SERGEANT. Gary Pohrer, Executive Director of Luxury Sales, speaks exclusively with Fox News Digital about the battle for off-market properties on Palm Beach Island.
EXCLUSIVE: Tucked away quietly, away from the grandeur of Mar-a-Lago and the hustle and bustle of Worth Avenue, are homes worth hundreds of millions of dollars that have become part of an underground so-called “ghost” real estate market in Palm Beach.
“If someone came to me today and said, ‘Hey, what else is available that isn’t outwardly visible?’ A few blocks from here there’s a house for 175(million dollars), 52(million dollars), 97(million dollars), 17(million dollars), and then going up the hill you have another one for 75(million dollars), another one for over 195(million dollars) and one for 300(million dollars),” Gary Pohrer of SERHANT. told Fox News Digital exclusively. “These are just some of this phantom inventory. I would say 99% of agents don’t know these products are actually available.”
Spanning approximately 3.8 square miles of land, the barrier island of Palm Beach is home to approximately 2,500 single-family homes and about the same number of condominiums. While the public Multiple Listing Service (MLS) shows approximately 58 active single-family listings, that number gives a false impression of availability, according to Pohrer.
For buyers with very specific requirements — ocean views, turnkey modern homes or homes on particular streets — public inventory can quickly drop to zero, the agent explained, leaving traditional online home searches with few, if any, options.
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“I think most people think they probably don’t need a real estate agent and expect there to be something available in the area they’re looking for. What you don’t realize is that Palm Beach is a very small place,” Pohrer detailed. “So if you’re looking for something specific, it narrows down very quickly. You go from 10 options to five options, then one option to no options, and then it’s up to us to find things that might be off the market.”
A service entrance outside a luxury home on South Ocean Boulevard in Palm Beach, Florida. (Getty Images)
With limited public inventory available to meet buyers’ demands, Pohrer said an unlisted “shadow” secondary market operates through agents’ personal files and private conversations between brokers. Wealthy homeowners who don’t intend to publicly list their properties can consider offers if buyers meet their asking prices. Pohrer highlighted recent off-market deals completed in Palm Beach for $97.5 million, $75 million and $58 million, while other unlisted properties are reportedly available at prices ranging from $17 million to $300 million.
At the end of the interview with Pohrer, his phone rang with a new email notification. Pohrer said the message came from someone interested in a possible new off-market listing.
“On a daily basis you get calls from people saying, ‘Hey, they’re ready to sell,’ or ‘Maybe I’ll sell for this,’ and I have to write notes to see who’s ready to sell and at what price and keep a log of that,” the agent said. “Most people don’t realize what is available or what could be purchased.”
In this aerial view, former U.S. President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate is seen with other homes September 14, 2022, in Palm Beach, Florida. (Getty Images)
“I hear about it on the ground, and if you’re not represented, you just won’t find these things,” Pohrer added.
Historically among the warmest and quietest months, August and September typically see fewer residents in Palm Beach as seasonal homeowners depart for cooler destinations. However, in August 2026, Palm Beach Island recorded 10 single-family home sales, compared to just two in August 2025 – a five-fold increase that brought single-family home sales on the island to 82, up from 58 during the same period in 2025, according to figures provided by Pohrer.
“I think over the last few years, people have gotten used to having inventory. And when they started noticing it this summer, things weren’t happening…Or if there was something else off the market that might happen, I want to get on that before the season hits,” he noted. “We closed five deals that weren’t listed in MLS, which was a complete shock to me because normally you only close one deal in the whole month of September.”
As these off-market transactions take place outside of public databases, brokers would face intense pressure from rival agents who attempt to intercept and poach unlisted sellers as soon as rumors surface.
An aerial view of Palm Beach Island, facing north. (Getty Images)
“It’s an absolute battle. Every one of the off-market deals I’ve done, you find out, this owner can talk to you about how to represent them, but then other people find out. So all of a sudden, that’s where the battle comes in,” Pohrer described.
“Other brokers are chasing these owners trying to get a piece of the action. So all the time you’re kind of like a sniper in a manhole,” he continued, “just trying to stay safe and keep your clients and not get poached. So… when one escapes, it’s a gut punch to those numbers.”
“(Transactions) tend to take months and months and months because off-market sellers, traditionally speaking, aren’t fully committed to the sale. So it’s just a matter of being persistent, polite, not being pushy and ultimately getting them over the edge.”
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Pohrer said broader economic factors, including interest rate changes by the Federal Reserve, are having little effect on some ultra-wealthy buyers and sellers in Palm Beach. Florida’s property tax laws, however, can play an important role. Long-time homeowners with qualified homestead exemptions benefit from limits on annual increases in the assessed value of their properties. When a home changes ownership, these appraisal protections generally do not transfer to the buyer and the property is usually reassessed at market value.
“If you jump, you can’t come back,” Pohrer warned. “There’s a tax issue that’s about to be voted on this year. For example, for a house valued at…$70 million…your taxes on that house are $225,000. If you buy that house, the next buyer will pay over a million dollars.”
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As 2026 draws to a close, Pohrer expects publicly traded inventory on Palm Beach Island to remain low through 2027, noting that even off-market “ghost” inventory could decline further.
“I expect inventory levels to stay where they are, or lower. The phantom inventory might disappear because maybe that phantom inventory is only available because they see something else available,” he said. “Inventory levels will not increase outward, and the internal parallel market could decline even further if (sellers) do not have an option for their next location.”
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