Buying in Florida: the full guide

What homes cost

The statewide median in August 2026 was $415,000 for an existing single-family home and $298,000 for a condominium or townhouse. Prices have been flat: single-family homes were up 1.2% on the year, and condominiums are slightly below last year's level over the year to date. For a buyer that means more room to negotiate than Florida offered a few years ago, and more reason to understand why some condominiums have become hard to sell.

Property tax: do not look at the seller's bill

Florida taxes property through millage rates set by counties, cities and school districts, where one mill is $1 per $1,000 of taxable value. The rate is only half the story. The other half is how the value is set.

• Residents. A home that is your permanent residence qualifies for the homestead exemption, which takes up to $50,000 off the taxable value, and for Save Our Homes, which limits the yearly rise in assessed value to 3% or inflation, whichever is lower.
• Second homes and rentals. No homestead exemption. Assessed value can rise by up to 10% a year, and that cap does not apply to the school portion of the bill.
• Everyone, on purchase. The property is reassessed at full market value on 1 January after the sale.

So a house whose current owner pays $3,000 a year can cost you far more. Ask the county property appraiser's office, or your closing agent, for an estimate based on your purchase price. Bills are sent in November, with a 4% discount for paying that month, falling by a point each month to February.

On 3 November 2026 Floridians vote on Amendment 3. If 60% approve, the homestead exemption for non-school taxes rises sharply from 2027 and the cap for non-homestead property falls from 10% to 5%. It would not abolish property tax, and the larger exemption would benefit residents only. We will update this page after the vote.

Insurance comes before the offer, not after

A lender will not fund a loan on an uninsured home, and in Florida the premium can change what you can afford. The market has eased since its low point: the state-backed insurer Citizens has shrunk by about four fifths since late 2023 as private insurers returned. Even so, three things are different from Europe.

• Hurricane deductible. Separate from the ordinary deductible and offered at $500, 2%, 5% or 10% of the dwelling limit. At 5% on a $400,000 home you carry the first $20,000 of storm damage yourself.
• Flood. Not covered by home insurance. Required by federally backed lenders in high-risk flood zones, and required of Citizens policyholders with wind cover regardless of zone from 1 January 2027, with an exemption for condominium unit owners.
• Inspections for insurers. A wind mitigation inspection documents how the roof is attached and can earn premium credits. Insurers also ask about the age of the roof.

Florida law requires every insurer to cover catastrophic ground cover collapse, and to offer wider sinkhole cover for an extra premium. Ordinary settling or cracking is not covered.

Buying a condominium after Surfside

After the collapse of a condominium tower in Surfside in 2021, Florida rewrote its rules. Buildings of three or more habitable storeys must have a milestone structural inspection at 30 years of age, or 25 where local government requires it near salt water, and every ten years after. Associations must commission a structural integrity reserve study, and for budgets adopted since the end of 2024 they can no longer vote to waive or underfund those reserves.

For buyers this cuts two ways. Buildings are better documented, and monthly fees and special assessments in older buildings can be high. Lenders have tightened as well: under Fannie Mae's rules a project that needs critical structural repairs, or one operated like a hotel with short-term rentals, is not eligible for standard loans. Before you offer on a flat, ask for the milestone inspection report, the reserve study, the budget and any pending assessments, and ask your lender whether the building is acceptable.

The purchase itself

Most resales use the "AS IS" contract approved by Florida Realtors and The Florida Bar. Its inspection period is 15 days unless you write in something else, and within that time you can withdraw for any reason and recover your deposit. The loan approval period defaults to 30 days. There is no cooling-off period after that, and no appraisal contingency unless you add one.

At closing you pay documentary stamp tax of 35 cents per $100 on the mortgage note and intangible tax of 0.2% of the loan. Stamp tax on the deed, 70 cents per $100 of the price, is a matter for negotiation and local custom. On a $400,000 purchase with a $280,000 loan that is, by our arithmetic, $2,800 on the deed, $980 on the note and $560 intangible tax.

Many newer neighbourhoods sit inside a homeowners' association, a Community Development District, or both. An association charges fees and sets rules, including on letting. A district levies yearly assessments that appear on your tax bill on top of ordinary property tax, and the contract must warn you of it in bold type. Read both before you sign.

Letting to holidaymakers

A home let more than three times a year for periods under 30 days is a vacation rental and needs a state licence. Rentals of six months or less are taxed: 6% state sales tax, a county surtax, and a county tourist tax. Whether you may do it at all is decided locally, because cities and counties with rules older than June 2011 can still restrict short stays. Lenders also look at use: a loan for a second home is not a loan for a rental business, and a building run as a hotel may not qualify for standard financing.

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