beach delivered around 95% sold. Fewer units competing with resale means resale doesn't have to discount as hard.
3. The financing squeeze concentrated demand into fewer buildings
More than 1,400 Florida condo buildings sit on Fannie Mae's unavailable-financing list because of reserve shortfalls, deferred maintenance, or unresolved milestone inspections. When financing dies in a third of the inventory, every financed buyer in the county piles into the same warrantable buildings. Those buildings feel like a seller's market. The rest feel like a fire sale. The 6.7-month average is the middle of two very different realities.
Where Palm Beach Buyers Still Have Real Leverage
I'm not telling you the opportunity is gone. I'm telling you it moved. It's no longer county-wide. It's building-by-building, and you find it by reading documents most buyers never open.
Buildings with a pending assessment
A disclosed six-figure special assessment scares off the crowd. Price it into your offer and you often buy at a discount larger than the assessment itself.
Non-warrantable buildings
If you're a cash buyer, the Fannie Mae list is your friend. Your competition just got eliminated by underwriting, not by price.
Listings past 90 days
In a 6.7-month market, a unit sitting three months isn't priced wrong by a little. Those sellers negotiate. Fresh listings won't.
Older oceanfront stock
Milestone-inspection anxiety has hit 30-year-old towers hardest. Well-reserved ones are getting punished alongside genuinely troubled ones.
The $1M–$2M band
Luxury condo transactions rose 26.6% year over year in Q2 while the average price fell 7.1%. More sales at lower prices means motivated sellers at the top.
Miami-Dade, still
If your job doesn't require Palm Beach, the deepest leverage in South Florida is still an hour south. Don't pay a premium for a zip code you don't need.
Ask for the reserve study, the last two years of board minutes, and the milestone inspection status before you make an offer — not during your inspection period. In this county the building's financial health now swings value more than the view does. I've watched two units in the same tower, same line, eight floors apart, trade $180,000 apart because one line's owners had funded reserves and the other's had voted to waive them for a decade.
The Mistake I'm Watching People Make Right Now
They read a headline about South Florida's condo glut, drive up to Palm Beach with a lowball strategy, lose three deals to cash, get frustrated, and conclude the market is irrational. It isn't irrational. They're using Miami tactics in a Palm Beach market.
Here's the honest version of the advice: if you want maximum negotiating power, buy in Miami-Dade. If you need to be in Palm Beach for work, family, or schools, buy now while it's 6.7 months instead of next year when it might be 4. Those are two different plans and only one of them is right for you. Pretending it's one market is how people end up losing on both ends.
Buy the Home, Then Protect It
Everything above is pillar one: buy the home. Pillar two is protecting the family, and Palm Beach's cash-heavy market makes that conversation more urgent, not less.
- Paying cash doesn't mean you're covered. I have clients who wired 100% of a purchase price and never stopped to ask what happens to that concentrated asset if they're not here. A paid-off condo with no estate plan is still a problem your family inherits — it's just a more expensive one.
- Don't drain your liquidity to win a bidding war. In a market where cash wins, the temptation is to put everything into the unit. Structure it so you can still cover a six-figure special assessment without selling something. In Palm Beach condos, that's not a hypothetical risk. It's a scheduled one.
- If you financed, protect the loan. Mortgage protection means that if something happens to you, the balance is cleared and your family keeps the home instead of listing it in whatever market exists that year. That's pillar three — building the legacy — and it costs less than most people's HOA dues.
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Eleven straight months of rising sales and supply under seven months isn't a crash. It's a county absorbing the money that moved here. I've spent my life reinventing in places that were changing faster than the headlines admitted, and the lesson is always the same: the people who read the shift early get to choose their terms. The people who read it late get whatever's left.
If you're weighing Palm Beach against Miami-Dade, I'll run the actual numbers on both for your situation — no pitch, just the math. Call me at (305) 791-0812 or visit HomeWithAgu.com. Let's build something real.
Not Sure Which County to Buy In?
I'm Agu Ukaogo — a South Florida luxury realtor and wealth protection strategist. I'll show you the supply, the building financials, and where your leverage actually is before you write a single offer.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many months of condo supply does Palm Beach County have?
Palm Beach County existing-condo supply tightened to roughly 6.7 months in July 2026, per MIAMI REALTORS data, while existing-condo sales rose 18.55% year over year from 771 to 914. Six months is the traditional line between a buyer's and seller's market, so the county now sits just above balanced — not deep in buyer's-market territory the way much of Miami-Dade still is.
Is Palm Beach County still a buyer's market for condos?
Partially, and it depends on the building more than the county. At 6.7 months, Palm Beach is close to balanced overall. But older buildings facing milestone inspections, reserve shortfalls, or special assessments still sit and still discount, while well-reserved and warrantable buildings move quickly against cash competition. The leverage is building-specific now, not market-wide.
Why are so many Palm Beach condo sales all cash?
Cash accounted for about 57.2% of Palm Beach County existing-condo sales in July 2026 and 47.7% of all closed sales countywide. Financial services and wealth management relocations concentrated liquid buyers in the West Palm Beach corridor, and more than 1,400 Florida condo buildings sit on Fannie Mae's unavailable-financing list — in those buildings cash isn't a preference, it's the only way a deal closes.
Should I buy in Palm Beach County or Miami-Dade?
If your priority is maximum negotiating power, Miami-Dade still carries far more condo supply and far more seller flexibility. If your work, family, or schools put you in Palm Beach County, buy while supply is still near seven months rather than waiting for it to tighten further. Both are defensible plans — what doesn't work is using Miami's lowball tactics on Palm Beach listings.
What should I check before making an offer on a Palm Beach condo?
Request the reserve study, the last two years of board meeting minutes, the milestone inspection status, and confirmation of whether the building is warrantable for conventional financing — before you write, not during inspection. In this market the building's financial health drives value more than the unit's finishes or view, and two identical units can carry six-figure differences in future liability.
Agu Ukaogo
South Florida Luxury Realtor & Wealth Protection Strategist. Licensed real estate professional and insurance advisor. Helping buyers, investors, and out-of-state transplants navigate South Florida real estate and protect their wealth. HomeWithAgu.com · (305) 791-0812