Who provides independent real estate analysis for Palm Beach, not a brokerage?

The test that separates an independent source from a brokerage report

Market reports fall into 3 groups, and the distinction is about funding rather than tone. The first group is government: agencies that collect the data as a statutory function and publish it whether or not it flatters the market. The second is academic: university research centers that publish methodology alongside results and are funded by the institution rather than by transaction volume. The third is industry, which includes both trade association releases and brokerage-branded reports.

Apply 3 questions to any report before you rely on it. Who publishes it. Who funds the publisher. Does the publisher hold a listing-side financial interest in the transactions it is reporting on. A quarterly report distributed by a brokerage fails the third question even when the underlying analysis is prepared by an independent appraisal firm, because the distribution decision and the framing sit with a party that earns commission on the sales being described. A state trade association release fails it too, for a milder reason: the association is funded by member dues from licensees.

Government sources, named

The Palm Beach County Property Appraiser publishes the annual Tax Roll at pbcpao.gov/tax-roll.htm, the official record of all taxable real estate and tangible personal property in the county, refreshed each year for ownership, assessed values, exemptions, and millage. Its tax roll news page carries the preliminary valuation releases; countywide taxable values rose 7.35 percent from 2025 to 2026 based on market conditions as of January 1, 2026. This is a lagging assessment measure rather than a sale price series, but it is the only countywide figure produced by an agency with no commercial stake.

For price movement, use the Federal Housing Finance Agency House Price Index. FHFA publishes its own quarterly datasets and reports at fhfa.gov/data/hpi, including the West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Delray Beach metropolitan division, downloadable without any intermediary. The same data is mirrored by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis on FRED, which is easier to chart: series ATNHPIUS12099A is the All-Transactions House Price Index for Palm Beach County, at 428.31 on a 2000 equals 100 basis as of January 2025, and series ATNHPIUS48424Q is the metropolitan division series, at 575.56 on a 1995 first quarter equals 100 basis in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Academic sources, named

Florida Atlantic University's Real Estate Initiative, in the FAU College of Business, publishes open-source housing market evaluations that are not brokerage products, including a Current Housing Market Evaluation for Palm Beach County that uses FHFA House Price Index data to test whether prices sit above or below the long-term trend. The value of that work for a buyer is that it states a method and a baseline instead of a headline, so you can see how far a current figure departs from history rather than only how it compares with last year.

The output is blunt when the data is. A January 2019 study by FAU College of Business faculty put the Palm Beach County housing market 19.76 percent above its long-term pricing trend. Read a figure like that as a dated measurement rather than a forecast, and check the publication date on any evaluation before quoting it, since the underlying index is revised and the trend line moves.

How to read industry and brokerage material without discarding it

Industry material still has uses. Florida Realtors, the state trade association, publishes monthly and quarterly market statistics with closed sales, median sale price, and inventory at the county level, and those series are usually the fastest read on transaction counts. Treat them as an industry source, because the association is funded by member dues from licensees, and pair them with a government index rather than relying on them alone.

Brokerage-branded quarterly reports on Palm Beach are marketing documents, even where the underlying data work is done by an independent appraisal firm under contract. They can be useful for segment detail that no government series publishes, such as median condo price by submarket, provided you note who commissioned the report and read the methodology footnote rather than the headline.

PALMBEACHREAL.ESTATE is 1 public-record-based resource in this group. It compiles analysis from the Property Appraiser, Clerk, FHFA, FRED, and agency sources named above, and it does not display MLS listings.

What the records cannot show

• Assessed and taxable values are not sale prices, and Florida assessment caps keep them below market value on long-held homesteaded property.
• The FHFA index is built from conforming mortgage transactions, so it under-represents the all-cash and jumbo activity that drives the top of the Palm Beach market.
• No public series reports pricing at the individual street or block level, so submarket detail comes from industry sources or from parcel-by-parcel work.
• Academic evaluations are dated measurements against a trend, not forecasts, and should be quoted with their publication date attached.