Palm Beach vs Miami Beach — $5M+ inventory and days-on-market compared

Dateline: Palm Beach / Miami Beach — September 20, 2026
Period covered: Primarily August 2026 Beaches MLS snapshots (Palm Beach County luxury tiers); Q2 2026 Corcoran coastal reports; mid-year / Q3 2025 Miami Beach condo tier reports where identical $5M+ DOM series are thinner; Redfin three months ending July 2026 metro luxury context. Periods are labeled in every table.

Two of Florida’s most watched coastal luxury markets do not share one MLS “$5M+ active / median DOM” scoreboard. Public sources that do publish inventory and marketing-time figures use different geographies (Town of Palm Beach vs. Palm Beach County; City of Miami Beach vs. “Miami Beaches” vs. Miami metro), product mixes (estate single-family vs. condo-heavy beach inventory), and price cuts ($3M+, $5M–$10M, $1M+ “luxury condo,” Redfin top 5%). This Haute Living / Haute Real Estate Network market report compares what is published, attributes every figure, and flags when the closest available segment is not a pure $5M+ Town-of-Palm-Beach vs. City-of-Miami-Beach match.

Related: Real estate insights · Market report archive

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Executive summary

Bottom line for buyers: On the Palm Beach County ladder above $5M, published Beaches MLS math shows inventory and marketing time lengthening with price—7.5 months / 89 days to contract at $5M–$10M, stretching to 13.0 months / 117 days above $20M—while the Town of Palm Beach itself remains comparatively tight at 4.7 months of supply in the broader $3M+ band. On the Miami Beaches, Corcoran’s Q2 2026 report shows $5M+ (and especially $10M+) single-family closings surging even as overall beaches SF inventory fell to 303 homes. Condo-side $5M+ time-on-market is best documented in older public tier reports (mid-2025 Siddons; Q3 2025 CondoBlackBook $1M+), which still describe buyer leverage and longer marketing times than Palm Beach County’s $5M–$10M contract-speed medians—do not treat those condo DOM figures as Q3 2026 closings.

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How to read this comparison (definitions matter)

When a cell is empty or a source withholds an integer, this report uses the source’s own language (“more than doubled,” “nearly tripled,” “nearly 30%”) rather than inventing a count.

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1. Inventory compared — what stands for sale above $5M

Palm Beach side: price-tier supply is published; island supply is published at $3M+

The clearest $5M+ inventory arithmetic for the Palm Beach market is county-tiered. Palm Beach Luxury’s August 16, 2026 absorption analysis (Beaches MLS active listings vs. closings July 2025–June 2026) reported:

Town of Palm Beach (island) in that same $3M+ town table: 59 active listings, 152 sales in the trailing year, 4.7 months of supply—tighter than the county aggregate and far tighter than West Palm Beach’s 12.9 months at the same $3M+ floor. That island figure is the best public Palm Beach supply proxy in this report, but it is not a $5M+-only active count.

Town of Palm Beach sales momentum (Corcoran, Q2 2026): Single-family and condo/co-op closings both rose 35% YoY (to 50 and 139). Closings over $10M and over $20M each doubled YoY. Single-family median sale price rose 18% to $15.4M (average $17.9M, +11%). Condo/co-op inventory fell 20% YoY (fourth straight quarterly drop); single-family inventory posted its first annual decline in six quarters (−5%). Those inventory moves are product-type totals for the town, not a published $5M+ active tally.

Miami Beach side: $5M+ shows up in sales growth; published active counts are broader

Corcoran’s Miami Beaches & Coastal Mainland Market Report: 2Q 2026 is the strongest recent public source tying $5M+ activity to the beaches:

• Miami Beaches single-family sales over $5 million more than doubled year-over-year; sales above $10 million nearly tripled.
• Those luxury closings helped lift the beaches SF median to $4.9 million (+77% YoY) and the average to $8.3 million (+35%).
• Beaches SF closings overall: 129 (+37% YoY)—highest second quarter in four years.
• Beaches SF inventory: 303 homes (−24% YoY)—lowest Q2 inventory in three years.
• Beaches condo inventory: 3,548 (−17% YoY); condo sales 808 (+15%); beaches condo $5M+ sales up nearly 30% YoY while the median condo price fell 4% to $630,000 (mix shift toward more lower-priced closings) and the average rose 6% to $1.68 million.

Important label: Corcoran’s 303 / 3,548 inventory figures are all-price beaches stock, not a filtered $5M+ active list. They describe the backdrop against which $5M+ demand is competing—especially scarce single-family supply—not the exact number of $5M+ listings online on a given day.

Brown Harris Stevens’ Q2 2026 Miami Beach residential report (South Pointe–63rd St. / islands geography for SF) adds absorption/DOM for the city product types:

• Single-family: 65 closings (+16.1% YoY); average DOM 108 (−11.3%); active inventory 154 (−14.0%); absorption 7.1 months.
• Condo: 323 closings (+6.3%); average DOM 124 (+6.4%); active inventory 1,102 (−22.8%); absorption 10.2 months.

Again: BHS figures are not restricted to $5M+.

Inventory takeaway (apples-to-oranges, labeled)

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2. Days on market compared — speed by tier and product

Palm Beach County: a clear step function above $5M

Closed-sale medians (full-year 2025, BeachesMLS $1M+ study, Palm Beach Luxury):

The same study’s countywide $1M+ median was 46 days in 2025 (down from 89 in 2020; up from the 17-day 2022 anomaly). Palm Beach Island remained the slow geographic outlier in that $1M+ frame: median DOM 94 days in 2025 (from 133 in 2020).

Live absorption “days to contract” medians (Jul 2025–Jun 2026 closings, Aug. 2026 active snapshot): 89 days at $5M–$10M, 94 at $10M–$20M, 117 at $20M+—consistent with the idea that time stretches as the buyer pool thins.

July 2026 pulse (county $3M+ closings): 122 sales; median time listing → contract 63 days (faster than June’s 72)—a summer-volume print, not a $5M+-only DOM.

Miami Beach: condo $5M+ DOM is older but more tier-specific; SF DOM is broader

Closest public $5M+ condo DOM (Miami Beach resale, H1 2025 — David Siddons Group):

Broader Miami Beach luxury condo ($1M+, Q3 2025 — CondoBlackBook): median DOM 98 days (+16.7% YoY); 19 months of inventory; South Beach fastest at 80 days / 15 months inventory; Sunny Isles 103 days / 24 months; Fisher Island median sale $11.2M with 115 DOM on a small sample (4 sales).

Miami Beach all-price product DOM (Q2 2026 — BHS): SF average 108 days; condo average 124 days.

Metro luxury context (Redfin, 3 months ending July 2026): Miami luxury median sale price $5.02M (+18%); West Palm Beach $4.52M (+7.5%) with luxury homes sold +43.9% (largest U.S. gain in that report). Redfin published national luxury median DOM at 43 days in that window but did not publish Miami- or West Palm–specific luxury DOM in the Florida highlights table—so this report does not invent metro DOM figures.

DOM takeaway

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3. Product mix — why the two markets feel different at the same price

Palm Beach (town + county barrier islands) in the Corcoran coastal series is still an estate / scarce-lot story at the top: Q2 2026 island single-family medians in the mid-teens of millions, doubled $10M+ / $20M+ closings, and inventory that tightened even as prices rose. County-tier Beaches MLS math shows patient sellers above $20M (13.0 months of supply, 83.6% of original ask).

Miami Beach is a two-product market at $5M+: scarce single-family / island homes (Corcoran: $5M+ SF sales doubled while SF inventory fell 24%) versus deep condo towers where public mid-2025 tier reports still showed elevated months of supply and long DOM in the $6M–$10M and $10M+ resale brackets, with pre-construction absorbing a large share of ultra-luxury pendings (Siddons: 60% of $10M+ pendings). CondoBlackBook’s later Q3 2025 $1M+ beach report still framed the grouping as a buyer’s market on 19 months of inventory even as prices per square foot rose.

For UHNW search strategy, that means a $5M–$10M budget can face opposite leverage on the same weekend: a correctly priced Palm Beach County $5M–$10M home in a tight town pocket vs. a Miami Beach condo resale competing with new branded inventory.

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Buyer takeaways

1. Use the Palm Beach County $5M–$10M table as your baseline for inventory math—not the island $3M+ months-of-supply alone. 231 actives and 7.5 months of supply (Aug. 16, 2026) describe the county band; the Town of Palm Beach’s 4.7 months is a tighter $3M+ enclave reading.

2. Expect DOM to step up above $5M on the Palm Beach County ladder. Published closed medians: 64 days at $5M–$10M vs. 119 at $10M+ in 2025; live days-to-contract medians run 89 → 94 → 117 across $5M–$10M / $10M–$20M / $20M+.

3. On Miami Beaches, treat $5M+ single-family as a competition / scarcity story in Q2 2026 public data. Corcoran: sales over $5M more than doubled, over $10M nearly tripled, while beaches SF inventory fell to 303 (−24%). That is not the same as “more $5M+ listings to choose from.”

4. On Miami Beach condos, do not import Palm Beach County’s ~90-day $5M–$10M contract speed. The closest published $6M–$10M / $10M+ condo DOM (H1 2025, Siddons) was 221 / 166 days with 16 / 26 months of inventory. Verify current building-level stock before assuming those mid-2025 times still hold.

5. Separate metro Redfin “luxury” from city $5M+ shelves. Miami’s Redfin luxury median near $5.02M (July 2026 window) shows the metro top 5% clearing a $5M-ish bar; it does not equal Town of Palm Beach or City of Miami Beach inventory counts.

6. Negotiation posture follows months of supply more than the headline city brand. Under ~5 months (Palm Beach island $3M+) favors speed and certainty; 7.5–13 months (PBC $5M–$20M+) widens buyer choice; teen-to-20+ months condo readings historically favored patience and building-level diligence.

7. Re-check primary sources before offering. MLS revisions, seasonal summer prints, and new-tower deliveries move absorption quickly—especially on Miami Beach condo resale vs. sponsor inventory.

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Methodology & sources

This Haute Living / Haute Real Estate Network market report uses only named public sources. No private brokerage production tallies, no Haute member-agent claims, and no invented inventory counts, medians, or DOM figures. Where a source states a direction without an integer (“more than doubled”), that language is preserved.

Definitions note: “Days on market” vs. “days to contract” vs. “average DOM” are not interchangeable across sources; each section preserves the source’s metric. Months of supply / absorption methodologies also differ (e.g., CondoBlackBook includes pendings in its inventory formula; Palm Beach Luxury’s absorption piece counts active only). Cross-source rankings are directional.

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FAQ

Q: Which market has more $5M+ homes for sale right now?
A: No single public source in this report publishes a head-to-head Town of Palm Beach vs. City of Miami Beach active count filtered to $5M+ on the same day. The closest $5M+ shelf count is Palm Beach County’s 231 actives in the $5M–$10M band (plus 105 at $10M–$20M and 51 at $20M+) as of Aug. 16, 2026. Miami Beaches public inventory is reported as 303 single-family and 3,548 condo listings all prices at end of Q2 2026 (Corcoran)—not $5M+-only.

Q: Where do homes above $5M sell faster?
A: On attributed tier medians, Palm Beach County’s $5M–$10M closed DOM (64 days in 2025) and days-to-contract (89 in the Jul 2025–Jun 2026 set) are shorter than Miami Beach’s mid-2025 $6M–$10M condo average DOM (221 days). That comparison mixes county residential vs. city condo resale and different periods—use it as a product/geography signal, not a guaranteed 2026 week-to-week spread.

Q: Is the Town of Palm Beach a buyer’s or seller’s market at luxury prices?
A: At the published $3M+ town reading (4.7 months of supply, Aug. 2026), supply is on the seller-leaning side of the conventional ~6-month rule of thumb—while county $20M+ at 13.0 months leans buyer. Corcoran’s Q2 2026 island report also showed tightening inventory with doubled $10M+ / $20M+ sales.

Q: Why did Miami Beaches’ median condo price fall if $5M+ condo sales rose?
A: Corcoran’s Q2 2026 beaches summary: median condo price −4% to $630,000 amid a recovery at lower price points, while average price +6% to $1.68M on a nearly 30% rise in $5M+ condo sales. Mix—not a single “condo crash”—explains the split.

Q: Where should readers go next on Haute Living?
A: Real estate insights and the market report archive.

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Disclaimer

This article is for general informational and journalistic purposes only. It is not an appraisal, investment recommendation, solicitation, or offer to buy or sell any property. All statistics are attributed to the named public sources as of their stated periods and geographies; MLS and brokerage research figures may be revised. Haute Living / Haute Real Estate Network does not guarantee completeness or future performance. Prospective buyers and sellers should verify current inventory, title, building financials (for condos), financing, insurance, and tax conditions with licensed professionals and independent counsel. Past inventory, absorption, and days-on-market figures are not predictive of any specific property’s value or marketing time.