North Palm Beach is a waterfront village in northern Palm Beach County built around the Intracoastal Waterway and a village-owned Jack Nicklaus golf course. Lost Tree Village, a gated oceanfront community, carries a North Palm Beach mailing address but sits outside the village limits. Which side of that line a house sits on decides who taxes it and who provides its services, and whether the owner can use the village amenities at all.
Water views are the easy part of this market. What costs buyers money is harder to see on a listing sheet: one address comes with a boat ramp decal and a resident golf rate, and a nearby one comes with neither.
Key Takeaways
- Palm Beach County’s single-family median sale price reached $660,090 in July 2026, up 7.64% year over year (MIAMI REALTORS, August 2026 release).
- Lost Tree Village lies within no municipality, so the county taxes and serves its property owners, not the Village of North Palm Beach.
- The village golf course is a Jack Nicklaus redesign owned by the Village itself, but golf memberships are currently sold out.
- The Village marina’s wet and dry storage waitlist is full, which pushes buyers toward homes with private dockage or a Safe Harbor slip.
Where is North Palm Beach, and what actually sits inside the village limits?
The Village of North Palm Beach runs its own country club, library, community center and marina, and its municipal offices sit at 501 U.S. Highway 1 in the 33408 ZIP code. Jack Nicklaus described the golf course property as being “situated in the center of North Palm Beach” on the Nicklaus Design course profile. The village is compact, and its amenity map is unusually municipal for a luxury market.
That matters because the amenities most buyers associate with the name are village programs, not private clubs. The Village lists Anchorage Park at 603 Anchorage Drive, a Community Center at 1200 Prosperity Farms Road, plus Osborne Park, Lakeside Park and Veterans Memorial Park on its Parks and Facilities page. The public library sits at 303 Anchorage Drive and runs Monday through Thursday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed Sunday.
One line on that same facilities page is worth reading before you tour. The Village calls John D. MacArthur Beach State Park, on the barrier island at the village’s eastern edge, “the only state park in Palm Beach County.” The Friends of MacArthur Beach State Park site lists the park as open daily with roughly 1.6 miles of beach, a nature center, nature trails and kayak and paddleboard rentals. As of September 2026 that site also notes the main restroom building is temporarily closed for septic work, with portable restrooms in place.
If you’re weighing this village against its neighbors, our Palm Beach Gardens community page and Juno Beach community page cover two neighboring markets worth putting side by side with it.
Is Lost Tree Village part of North Palm Beach?
Lost Tree Village is not inside any city. Reporting by Joel Engelhardt for OnGardens on November 27, 2023 stated plainly that “Lost Tree lies within no city,” describing a gated community of 618 properties with more than $2.5 billion in taxable property value. The North Palm Beach mailing address is a postal convention, not a municipal boundary.
Buyers get this wrong constantly. A property in unincorporated Palm Beach County answers to county taxing authorities and county service providers rather than to the Village. The Palm Beach County Property Appraiser treats the distinction as structural: its municipality list carries “00 – Unincorporated” as its own designation ahead of the county’s 39 municipalities, and its Advanced Sales Search offers “Unincorporated” as a search category alongside North Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens and the rest.
The boundary has also been contested. Engelhardt reported for Stet News on March 26, 2024 that the neighboring communities of Hidden Key and Portage Landing “defeated the North Palm Beach attempt 136-0” at the ballot box, rejecting annexation into the Village. Both Palm Beach Gardens and North Palm Beach have circled the area in recent years.
Two practical notes. First, the property and value figures above are from 2023 reporting, so treat them as a snapshot rather than a current count. Second, boundaries change by ordinance and referendum, so verify the taxing district on the specific parcel you’re considering. The Property Appraiser’s record for that parcel is the authority, not the mailing address on the listing sheet.
What buyers should actually do about it
Pull the parcel record before you write an offer and read the taxing-authority line. If the parcel sits in unincorporated county, the Village’s resident programs described later in this guide will not apply to you, and a different set of authorities builds your millage stack. Neither version is better than the other, but the difference belongs in your numbers up front instead of turning up on the November tax bill.
What does the market look like heading into late 2026?
Palm Beach County’s single-family median sale price reached $660,090 in July 2026, up 7.64% from $613,250 a year earlier, according to the MIAMI REALTORS report released August 17, 2026 using MIAMI MLS and BeachesMLS data. Single-family transactions rose 12.74% year over year to 1,336 closings. Total home sales climbed 15% to 2,250 transactions, the eleventh consecutive month of year-over-year gains.
Those are county-level figures, not village-level ones, and I’d rather say so than dress them up. Still, two lines in that report speak directly to the North Palm Beach buyer. Sales at $1 million and above increased 36.5% year over year in July 2026, from 326 to 445. And months’ supply for single-family homes stood at 3.7 months, which the report characterizes as a seller’s market. Condominium supply sat at 6.7 months, inside the six-to-nine-month band that same report calls a balanced market.
Assessed values tell a quieter version of the same story. The Palm Beach County Property Appraiser reported that countywide taxable property values increased 7.35% from 2025 to 2026, based on market conditions as of January 1, 2026.
Put those lines side by side and the luxury tier is moving faster than supply is replacing it, while the condo tier sits in balanced territory by that report’s own definition. If you’re shopping a marina condominium rather than a single-family waterfront home, you are shopping the looser half of this market. Our Q3 2026 Palm Beach County market update breaks the quarter down in more detail.
What water access actually comes with a North Palm Beach address?
Water access here comes in three tiers, and buying in the village only guarantees one of them. The Village of North Palm Beach limits boat ramp permit decals to “North Palm Beach residents and business owners only,” and its own marina page states that “the Marina and its waitlist is currently full” for wet and dry storage.
The boat ramp is the accessible tier. The Village requires a permit decal to launch any trailered item, priced at $100 for a first decal and $10 for each additional decal. The cycle is worth noting if you’re closing this fall: the Village describes it as “an annual purchase that begins every October 1st,” with all decals expiring September 30. Day docks for pick-up and drop-off, and a walk-up kayak and paddleboard launch, require no permit, though the Village prohibits overnight stays in the day slips.
The second tier is private dockage on your own lot, which is the reason so much of this market prices on water frontage rather than square footage. The third tier is a commercial slip. Safe Harbor Old Port Cove, at 116 Lakeshore Drive, describes itself as occupying a 60-acre peninsula and accommodates vessels from 30 to 200 feet, with an on-site restaurant, Belle’s, and a fuel dock.
Listing descriptions rarely tie the full marina waitlist back to the price of a dock. With municipal storage shut to newcomers, usable private dockage is the only reliable way to keep a boat at the house, which makes it a price driver rather than a preference. Budget for it. For the mechanics of buying on the water, our Palm Beach County waterfront buyer’s guide covers Intracoastal, ocean and lakefront differences, and the true cost of a beachfront home covers the carrying costs.
How does a village-owned golf course change the math?
North Palm Beach Country Club is a municipal facility. Nicklaus Design describes it as “a Village-owned and operated recreational facility consisting of an 18-hole, Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course,” and calls it the second municipal golf course Nicklaus designed, with the renovation completed in 2006. The course plays to a par 71 at just under 7,100 yards from the back tees, up from a par 72 at 6,300 yards before the redesign.
The Village lists golf, a tennis center, a pool and a clubhouse restaurant under the same operation. The Nicklaus Design profile quotes Nicklaus calling the project his way “to give a little something back to the community,” and notes that the course was built in the late 1920s as one of the last designs by Seth Raynor before later renovations erased most of that original work.
The detail that changes an offer sits on the Village’s membership page, which states that full golf memberships are currently sold out and directs Village residents to a Resident Card for special resident rates instead. Anyone budgeting a North Palm Beach purchase around immediate club golf access should call the Member Relations Coordinator at 561-691-3438 and confirm current standing before removing contingencies.
This is a genuinely different structure from the private equity clubs elsewhere in the county, where membership is often deed-tied and carries an initiation cost. If you’re comparing the two models, our golf-course home buyer’s guide explains equity versus non-equity membership and what a deed can obligate you to, and the BallenIsles, Mirasol and Frenchman’s Reserve comparison shows how private clubs in the area structure it.
Schools, storms and the rest of daily life
Your address determines school assignment here, not the community name, and those assignments change. The School District of Palm Beach County publishes attendance boundary maps by school level, and the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser maintains a school attendance zone lookup tied to individual parcels. Verify the zone for the exact address you’re considering directly with the district before you make a decision that depends on it.
I won’t rank communities or schools here. Zones get redrawn, and choice and magnet programs sit alongside the boundary maps. The right school depends on your family anyway. I can tell you where to check: the district’s boundary maps and the Property Appraiser’s zone tool, both linked in the sources below. Our Palm Beach Gardens and Jupiter schools overview walks through how to read the published state data yourself.
On storms, coastal Palm Beach County construction and insurance questions deserve their own conversation early in a search rather than at underwriting. Our guide to hurricane-resilient home buying in South Florida covers what to look for in roof age, opening protection and elevation.
One timing note for anyone closing this fall. The Property Appraiser mails Notices of Proposed Property Taxes, the TRIM notices, on August 20, then certifies the tax roll before mailing tax bills on November 1. If you’re buying between those dates, the seller’s current notice is the clearest available preview of what the parcel will actually cost to hold.
Your North Palm Beach due-diligence checklist
Work through these before you remove contingencies:
- Confirm the taxing district on the parcel record at the Property Appraiser, not from the mailing address.
- Check the boat ramp decal cycle if water access matters. Decals run October 1 to September 30, and the Village restricts them to residents and business owners.
- Assume the marina waitlist is closed and verify private dockage independently.
- Call the Country Club about current membership availability and Resident Card terms rather than relying on a listing description.
- Verify the school attendance zone with the district for that specific address.
- Read the TRIM notice for the parcel if you’re buying between late August and November.
Ready to look at North Palm Beach in person?
A listing photo will not tell you whether a parcel sits inside the village line or outside it. The tax bill will, and so will the list of amenities you are cleared to use. If you want that mapped out for the specific addresses you’re considering, that’s a conversation worth having before you tour.
Browse current listings on our North Palm Beach community page, or see how the village compares with luxury inventory in Jupiter. Selling instead? Start with a home value estimate for Palm Beach County.
The Cahur Group, Keller Williams Jupiter
Call or text 561-401-5758
4455 Military Trail, Suite 100, Jupiter, FL 33458
Contact the team
Frequently asked questions
Is Lost Tree Village in the Village of North Palm Beach?
No. Reporting by Joel Engelhardt for OnGardens in November 2023 stated that “Lost Tree lies within no city,” describing 618 properties with more than $2.5 billion in taxable value. The address is postal. Confirm the taxing district for any specific parcel on the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser’s record before you rely on it.
Can anyone play the North Palm Beach golf course?
Nicklaus Design classifies North Palm Beach Country Club as a public, Village-owned facility with an 18-hole Jack Nicklaus Signature course at par 71. However, the Village’s membership page states full golf memberships are currently sold out, with a Resident Card offering special resident rates instead. Call 561-691-3438 to confirm current availability.
How hard is it to keep a boat in North Palm Beach?
The Village’s marina page states its wet and dry storage waitlist is currently full. A boat ramp decal costs $100 for the first decal and $10 for additional ones, running October 1 through September 30, and is limited to residents and business owners. Private dockage or a commercial slip is the practical alternative.
What is the Palm Beach County market doing in 2026?
The single-family median sale price reached $660,090 in July 2026, up 7.64% year over year, per the MIAMI REALTORS report released August 17, 2026. Sales at $1 million and above rose 36.5% to 445 transactions. Single-family supply sat at 3.7 months, a seller’s market by that report’s measure.
Sources
- Nicklaus Design, North Palm Beach Country Club course profile, retrieved 2026-09-10. https://nicklausdesign.com/course/npbcc/
- Village of North Palm Beach, Country Club, retrieved 2026-09-10. https://www.village-npb.org/453/Country-Club
- Village of North Palm Beach, Country Club Memberships, retrieved 2026-09-10. https://www.village-npb.org/493/Memberships
- Village of North Palm Beach, Marina at Anchorage Park, retrieved 2026-09-10. https://www.village-npb.org/559
- Village of North Palm Beach, Parks & Facilities, retrieved 2026-09-10. https://www.village-npb.org/1117/Parks-Facilities
- Village of North Palm Beach, Library, retrieved 2026-09-10. https://www.village-npb.org/188/Library-
- Palm Beach County Property Appraiser, Property Appraiser Provides 2026 Tax Roll Preliminaries to Local Governments, retrieved 2026-09-10. https://pbcpao.gov/tax-roll-news.htm
- Palm Beach County Property Appraiser, Advanced Sales Search, retrieved 2026-09-10. https://pbcpao.gov/AdvSearch/SalesSearch
- Palm Beach County Property Appraiser, PBC Municipality List, retrieved 2026-09-10. https://pbcpao.gov/muni-list.htm
- Palm Beach County Property Appraiser, How to find a School Attendance Zone, retrieved 2026-09-10. https://pbcpao.gov/school-zone.htm
- MIAMI REALTORS, Palm Beach County Total Home Sales Surge for 11th Consecutive Month, published 2026-08-17, retrieved 2026-09-10. https://www.miamirealtors.com/2026/08/17/palm-beach-county-total-home-sales-surge-for-11th-consecutive-month/
- Safe Harbor Marinas, Safe Harbor Old Port Cove, retrieved 2026-09-10. https://safeharbor.com/locations/safe-harbor-old-port-cove/
- Joel Engelhardt, OnGardens, “How one community holds the key to annexation’s ‘Holy Grail’,” published 2023-11-27, retrieved 2026-09-10. https://ongardens.org/2023/11/27/how-one-community-holds-the-key-to-annexations-holy-grail/
- Joel Engelhardt, Stet News via WLRN, “How two tiny Palm Beach County communities joined forces to vote against annexation,” published 2024-03-26, retrieved 2026-09-10. https://www.wlrn.org/government-politics/2024-03-26/hidden-key-portage-landing-palm-beach-county-annexation
- Friends of MacArthur Beach State Park, retrieved 2026-09-10. https://macarthurbeach.org/
- School District of Palm Beach County, Elementary School Attendance Boundary Maps, retrieved 2026-09-10. https://www.palmbeachschools.org/studentsparents/student-registration/student-enrollment-and-demographics/elementary-school-attendance-boundary-maps
