A rental condo in downtown Boynton Beach earns its money in two places a listing sheet doesn't show. The first is whether the right to rent the unit carries over to you at closing. The second is what a brand-new tenant will pay for it in 2027 and 2028. Those are the years when three large apartment buildings now under construction within a few blocks of Federal Highway, 1,172 units in all, are scheduled for completion.
On the rent side, the headline looks great. Boynton Beach asking rents rose 5.0% year over year in August 2026, the second-fastest gain of any Palm Beach County submarket behind Wellington, according to Yardi Matrix data published in the MIAMI REALTORS® South Florida Rental Market Report for August 2026.
The rent growth is coming from renewals
Across Palm Beach County, the average multifamily asking rent reached $2,615 in August 2026, up 2.9% from a year earlier. Underneath that average, the same report shows two very different markets. Renewal rents rose 3.0%. Rents on new leases, compared with what the previous tenant paid for the same unit, rose 0.1%. The report adds that landlords were offering attractive rents on new leases, and the county renewal rate slipped to 67.1% from 67.5% a year earlier.
That gap matters for anyone buying a condo to rent out. You close on a vacant or tenant-occupied unit, and sooner or later you sign a new lease with someone who has never lived there. Your income follows the new-lease rate, and in August 2026 that rate was flat.
Rents have held up because demand has outrun construction. Over the 12 months through August 2026, Palm Beach County absorbed 1,597 apartment units while only 613 were completed. Stabilized occupancy stood at 95.2%. Supply has been the tight side of that equation. In downtown Boynton, it is the side that's about to change.
The new supply sits within a few blocks
The Boynton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency has spent years recruiting mixed-use development to the downtown core, and several of those projects are now under way at once. Here is the pipeline as the CRA and trade press describe it heading into November 2026:
| Project | Location | Rental units | Status | Expected delivery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oria | 405 E. Ocean Ave. | 336 | Construction began May 2025 | Anticipated 2027 |
| Octavia at Town Square, south parcel | 120 SE 1st Ave. | 465 | Groundbreaking Sept. 10, 2026 | Late 2028 |
| Ocean One | 114–222 N. Federal Hwy. | 371 | Construction began in 2026 | Late 2028 |
| The Pierce | 115 N. Federal Hwy. | 300 | Site plan approved March 2023 | No date set |
| Octavia, north parcel | 100 E. Boynton Beach Blvd. | 433 | Construction start required by Dec. 31, 2031 | Later phase |
The first three rows are under construction and add up to 1,172 apartments. Traded reported Octavia's first-phase delivery as fall 2028. Multi-Housing News put Ocean One at late 2028. All of these delivery dates are developer and agency estimates.
To see the scale, put those numbers next to the county figures. Ocean One and Octavia's south phase together hold 836 units, and both are scheduled for late 2028. That is more than the 613 apartments completed across all of Palm Beach County in the 12 months through August 2026. Yardi Matrix projected 2,038 completions countywide for 2026.
Multifamily Dive reported that Ocean One, designed by Arquitectonica and developed by Hyperion Group, Winter Properties, WREP and Silverstein Properties, will include a pool, fitness center, lounge, coworking space and on-site management, along with 25,500 square feet of retail. Octavia adds about 6,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and 224 metered public parking spaces. Oria includes 8,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, two plazas, and a linear park along the railroad right-of-way that links Boynton Beach Boulevard and Ocean Avenue.
Lease-up competition falls on new leases
A new building in lease-up has hundreds of empty units and a lender expecting occupancy, and it fills them with new leases. That puts it in direct competition with every condo owner looking for a tenant. Concessions are the usual tool. In August 2026, Yardi Matrix counted 5.1% of tracked Palm Beach County units offering concessions, worth an average of 5.3% of annual rent. At the county's $2,615 average asking rent, that comes to about $1,660 a year, or a little under three weeks free. Those figures cover properties with at least 50 units. Individual condo owners aren't in that sample, but they compete with it.
The good news cuts the other way too. A downtown with 1,172 more households, more street-level retail, and Octavia's public parking is a busier place to live, and that is the kind of change that supports demand for the condos already there. Over a longer horizon, more neighbors can help a rental condo. Over a one- or two-year lease cycle that lands in 2027 or late 2028, the comparison a prospective tenant makes is your unit against a brand-new building offering a move-in special.
The condo market isn't tight
If downtown rents were set to climb steadily, condo prices would be the place to see buyers bidding for that income. Countywide, they aren't. In September 2026, Palm Beach County had 6.8 months of condo supply, which MIAMI REALTORS® classifies as a balanced market, compared with 3.6 months for single-family homes, a seller's market. The county's median condo sale price was $310,000 in September 2026, up 3.33% from a year earlier, while single-family homes rose 6.67% to $656,000. Condo sellers received a median 93% of original list price, and the median time from listing to contract was 53 days. These are county figures. Downtown Boynton's own numbers will vary by building.
Financing adds weight. The MIAMI REALTORS® October 2026 market release put mortgage rates at 7.46% as of Oct. 13, 2026, and reported that only 21 of 2,397 condominium buildings across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties are approved for FHA loans. A balanced condo market means a buyer has room to negotiate, and in a rental purchase that room should go toward pricing the 2027–2028 lease-up into the offer.
The existing condo stock sits right next to the construction. Casa Costa, on Federal Highway, was completed in 2009 and has 395 residences across two towers, including 77 privately owned resort suites designed for short-term guests. Its association describes it as two blocks from both downtown and the harbor marina on Ocean Avenue. Ocean One is going up at 114–222 N. Federal Highway, and The Pierce is planned at 115 N. Federal. Marina Village at Boynton Beach, on Casa Loma Boulevard near the marina, dates to 2006 according to the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser. Oria, the first of the new buildings to deliver, sits on Ocean Avenue on the way to that marina.
The seller's right to rent may not transfer to you
In a rental purchase, the right to lease the unit is the asset you're paying for. Florida's condominium statute governs how that right can change. Under Section 718.110(13), Florida Statutes, an amendment that prohibits rentals, changes the rental term, or limits how often owners can rent applies only to owners who consented to it and to owners who take title after it takes effect. That means a seller who has owned since before such an amendment may be renting under rules that don't apply to the next owner. How that plays out for a particular building and unit is a question for a Florida real estate attorney.
Older towers carry a second item. Section 718.112 requires a structural integrity reserve study at least every 10 years for residential condominium buildings three habitable stories or higher. Existing owner-controlled associations generally faced a Dec. 31, 2025 deadline, with a limited extension to Dec. 31, 2026 when a milestone inspection is due by then. The statute lets associations fund the required reserves through regular assessments, special assessments, lines of credit or loans. For a rental owner, a higher monthly assessment cuts directly into the net rent, at the same time the gross rent faces new competition.
This is general market information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Have a Florida real estate attorney, your lender and your tax advisor review the specific building and your own situation before you commit.
Questions to answer before writing an offer
- Has your attorney reviewed the building's recorded leasing rules and any amendments against how you plan to rent the unit?
- Has the association completed its structural integrity reserve study, and how is it funding the reserves the study requires?
- If your first or second lease starts in 2027 or late 2028, what would that rent look like against a new building offering a few weeks free?
- Does the purchase still work if new-lease rents stay flat, as they did countywide in August 2026, rather than growing at the 5.0% submarket rate?
Quick answers
When do the new downtown apartments open? Oria is anticipated in 2027. Octavia's south phase and Ocean One are both estimated for late 2028. The Pierce has no delivery date, and Octavia's north phase is required to begin construction by Dec. 31, 2031.
Are any of these buildings condos? No. The CRA describes Oria, Octavia, Ocean One and The Pierce as rental apartment projects. Half of The Pierce's units are required to rent at 80% to 120% of area median income for 15 years.
Is Boynton's 5.0% rent growth a citywide figure? It's Yardi Matrix's Boynton Beach submarket figure for August 2026, based on multifamily properties with 50 or more units.
If you're weighing a downtown Boynton condo as a rental, or you already own one and want to know what it's worth before the new buildings are completed, Bergman Realty Group can run the numbers on your specific building and unit. Start with a free home valuation, and we'll compare it against the delivery schedule above.
