Palm Beach County July snapshot: cash is taking a bigger slice of the single family market. West Palm is the biggest cash market in the country... and I'm in the mortgage business. Because of course I am.

Okay. Data.

Cash sales of single family homes jumped 24.4 percent. Total single family sales only rose 12.7 percent. Cash did not just ride the wave. It took a bigger share of it.

July 2026: 551 cash sales out of 1,336 closed single family homes. That is 41.2 percent cash.

July 2025: 443 out of 1,185. That is 37.4 percent cash.

Condos were already a cash market at about 57 percent in both years. The new movement is on the single family side.

Countywide, cash was 47.7 percent of all closed sales in July. That is nearly double the national rate. West Palm Beach has been ranking as the number one all cash market in the country.

That is the story most people will miss. Cash buying is cooling in a lot of the country. Palm Beach is going the other direction.

Rates were still around 6.5 percent in July. Financed buyers should have been struggling. Instead, the single family median rose 7.6 percent to $660,090 and homes went under contract in 41 days, down from 46. That only works if a large slice of demand does not care about the payment.

What is feeding it:

People selling in high tax states like New York, New Jersey, and California, landing here with liquidity, and writing a check.

International and second home buyers who never planned to get a mortgage.

Owners sitting on three percent loans from 2020 and 2021 who are not listing. New listings have been weak. Single family inventory fell 23.3 percent and months of supply dropped from 5.5 to 3.7.

On condos, insurance, reserves, and financing limits on older buildings keep more of that market in cash and keep it slower. Condos still had 6.7 months of supply in July. Houses did not.

The high end is doing a lot of the work. Sales at $1 million and up were up about 36.5 percent year over year. Those buyers are disproportionately cash. They pull the single family median up even when the middle of the market is tighter on affordability.

Palm Beach County is not one housing market right now. Houses and condos are moving at different speeds, and cash is the reason the house side did not stall.