What Is a Central Beach Home Worth? Reading an Oceanfront Condo Median and the Months of Supply

Which Central Beach number is a price?

Only two of the figures are sale prices. The $1,606,250 is the median sale price of oceanfront condos on the Fort Lauderdale Beach over six months to mid-2026, and the $1,725,000 is the same submarket in an earlier six-month snapshot. The city-wide $613,375 and $477,500 are sale prices too, but for the whole city. The $1,000,000 and $913,750 are asking prices, the $2,636,697 is an average asking price and the $2,533,101 is a model, which the page describes as an estimated value for a home of 2,297 square feet at $1,033 per foot.

The spread follows the definitions. The modeled house is 1.58 times the oceanfront condo sale median and 2.77 times the postal-area listing median. The average listing price of $2,636,697 is 2.89 times the median of $913,750 on the same page, which says a few very expensive listings pull the mean up. The page also shows the average down 11.6% on the year while the median is up 0.4%. If the median is flat and the mean falls by an eighth, the change is at the top of the market.

Realtor.com's own page shows the labeling problem. Its table says the median listing price is $1,000,000 and rose 33.42% on the year and 11.23% over three years, and its text says Central Beach has a high-value market with a median home sale price of $1.00 million, and that median sale prices have risen by 33.42%. A reader of the text would take $1.00 million as what buyers paid. The same page says homes sold for 5.35% below asking on average in February 2026, which is a ratio of about 95%. The sold price is not on the page.

The listing median is 9.4% above the postal-area median, which is $1,000,000 against $913,750, and the two pages are four months apart. A neighborhood-level listing median above the postal-area median is not surprising, since the postal area includes six neighborhoods that are mostly lower-priced, and this brief takes that reading as an inference. What the pages cannot tell a seller is what a home that is not an oceanfront condo has sold for.

The modeling page needs care. It gives a single 2026 figure of $2,533,101. A modeled value is a statistical estimate and not a record of sales, and it describes an average home of 2,297 square feet. The page also gives a range of $981 to $1,085 per square foot, and a figure of $1,252 per square foot for the postal area. The oceanfront condo sale median of $1,606,250 is 36.6% below the modeled house value, a gap this brief computes, and the two describe different kinds of home.

Sources as cited. The measures differ and the figures are not directly comparable. Commercial content; not independently verified.

Is the oceanfront condo median up 20 percent or 31?

The waterfront condo report gives the median sale price on Fort Lauderdale Beach at $1,606,250, up 20.1% on the year, with the price per square foot up 13.5% to $865 and sales up 38.0%. The blog gives an earlier six-month snapshot at $1,725,000, up 31.2%, with $799 per square foot. The two are the same submarket measured at two different dates. The median fell 6.9% between them, a figure this brief computes, while the price per foot rose from $799 to $865, which is 8.3%. The median fell and the price per foot rose between the two snapshots. One possible reading, which is an inference, is that the mix of unit sizes that sold changed.

The report shows a similar gap in a nearby town. In Lauderdale-by-the-Sea the median fell 12.0% to $560,000 and sales fell 24.4%. A seller of a large oceanfront unit and a seller of a studio are reading the same median, and a median says nothing about which units sold.

The supply figures are the most useful part. Fort Lauderdale Beach has 15.2 months of supply, with the report's own Waterfront Market Index at 59. Galt Ocean Mile has 7.2 months and an index of 68, at a median of $630,000. Lauderdale-by-the-Sea has 9.2 months and Pompano Beach 8.2. The wider Northeast Broward oceanfront has 9.4 months and a median of $700,000. Condos with boat slips show 10.2 months and 77 days on market. The oceanfront on Fort Lauderdale Beach has twice the supply of Galt Ocean Mile, a ratio of 2.1.

The blog explains why the split matters. It explains Florida's condo milestone inspection and reserve study rules, with a December 31, 2026 deadline, and argues that buildings that have completed the work and funded the reserves trade differently from those that have not. The blog also says a county forecast had condo medians falling about 7% across Broward County, with the pressure on older buildings away from the water. That is the blog's account, and the pages here do not test it.

For a seller of a beach condo, the lesson is that the building matters more than the neighborhood. The same blog cites a Deerfield Beach condo median of $140,000 in the first quarter, down 17.6%, and the oceanfront median of $1,606,250 a few miles away, a ratio of 11.5. The two are in the same county and the same state law. A median of one says little about the other.

How long does a Central Beach home take to sell, and who lives there?

The clocks run from 47 days to 126. Realtor.com shows a median of 110 days on market in March, up 7.84% on the year and 54.93% over three years. The postal-area page shows 105 days, against 103 a year earlier. The city-wide report shows 47 days for single-family homes, down from 63, and an average of 126 days for condos. The waterfront report shows 77 days for condos with boat slips. The ratio between the longest and the shortest is 2.7.

The supply pages agree on size but not on direction. Realtor.com shows 335 active listings in March, down 3.68% on the year and up 63.46% over three years. The postal-area page shows 336 in July, with 37 pending, a pending ratio of 11%, and says the count is up 0.6% on the year. The city-wide report shows 5.7 months of supply for single-family homes, close to balanced, and 8.8 for condos. Among all of these, the condo figure from the beach, 15.2 months, is the longest.

The Census shows a different population from the one the prices describe. The postal area has 18,332 residents and 12,460 homes, of which 9,753 are occupied and 2,707 vacant, a vacancy of 21.7%. Of the occupied homes, 3,853 (39.5%) are owner-occupied and 5,900 (60.5%) are rented. The median household income is $84,920 and the median gross rent is $1,839, which is 26.0% of the monthly income at the median, a ratio this brief computes. The Realtor.com median rent for Central Beach is $6,100, 3.3 times the Census rent.

The median owner-occupied value in the Census is $654,500, with a margin of error of $44,484. That is 41% of the oceanfront condo sale median of $1,606,250. The Census counts all owner-occupied homes in the postal area, many of them inland and many older, and it reports what owners estimate their homes are worth, so the two are not comparable. They do show how far the beach sits above the area around it.

A fifth of the homes are vacant, and the buildings are mid-century and recent. Of the 12,460 homes, 2,626 were built in the 1950s and 2,297 in the 1970s, and 2,240 were built in the 2010s, which is 18.0% of the stock. Another 57.9% were built before 1980, and the median year built is 1976. A high vacancy rate in a beach area fits seasonal and second-home use, and that reading is an inference, since the Census does not give the reason. The postal-area page gives a homeownership rate of 57.0% for a slightly different postal area, which is 17.5 points above the Census figure for this one.

Source: Census Reporter, American Community Survey 2020-2024 five-year estimates, tables B25034, B25077, B25003, B25002, B19013 and B25064. Percentages and ratios are this brief's arithmetic.

What do the rent and vacancy numbers add for an owner?

Rent is the one place where the pages and the Census disagree by a wide margin, and the gap is worth a paragraph. Realtor.com shows a median rent of $6,100 for Central Beach, up 35.56% on the year and up 22% over three years. The Census shows a median gross rent of $1,839 for the postal area the sheet pairs with Central Beach. The first describes what is advertised on one beachfront neighborhood, and the second describes what tenants across a larger area pay, including long leases signed years ago. Neither is wrong, and neither describes a particular home.

Annual rent shows what the gap means. At $1,839 a month the yearly total is $22,068, and at $6,100 it is $73,200, a ratio of 3.3. Against the listing median of $1,000,000 the advertised rent is 7.3% a year before any cost, and against the oceanfront condo sale median of $1,606,250 it is 4.6%. Those are this brief's own illustrations of how the figures sit beside each other, they leave out taxes, insurance, association fees and vacancy, and they are not a yield for any property.

The tenure numbers say who owns the area. Of 9,753 occupied homes, 5,900 are rented, which is 60.5%, and 3,853 are owner-occupied. If an owner in this area sells, the likely buyer is as likely to be an investor or a second-home buyer as a family, though that is an inference and the Census does not say who buys. It also means that a good share of the homes around a Central Beach owner are not owned by people who live in them, which is one reason privacy comes up in conversations with owners.

The vacancy figure is large. A total of 2,707 homes, 21.7% of the 12,460 in the postal area, are counted as vacant. The Census definition includes homes held for seasonal or occasional use, homes for rent and homes for sale, and the pages here do not split them. A seller should read that as a sign of a market with many homes that are not lived in year-round, and not as a count of homes that are on the market. The 336 active listings on the postal-area page are 2.7% of the 12,460 homes, a ratio this brief computes, which says most of the vacant homes are not listed for sale. Readers comparing markets can also read the Surfside brief and the Harbor Beach brief.

What should an owner ask, and what does a private sale change?

Ask whether a figure is a sale price, an asking price, an average or a model. Ask whether it is for houses or condominiums and, for a condo, which building. Ask how many sales sit behind it and which six months it covers. A seller who has these answers can read a page, and a seller who does not will find that seven pages give seven prices.

A private sale changes how a home reaches a buyer. With Maison Off-Market there are no showings and no neighbors talking about a sale, the closing date can be flexible so that an owner has time to find a new home, there are no commission costs, there are no closing costs and there are no inspections or repairs. For a unit that might wait through 15.2 months of supply, ending the public run may matter most. This brief does not claim that a private sale always brings a higher price than a public listing.

Fee arithmetic shows what the commission point means in dollars, without assuming any rate. Each 1% of a sale price is $10,000 at $1,000,000, $16,062.50 at $1,606,250 and $17,250 at $1,725,000. At 3% those amounts are $30,000, $48,187.50 and $51,750. At 5% they are $50,000, $80,312.50 and $86,250. These are illustrations of what a percentage means on the figures in this brief, and they are not a statement of what any agent charges or what any sale would cost.

Privacy is often the first thing owners of larger homes raise. A public listing puts photographs, a price history and every price cut in front of anyone with a phone, and the neighbors read them too. A private sale keeps those details out of view. That is a matter of preference and not a claim about price.

Timing is the other thing an owner controls. A public listing starts a clock that buyers can see, and the pages above show a range of 47 to 126 days. A private sale lets the owner choose the closing date, which matters most to people who need to find the next home first.

If you are weighing a sale of a Central Beach home, one conversation costs nothing and obliges you to nothing. We ask about the home, the timing you would like and what you would need from a buyer, and we say plainly whether a private sale fits.

If you would like a private, no-obligation offer for a Central Beach home, call 401-219-4207 or use the contact form on this site.

Methodology and limitations

Prices, days on market, counts and ratios come from Realtor.com's neighborhood page with indicators as of March 2026, a postal-area page citing Realtor.com for July 2026, a waterfront condo report dated July 17, 2026, a blog on the condo split, a city-wide report for July 2026 and a price-modeling page dated September 26, 2026. The pages cover different periods and boundaries, and most are commercial pages, so they are not independent of each other. A modeled value is an estimate and not a record of sales.

Census figures come from the American Community Survey 2020-2024 five-year estimates for a postal area that includes part of Central Beach, through Census Reporter. The postal area is not the same as the neighborhood, and another page in this series covers a nearby neighborhood in a neighboring postal area. Percentages, gaps, ratios and fee amounts are this brief's own arithmetic and are labeled as such. Where a reading goes beyond what a page says, it is called an inference. No agent names, contact details or street addresses from the pages are reproduced.

Conclusion

The Central Beach record shows listing medians of $913,750 and $1,000,000, an oceanfront condo sale median of $1,606,250 and an earlier $1,725,000, a modeled house value of $2,533,101, waits from 47 to 126 days and condo supply from 7.2 to 15.2 months. The numbers differ because the pages measure different things, cover different buildings and months, and one of them labels asking prices as sales.

It does not fix a price for any one home. The choice between a public listing and a private sale comes down to whether an owner would rather meet showings, inspections and a public clock, or sell quietly on a date that suits them. Maison Off-Market speaks only to sellers, and a conversation costs nothing.