In Lost Tree Village, the House Is the Smallest Part of the Price

In May 2025 a trust bought a waterfront home at 11279 Old Harbour Road in Lost Tree Village for $17.3 million. The recorded deed included a line most real estate deeds never need. It said the buyer had been approved for membership in the Lost Tree Village Owners Association, as The Real Deal reported.

That line explains how this 450-acre enclave in North Palm Beach sets its prices. Before a Lost Tree buyer pays for a house, they have to be accepted. The sales since then point the same way. Once a buyer is accepted, the price follows where the lot sits and how much water it touches. The structure on the lot counts for less, and sometimes for nothing.

Approval Comes Before the Address

The Real Deal laid out the process in July 2025. The order matters:

1. A prospective buyer must first be accepted into the Lost Tree Village Property Owners Association. The process requires two sponsors, five references, an interview with the admissions committee, and a $50,000 check.
2. Deeds stipulate that owners can sell only to other members of the association.
3. Owning a home is required to join Lost Tree Club, the members-only golf club inside the community. The club runs its own membership process, separate from the POA's.

The public reporting leaves several things out. It doesn't say whether the $50,000 is a fee, a deposit, or a capital contribution, or whether any of it is refundable. It also doesn't say how long approval takes or where it falls relative to a signed contract. The description dates from mid-2025, so the current requirements should come from the association directly. This post is general information, not legal or financial advice. Before acting, review the governing documents and terms of your own purchase with your attorney and advisors.

The approval step has a practical effect on pricing. Anyone bidding on a Lost Tree home has already been approved or expects to be. You might expect a pool that narrow to hold prices down. In 2025 it produced three community price records in ten months.

Records Set by Houses Built in 1971 and 1992

The houses behind those records were mostly not new.

In February 2025, 11432 Turtle Beach Road sold for $31.9 million, which The Real Deal called the highest price ever paid in Lost Tree Village at the time. The 7,800-square-foot oceanfront house was built in 1971 on 0.8 acres. Its kitchen, bathrooms, and pool were remodeled in 2022, the same year the property last sold for $22 million.

Three months later, 12032 East End sold for $55 million. That house dates from 1992, was renovated in 2022, and sits on 1.4 acres with 103 feet of oceanfront. Property records show it had sold for $32 million the year before, according to The Real Deal's May 2025 report.

In the same stretch, 11914 Turtle Beach Road sold off-market for $25 million. It is a 5,900-square-foot oceanfront house built in 1971, and the sellers had bought it for $3.2 million in 1990.

The newest construction among the top sales went to the top price. In December 2025, a 2.5-acre waterfront assemblage at 11465 and 11472 Old Harbour Road sold for $97.5 million. It holds two mansions built in 2013 and 2014 plus multiple docks, and The Real Deal reported it as the most expensive sale ever recorded in Lost Tree Village. The two parcels were bought for $11 million in 2009 and $6.1 million in 2010.

All four sales have the same thing in common. Each had ocean frontage or acreage on the water, and in each case the buyer paid far more than any reasonable value for the building alone.

The $27.5 Million Teardown

The clearest evidence came this summer. In August 2026, 11800 Turtle Beach Road sold for $27.5 million. It had gone on the market in April asking $35 million, so it closed about 21 percent below the asking price. The 6,800-square-foot house was built in 1992 and sits on about one acre with 128 feet of water frontage. A person familiar with the deal told The Real Deal that the buyer plans to tear it down and rebuild.

The same report puts the price at more than $4,000 per square foot, for square footage that is going to be demolished. The same month, a 5,000-square-foot home at 11330 Golfview Lane sold for $13 million, or $2,600 per square foot, according to The Real Deal's August 24 roundup. Nothing in that report suggests the Golfview Lane house is coming down. Price per square foot works as a yardstick only if the square feet are what's being bought. At 11800 Turtle Beach Road, the 128 feet of frontage was what sold. That works out to roughly $215,000 per foot of water.

The teardown-and-rebuild approach has a recent track record in the community. A buyer bought 1009 Palm Way Road for $4 million in 2018, demolished the existing house, and finished a 6,200-square-foot home on 0.7 acres in 2021. It sold for $16.3 million in 2023, according to The Real Deal.

One Gate, Very Different Prices

When the structure counts for this little, the setting accounts for most of the spread. The Real Deal's reporting from 2024 through August 2026 shows how wide that spread is.

These are not like-for-like comparisons. The houses differ in size, age, and condition. Even so, the pattern holds across every row. Ocean frontage brings the highest prices. A waterfront lot with a dock sells in the same range as a golf-course home. Interior homes sell at a fraction of oceanfront prices, even though every one of these buyers went through the same admission process.

Sellers Who Buy Again Inside the Gate

The approval step also shapes who is bidding at the lower end. In 2025, three sellers who sold large waterfront or oceanfront homes bought again within Lost Tree Village:

• The seller of 12032 East End bought a non-waterfront Lost Tree home for $8.2 million that same month.
• The sellers of 11914 Turtle Beach Road downsized to a 3,800-square-foot home at 11837 Turtle Beach Road, bought for $5.6 million in May.
• The seller of 11279 Old Harbour Road bought 12087 Turtle Beach Road, a 5,100-square-foot house built in 2006, for $12 million in March.

For an outside buyer, this means the interior and smaller homes compete for a pool that includes people who are already members. Those members have just sold oceanfront property, and they don't have to go through admission again. Three examples don't make a trend. They do show that in this community, demand for a smaller house can come from inside the gate.

For a buyer comparing Lost Tree with other gated golf communities, the carrying cost is modest next to these prices. The August 2026 Real Deal report put annual HOA fees in Lost Tree Village at $6,624. Club membership is a separate cost, and no current initiation figure appears in public reporting.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many homes are in Lost Tree Village? The Real Deal's February 2025 report described a 450-acre gated golf community with 524 homes.

Does buying a home include Lost Tree Club membership? No, according to The Real Deal's July 2025 reporting. Owning a home is required to join the club, and the club has its own membership process apart from the property owners association.

Is the $50,000 admission check refundable? Public reporting doesn't say. It also doesn't say whether the payment is a fee, a deposit, or a contribution. The association's current documents are the place to confirm.

What is the current record sale in Lost Tree Village? As of this writing, the highest price reported is the $97.5 million sale of 11465 and 11472 Old Harbour Road in December 2025. That sale topped the $55 million and $31.9 million records set earlier that year.

At Faxon & Stanko, we help Lost Tree buyers and sellers price by setting and frontage, and we plan around the admission process so it doesn't hold up the contract. If you are weighing an oceanfront lot, a waterfront lot with a dock, or a move within the gate, we invite you to Request a Private Consultation.