What's Really Happening in Boca Raton Real Estate: Marc Elkman's Perspective

Brian’s take: Boca’s luxury market is no longer the runaway train it was three years ago — and that, according to one of the city’s most respected builders, is exactly why right now is so interesting.

Spring 2026

Ask ten people what they think the South Florida housing market is doing in 2026 and you will probably get ten different answers. Some are convinced prices are about to fall. Others are watching record-breaking sales hit the news every other week and assuming the boom never ended. The truth, at least in Boca Raton, sits somewhere more nuanced — and a lot more encouraging — than either extreme.

For a clearer read on what is actually happening here, it helps to listen to the people building in this market every day. Marc Elkman, Founder and CEO of Empire Development, has spent the past several years putting more than $100 million worth of luxury homes into the ground across East Boca Raton’s most desirable streets. His perspective — shared regularly in Florida business press coverage, on LinkedIn, and through behind-the-scenes glimpses on Instagram — offers an unusually grounded look at where Boca’s real estate landscape is headed.

From Frenzy to Focus

The defining shift of the past twelve months, in Elkman’s view, is that Boca Raton has finally exited the post-pandemic chaos and entered a phase of disciplined, sustainable activity. The bidding wars have eased. Inventory has rebuilt itself, in many segments by 40% or more compared to a year ago. Buyers have time to make considered decisions instead of writing offers from their phone before the listing photos finish loading.

That sounds, on the surface, like a cooling story. The data tells a very different one. Average list prices in Boca have climbed close to $1.12 million — up nearly 7% year over year — and the luxury median has settled comfortably between $2 million and $2.2 million. Price-per-square-foot in the upper tier has crossed $640, well above the $546 figure recorded a year earlier. Buyers are not pulling back. They are paying meaningfully more for properties that meet their standards.

The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing currently classifies Boca’s single-family luxury segment as a balanced market, with sales-to-inventory ratios in the 15 to 18% range. As Elkman frames it, balance is not stagnation. Balance is the version of a market where preparation, judgment, and quality matter most — and where homeowners and developers who know what they are doing have room to do their best work.

The Waterfront Story Is Its Own Story

One segment refuses to follow the broader trend, and Elkman believes it never will: the waterfront. The Intracoastal corridor running from Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club through The Sanctuary and into Highland Beach is, in his words, an asset class with a permanently fixed supply. Estates inside Royal Palm regularly trade in the $20 million to $40 million range, with the rarest deepwater parcels reaching well beyond. The Sanctuary continues to attract buyers who want guard-gated privacy paired with serious dockage, and recent transactions confirm that demand has not blinked.

What makes waterfront pricing different, Elkman explains, is that the value drivers operate on a separate set of rules. Bridge clearance, dockage length, ocean access via the Boca Inlet, southern exposure, and water depth at low tide can shift a property’s value by millions. Homes with no fixed bridges between them and the ocean — true ocean access — earn premiums that have only widened over the past five years. Boating buyers in this tier are sophisticated. They reward properties that genuinely deliver, and they walk away from the ones that almost do.

There is also a parallel waterfront story in the condominium tower market. Buildings along East Camino Real and the downtown corridor are seeing real price-per-square-foot growth as longtime estate owners trade square footage for views, simplicity, and lock-and-leave convenience. The same Atlantic sunrise, none of the maintenance — for a particular stage of life, that trade is irresistible.

How the Buyer Has Changed

The most important transformation Elkman has tracked is not in any spreadsheet. It is psychological. The luxury buyer of 2026 thinks about a home differently than the luxury buyer of 2021, and the gap is wider than most agents and developers seem to realize.

The first shift is that lifestyle alignment has overtaken raw size. Affluent buyers no longer ask how big a home is — they ask whether it actually fits the life they want to live. A thoughtfully laid out 6,000-square-foot residence with a great primary suite, wellness room, and entertainer’s kitchen will outperform a clumsy 9,000-square-foot home almost every time. As trillions of dollars move from Baby Boomers to Gen X and Millennial heirs, that design literacy is only deepening.

The second shift is the absolute non-negotiability of turnkey condition. Buyers in the $3 million to $10 million range have lost interest in renovation projects. They want to land, unpack, and host friends within the week. Move-in-ready homes are absorbing in 30 to 45 days; comparable but dated properties sit for six months or more. The premium for finished, professionally designed product has rarely been more visible.

Third, the wellness and technology checklist has quietly redrawn what counts as luxury. Spa-grade bathrooms, recovery rooms, advanced air-filtration, and smart-home systems that work invisibly in the background are now expected, not extraordinary. Privacy itself has become a premium good. Mature landscaping, gated entries, and well-screened lots are commanding measurable price advantages.

And finally, capital preservation is driving a meaningful share of demand. With high-tax-state migration showing no signs of slowing and global investors continuing to view South Florida as a stable harbor, all-cash transactions remain common at the top of the market. These buyers are patient and disciplined — but when the right property surfaces, they move with conviction.

Practical Notes for Buyers and Sellers

For sellers, Elkman’s guidance comes down to three habits. Price with discipline from day one — homes positioned correctly are still closing near 94% of list, while those that chase the market down spend triple the time on it and surrender more value in the end. Invest in real presentation, because professional staging and pre-listing updates routinely return many times their cost. And tell the lifestyle story, since today’s buyer is purchasing a way of life, not a stack of square feet.

For buyers, the playbook is shorter. Use the time the market is finally giving you to tour widely and understand the meaningful differences between East Boca, West Boca, and the downtown corridor. Stay ready to move quickly when a turnkey home in the right community surfaces — those still attract real competition. And track price-per-square-foot trajectories at the neighborhood level rather than fixating on citywide averages, because that is where durable long-term value reveals itself.

Why the Long View Still Looks Good

Despite mixed national signals, Elkman remains firmly optimistic about Boca Raton’s structural position. The reasons are easy to list. Florida’s tax environment continues to pull high-earning households out of New York, California, Illinois, and the Northeast. Boca’s professional base in finance, healthcare, technology, and family offices supplies sustained income at the top end. Buildable land east of I-95 is functionally finite. The schools, the clubs, the beaches, the cultural footprint at Mizner Park, the Boca Resort — that combination is rare in any U.S. market.

Layer the Great Wealth Transfer, ongoing global capital flows into U.S. real estate, and the steady pipeline of corporate relocations onto those local fundamentals, and the picture becomes clear. Boca Raton is balanced right now — but balanced with the wind at its back.

For homeowners, the equity built over the past decade is real and well-protected. For buyers, this is the most rational version of the Boca market in years. And for everyone watching from the sidelines, this is the moment that rewards paying attention.