Buying Waterfront in Highland Beach: A Practical Guide

ByEric Levy, PA

Highland Beach is the simplest geography in South Florida real estate and one of the easiest to buy badly. The town occupies roughly three miles of barrier island along A1A — the Atlantic on one side, the Intracoastal Waterway on the other — and almost every purchase in it is a choice between those two waters. Incorporated in 1949, it counts 4,295 year-round residents in the 2020 Census (rising to roughly 7,900 in winter), covers 1.29 square miles, and holds 4,338 housing units, 43.7% of them vacant in Census terms — the fingerprint of a seasonal ownership town. There is no commercial sprawl, no public marina, and no public boat launch. The town millage is 3.5875, unchanged for the fifth consecutive year and the third-lowest municipal millage in Palm Beach County — worth knowing before you fall in love with a view.

This guide works through the purchase in the order the risks actually arrive. The town picture lives in our Highland Beach hub; the full dock and seawall checklist in the Boca Raton Waterfront hub.

First decision: ocean side or Intracoastal side

East of A1A, you are buying the Atlantic: oceanfront condominiums, plus a smaller set of single-family and townhome properties with direct beach frontage. West of A1A, you are buying usable water: homes on the Intracoastal and on canals and points, with dockage at the house. These are different purchases that happen to share a town line. An oceanfront buyer is underwriting a building or a dune. An Intracoastal buyer is underwriting a dock, a seawall, and a boating route. Confusing the two diligence lists is the classic Highland Beach mistake.

If you are buying the ocean: the building is the purchase

In an oceanfront condominium, the unit is only half of what you are buying. The other half is the building’s structural and financial condition, and Florida law now makes that condition a matter of documents rather than impressions. What follows is general information, not legal advice.

Two statutory frameworks govern. A milestone inspection (Florida Statutes §553.899) is required for condominium and cooperative buildings of three or more habitable stories by December 31 of the year the building turns 30, and every ten years after; local enforcement agencies may require it at 25 years where conditions warrant, including proximity to salt water, so oceanfront buildings should be assumed to be on the earlier track until the town building official confirms otherwise. The first phase is a visual structural inspection; if it finds substantial structural deterioration, a second, possibly invasive phase follows, and repairs must commence within the statutory window. Separately, a Structural Integrity Reserve Study — SIRS (§718.112(2)(g)) — must be completed at least every ten years, covering the roof, load-bearing structure, fireproofing and fire protection, plumbing, electrical systems, waterproofing and exterior painting, windows and exterior doors, and any other item over $25,000 whose failure affects structural integrity. Reserves for those items are now mandatory and cannot be waived or reduced by a vote of the owners, apart from narrow, time-limited exceptions added in 2025.

So the document request is specific, and it comes before the offer hardens: (1) the milestone inspection summary, (2) the most recent SIRS, or a statement that none exists, and (3) the current budget showing how the SIRS reserves are actually funded. Together, those three papers are the earliest reliable warning of a special assessment. Add the building’s concrete restoration history, elevator and garage condition, and master insurance picture, and you understand why two units with the same view in neighboring buildings can carry very different costs.

For single-family oceanfront, the diligence shifts to the lot: width, dune and beach conditions, seawall where one exists, elevation, and the renovation or rebuild rules that apply in a coastal zone. Land position first, house second — the same logic a Royal Palm buyer uses, applied to sand.

If you are buying the water: dock, seawall, and depth

On the Intracoastal side, price the marine infrastructure the way you would price a roof — as a capital asset with a remaining life.

Seawall. Age, material, cap height, visible leaning or cracking, soil loss behind the wall, and any permit history for raising or replacement. A wall near the end of its life is a capital project, not a cosmetic note.

Dock and lift. Length, decking condition, pilings, lift capacity and age, power and water at the dock — and whether the dock and lift were permitted and match the survey. An unpermitted lift is a negotiation item, not an amenity.

Water at the dock. Depth at mean low water, the width of water in front of the property, turning room, and any neighbor dock or mooring that narrows the fairway.

The paper. A survey showing riparian lines, any submerged land lease or consent, dock permits, and the association or town rules on dock size and lifts. And before assuming you can raise a wall or add a lift after closing, confirm the marine permit requirements with the Town of Highland Beach Building Department — permits pulled before work, not in apology after.

Bridges and inlets: the air-draft math

A Highland Beach dock is only as useful as the route from it to open water, and the route is measured in NOAA Coast Pilot clearances, not listing-sheet claims.

South to Boca Raton Inlet, every Intracoastal span is a drawbridge — there are no fixed bridges on the Intracoastal route itself. Spanish River Boulevard clears 21 feet (25 feet at center) and Palmetto Park Road 19 feet at center; both open on the hour and half-hour under the federal drawbridge schedule. The A1A bridge over the inlet itself clears 23 feet at center.

North to Boynton Inlet, Linton Boulevard in Delray Beach clears 30 feet at center and Ocean Avenue in Boynton Beach 21 feet — but the inlet is crossed by a fixed A1A bridge at 18 feet, and that fixed span, not the drawbridges, is the air-draft limit for the northern route. The Coast Pilot warns plainly that Boynton Inlet is hazardous without local knowledge — unmarked channel, strong currents — and describes Boca Raton Inlet in similar terms, with shoaling reported near the entrance. Whichever inlet you plan to use, check the current U.S. Coast Guard Local Notice to Mariners before treating any depth as settled — inlets here move. We publish clearances only from the nautical sources. No authority publishes measured boating times, and broker estimates are not evidence.

Flood and insurance: price them before the offer

In this town, flood zone follows the side of the road. By the town’s own published guidance, FEMA Zone AE lies primarily west of A1A, with a base flood elevation mostly at 7 feet NAVD (some areas 8), while Zone VE covers the oceanfront, typically at 12 feet NAVD and in places now 13. The town provides a free address-level Interactive Flood Information Portal through its website, showing the zone and base flood elevation under the current FEMA maps; the FEMA Map Service Center does the same nationally.

Then do the quote properly. Pull the property’s flood zone and elevation, obtain its Elevation Certificate — a surveyor-prepared document often already on file with the seller or association — and give both to a Florida insurance broker for a quote on that address. Under FEMA’s Risk Rating 2.0, flood pricing is property-specific: elevation relative to the base flood elevation, distance to water, replacement cost. That is why this page publishes no premium ranges — no honest range exists without a dated quote on the specific house. For condos, run the association’s master policy and your loss-assessment coverage in the same review. In 2026, insurance is not a closing footnote in Highland Beach. It is a first-conversation number that belongs in the price discussion before contract, not after.

Reading a listing for what it does not say

Highland Beach listings are fluent on views and finishes and quiet on the four facts that decide cost: seawall age and permit history, dock and lift permit status, the building’s milestone and SIRS position, and depth at the dock at low tide. Treat the omissions as your showing agenda. Ask for the seawall’s age and last permit, the lift’s permit, the three building documents, and the elevation certificate — and note who can produce a clean fact file on request. In a town this small, serious buyers ask these questions at the first showing — and a seller who has the answers ready is telling you something about how the property has been kept. The wider context for the town — October’s Boca numbers, the $75 million Royal Palm record, the resort’s marina approval — is in Issue #1: The New Boca Raton Takes Shape, and pricing discipline lives in the Market Report.

Tour at different tides and different hours. Read the budget, not only the listing. Price the insurance for the specific address. Do those three things and Highland Beach is what it should be: a quiet town and a sound purchase, on whichever water you choose.

Sources:

  • Town of Highland Beach — annual financial report and Town Manager’s Monthly (October 2026): incorporation (1949), services, millage of 3.5875 (fifth consecutive year unchanged, third-lowest in Palm Beach County), no public marina or boat launch. Via The Boca Briefing research, October 27, 2026.
  • U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census — population 4,295; 1.29 sq mi total area; 4,338 housing units; 43.7% vacancy. Florida Legislature Office of Economic & Demographic Research (2023 estimate, via the Town’s financial report) — winter population ~7,900. Via The Boca Briefing research, October 27, 2026.
  • Florida Statutes §§553.899 and 718.112(2)(g), and the Florida DBPR Division of Condominiums — milestone inspection and SIRS framework, including the 2025 HB 913 amendments. General information, not legal advice.
  • NOAA U.S. Coast Pilot 4 (current web edition) — bridge clearances and opening schedules (33 CFR 117.261) for the Intracoastal routes to Boca Raton Inlet and Boynton Inlet, and the inlet hazard characterizations. Via The Boca Briefing research, October 27, 2026.
  • Town of Highland Beach flood guidance (Manager’s Monthly, November 2024) and FEMA Map Service Center — flood zones and base flood elevations by side of A1A, the town’s address-level flood portal, and the elevation-certificate quote method under Risk Rating 2.0.
  • Deliberately omitted: per-building assessment or milestone status (no authoritative public source publishes it — it comes from each building’s documents); condo or HOA dues ranges (no dated, method-stated source exists); measured boating times (not published by any authority).

By Eric Levy, PA — Coldwell Banker Realty, Boca Raton · (561) 654-6199 · Eric.levy@cbrealty.com · ericlevypa.com
Best of Zillow agent · 88 Zillow reviews at 4.9 stars · Ranked in the top 0.33% of 3,602 Boca Raton agents

A quiet next step: Looking at a Highland Beach oceanfront or Intracoastal home, and want the building, dock, seawall, and carrying-cost facts checked for that specific address before you write anything? Call or text Eric at (561) 654-6199.

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