III. HOUSING SUPPLY ANALYSIS The Affordable Housing Needs Assessment provides a current analysis of housing market conditions that impact the supply, affordability and accessibility of owner and renter housing for the population of Palm Beach County. These conditions include changes in the existing housing inventory – occupancy status, vacancies, values, housing conditions, and new development activity and new construction types and location, sales and rental activity and asking prices and rents. The definitions of the various housing types are as follows:
Single-Family House: The single-family statistics include fully detached, semidetached (semi attached, side-by-side), row houses, and townhouses. In the case of attached units, each must be separated from the adjacent unit by a ground-to-roof wall in order to be classified as a single-family structure. These units must not share heating/air-conditioning systems or utilities. Units built one on top of another and those built side-by-side that do not have a ground-to-roof wall and/or have common facilities (i.e., attic, basement, heating plant, plumbing, etc.) are not included in the single-family statistics.
1-unit structure: Includes fully detached, A single semidetached (semi-attached, side-by-side), row houses, and townhouses (see "Single-Family House".)
Multi-Family Housing: Residential buildings with two or more units containing units built one on top of another and those built side-by-side which do not have a ground-to-roof wall.
Mobile Homes: Prefabricated units usually placed in one location and left there permanently, but retain the ability to be moved.
Inventory of Single- and Multi-family Housing According to 2018 ACS estimates, Palm Beach County has a current inventory of 682,671 units which represents a 2.1 percent (14,207 units) increase in housing units since 2014. The largest unit increases occurred among 10-19 unit structures (5,246 units) and 1-unit, attached structures (3,592 units). According to the Palm Beach County’s Planning, Zoning & Building Department, there are 286,180 units in the Unincorporated Areas which comprise about 42 percent of the County’s housing inventory.
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