After years of pandemic-driven demand and rapidly rising prices, Florida’s real estate market has entered a more measured phase. In Palm Beach County, that cooling is evident in longer days on market, price reductions across several submarkets, and buyers taking their time. For agents working this market daily, the ground-level picture is more nuanced than the headlines suggest.
Paul Lykins, Vice President and Broker Associate at True Floridian Realty, has spent more than a decade serving the Delray Beach area and the broader Palm Beach County market. His brokerage, a 40-agent boutique firm, focuses on all areas of residential and commercial real estate, with Paul personally specializing in the 55-plus and relocation segments.
A Market Reversed
The contrast with 2021 is hard to miss. Back then, buyers competed against 10 or more offers on the same property, often paying over asking price just to secure a contract. That dynamic has clearly reversed. Price reductions are appearing across the condo segment and on single-family homes that have sat without offers. Buyers are negotiating credits, requesting concessions after inspections, and in some cases walking away entirely. Lykins recently worked with a buyer who secured a $10,000 credit from the seller – something unthinkable at the market’s peak.
Still, the picture is uneven. Certain submarkets – particularly East Delray Beach, Jupiter, and Boca Raton – continue to hold value due to their walkability, proximity to the beach, and sustained demand. West Palm Beach is drawing particular attention, with significant investment flowing into new luxury condo development along Flagler Drive, the planned arrival of the Cleveland Clinic, and ongoing conversations about Vanderbilt University establishing a presence there. “A lot of the wealth from Palm Beach is coming over to West Palm Beach,” Lykins observes. “There’s a lot of money being pumped into that area.”
Pompano Beach, just south of the county line, is also on his radar. The city has invested heavily in its beachfront, including a new pier, and is attracting hotel-branded residential development, including a potential Ritz-Carlton project. For investors looking to get ahead of appreciation, Lykins sees both markets as worth watching before prices move further.
The Condo Conversation
No segment has drawn more scrutiny in Florida than condos. The collapse of Champlain Towers South in Surfside in 2021 triggered state legislation requiring milestone inspections and structural integrity reserve studies for older buildings. The practical effect has been a sharp increase in special assessments, and buyers are paying close attention.
Lykins advises relocation buyers to exercise their right to review association documents thoroughly – including 12 months of meeting minutes – before committing. Hidden discussions about upcoming assessments can surface in those records, and buyers who skip this step risk inheriting costs they didn’t anticipate.
Despite the caution, he sees opportunity for buyers who do their homework. He recently closed a transaction in which his clients secured a unit for $10,000 less than an earlier offer, simply by waiting out a deal that had fallen through. There are also early signs of stabilization: Lykins points to data showing modest positive movement in the condo segment in April 2026, suggesting the correction may be working through the system.
Insurance Kills Deals
While interest rates and property taxes draw more public attention, insurance costs have become the most common friction point in closing deals. Florida’s property insurance market has tightened considerably over the past several years, and the effects are evident in transaction outcomes.
A buyer may have financing approved and a contract in place, only to receive an insurance quote two or three thousand dollars higher than expected. For buyers using financing, that premium increase can push debt-to-income ratios past lender thresholds, ending the deal with no room to negotiate.
Lykins screens for roof age early in the search process. Insurance carriers have largely stopped offering grace periods for roof replacement, making a newer roof a practical prerequisite for a smooth transaction. “If we can’t even get insurance because the roof is old, then what’s the point?” he says.
A Patient Pool
The relocation and retirement segment that Lykins primarily serves is behaving differently from buyers driven by life circumstances such as job changes or growing families. A retiree considering a move from New York or Pennsylvania to Palm Beach County is operating on a different timeline entirely.
“They’re at that point in life where they’re just kind of like, ‘Hey, we can sit and wait, and we’ll look for the right place to buy in Florida if we choose to do that,'” Lykins says. This patience is showing up in slower activity levels, even as other segments remain active. Clients are engaged and monitoring listings, but not in a hurry – willing to wait for the right property at the right price.
Lykins’s YouTube channel, Palm Beaches Paul, has proven well-suited to this buyer behavior. Rather than leading with listings, the content focuses on what it actually feels like to live in a given neighborhood – where to eat, what the beach access looks like, and how far the grocery store is. The result is an audience that arrives already oriented to the market, often reaching out after months of watching.
Policy Worth Watching
On the regulatory side, a proposed expansion of Florida’s homestead exemption could meaningfully affect affordability for primary residence buyers. Under current law, Florida residents can exempt $50,000 from the assessed value of their primary home. A ballot measure expected to appear in November 2026 would raise that figure to $200,000, subject to 60 percent voter approval.
If passed, the change could result in meaningful property tax savings for owner-occupants, particularly those at mid-range price points, potentially improving affordability while insurance and interest costs remain elevated.
Florida’s recently passed legislation permitting accessory dwelling units on qualifying residential lots is another development he is tracking. However, he notes it has not yet translated into significant transaction volume in his market. The law could allow families to share a property while maintaining separate living spaces – a structure that appeals to multigenerational households looking to manage costs.
What Comes Next
What emerges from Lykins’s account is a market that has reset from its pandemic-era extremes without collapsing. Sellers who price realistically are transacting. Buyers with flexibility are finding value, particularly in the condo segment and in neighborhoods outside the most competitive submarkets. The structural draws of Palm Beach County – the coastline, the tax environment, the lifestyle – remain intact.
For investors, the window to enter West Palm Beach and Pompano Beach before development-driven appreciation fully materializes may still be open, though it is narrowing. For buyers in the retirement segment, the current environment offers negotiating room that simply did not exist two years ago. The question is whether that patience will outlast the opportunity – or whether rising insurance costs and policy uncertainty will continue to slow the market’s recovery further into 2026.
About the Expert:Paul Lykins is Vice President and Broker Associate at True Floridian Realty, a 40-agent boutique firm serving the Delray Beach area and broader Palm Beach County market. He has worked the Palm Beach County market for more than a decade, with his brokerage serving all areas of residential and commercial real estate and his personal focus on the 55-plus and relocation segments.
This article is based on information provided by the expert source cited above. It is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or real estate advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals before making any real estate or financial decisions.