Staying Power: What West Palm Beach Needs Next

West Palm can permit a tower in a matter of months. It cannot permit a sixty year oak. A case for measuring who stays, not who arrives.

By Greg Forest

SERHANT. | Palm Beach Brokerage

West Palm Beach. More towers have been approved here in the last eighteen months than in the decade before them, and nothing in the pipeline adds a single tree-lined street east of the water.Adobe Stock

Let me start with my bias, because it belongs on the table before the argument. I sell real estate. More towers mean more transactions, and I am genuinely pro development. When Related Ross announces another $10 billion, I am typically not the man firing off letters to the zoning board.

But I think we are measuring this boom by the wrong things, and I want to make the case for what actually determines whether it works.

Also worth your time

The market

Palm Beach · 33480

every price

Median list price, 52 weeks

	Now	Last quarter	A year ago
Median list price	$14,000,000	$14,972,500	$17,925,000
Per square foot	$3,936	$3,894	$3,702
Days on market	203	123	175
Active listings, whole ZIP	53	76	60

See what is available · Palm Beach, $5M–$25MThe island, from a first address to Estate Section scale. Everything currently available under $25M.

Altos Research, week ending 2026-08-28. Full report

Downtown West Palm · 33401 · the upper middle

50th–75th by price

Median list price, 52 weeks

	Now	Last quarter	A year ago
Median list price	$1,699,000	$2,212,500	$1,424,500
Per square foot	$1,098	$910	$641
Days on market	105	109	137

See what is available · Downtown West Palm, $2.5M–$5MDowntown, within walking distance of Clematis, the waterfront and the bridge.

Altos Research, week ending 2026-08-28. Full report

Downtown West Palm · 33401 · the top end

top 25% by price

Median list price, 52 weeks

	Now	Last quarter	A year ago
Median list price	$4,165,000	$4,022,500	$3,945,000
Per square foot	$878	$897	$1,228
Days on market	168	133	84
Active listings, whole ZIP	44	55	57

See what is available · Downtown West Palm, $5M and aboveThe premium floors, where the view is the product and nothing has been deferred.

Altos Research, week ending 2026-08-28. Full report

West Palm (East) · 33405 · the upper middle

50th–75th by price

Median list price, 52 weeks

	Now	Last quarter	A year ago
Median list price	$4,190,000	$4,496,000	$2,397,500
Per square foot	$1,291	$1,307	$1,061
Days on market	119	109	126

See what is available · West Palm (East), $2.5M–$5MEast of the water, where the streets have canopy and the lots cannot be made more of.

Altos Research, week ending 2026-08-28. Full report

West Palm (East) · 33405 · the top end

top 25% by price

Median list price, 52 weeks

	Now	Last quarter	A year ago
Median list price	$8,900,000	$9,495,000	$6,124,000
Per square foot	$1,738	$1,842	$1,440
Days on market	161	105	228
Active listings, whole ZIP	92	120	152

See what is available · West Palm (East), $5M and aboveThe estate end of the neighbourhood, on the deepest lots east of the water.

Altos Research, week ending 2026-08-28. Full report

One sale can move a number in a market this size. The year-ago column is the one that tells you something.

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