Palm Beach County appraiser: Highland Beach market value rose nearly 7% as condo values hold

Dorothy Jacks, the Palm Beach County property appraiser, told the Highland Beach Town Commission on July 15 that Highland Beach's market value is about $5.5 billion with a taxable value of about $4.0 billion, a year-over-year increase of roughly 6.9 percent. She said about $6 million in new construction was recorded for 2024, concentrated in a single single-family property. The town has about 4,200 taxable parcels, roughly 3,700 of them condominium units, and about 1,759 parcels (42 percent) claimed as homestead.

Jacks said homesteaded property in Florida is limited by a 3 percent annual assessment cap (or the change in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is less) while other types of property may be subject to a 10 percent cap for certain classes (seasonal, vacant, commercial, rental). She explained the caps suppress annual taxable growth until properties sell and that the town's mix of homesteaded and non-homesteaded parcels helps keep overall taxable value moving with the market.

Commissioners asked about the effect of condominium special assessments and recent state-level pilot programs. Jacks said the county's condominium unit-by-unit average market assessment in Highland Beach is now over $1 million and that single-family averages are about $3.5 million. She described the county's efforts to track buildings subject to large special assessments and to incorporate their sales and assessment data into this year's valuations. She also said PBC appraiser staff contacts condominium associations in the relevant age and size windows to monitor assessments and market sales.

Jacks described the valuation calendar and methodology: Florida law requires valuation as of Jan. 1 using the prior calendar year's arm's-length sales (for example, 2024 sales inform the 2025 assessments), with quarterly time adjustments where warranted. She said the appraiser's office discards outlier sales in a building's pool (the highest and lowest) when estimating per-square-foot values and that condominium sales in buildings with lower values are the most exposed to distress when high special assessments occur.

She also summarized countywide context: Palm Beach County appraised roughly 650,000 properties and is the second-highest-value county in Florida. The countywide increase was about 8 percent, reflecting both market gains and substantial new construction across the region.

Staff on the dais and commissioners asked Jacks for follow-up detail the county can run for the town, including a breakdown of which dollars are subject to homestead caps and how much taxable value is effectively held under caps; Jacks said the office can provide that analysis. She reminded the commission that any constitutional changes to homestead exemptions or statewide property tax reforms would require action in the legislature and voter approval.

Members of the commission expressed appreciation for the data and asked staff to circulate Jacks' materials to residents and to use the figures in the town's long-range financial planning.