Florida Real Estate: The Statewide Guides

The typical owner-occupied Florida home was valued at $359,000 in the Census Bureau's American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates (ACS DP04, Florida).

The same Florida table counts 10,256,470 housing units, with 67.6 percent of occupied homes lived in by their owners and 32.4 percent rented, and a median gross rent of $1,669 a month (ACS DP04). Single-family detached houses make up 54.7 percent of Florida housing units, buildings with 20 or more units 14.4 percent and mobile homes 8.0 percent.

For the direction of prices rather than their level, the Federal Housing Finance Agency's all-transactions house price index for Florida, published on FRED as series FLSTHPI (1980 first quarter equals 100), tracks the direction of Florida prices (FHFA index via FRED). It jumped from 677.55 in the first quarter of 2022 to 760.07 by the third quarter, dipped to 755.90 at the end of 2022, then climbed to 819.04 at the end of 2024. In 2025 it slipped to 810.04 in the first quarter, and the latest reading, 825.70 for the second quarter of 2026, is about 1.4 percent above the 814.29 of a year earlier and almost unchanged from 825.97 in the first quarter of 2026.

The Florida condo market overview covers condo sales volume and pricing trends since the Surfside collapse and the safety laws that followed.

A Florida owner who makes the home a permanent residence can cut its taxable value by as much as $50,000 with the homestead exemption, applied for at the county property appraiser (Florida Department of Revenue).

The exemption comes in two parts, and eligibility turns on title and permanent residence on January 1. Section 196.031 of the Florida Statutes exempts the first $25,000 of assessed value from all taxation except special benefit assessments, and adds a second exemption of up to $25,000 on the assessed value above $50,000 that applies to every levy except school district taxes (section 196.031). The statute now indexes that second $25,000 to inflation, adjusting it every January 1 by the change in the Consumer Price Index, so the second tier can change each year while the first stays at $25,000.

Timing matters. Florida Statutes section 196.011 sets March 1 as the annual filing deadline, and missing it waives the exemption for that year except in the narrow late-filing and postal-error cases the statute lists (section 196.011). The Department of Revenue notes that the county property appraiser decides whether a parcel qualifies, and that further exemptions exist for owners with disabilities, senior citizens, veterans, active duty military members and disabled first responders (Florida DOR). The Florida property tax overview walks through those exemptions, millage rates and the variation across Florida's 67 counties.

A Florida homestead's assessed value can rise each year by no more than the lower of 3 percent or the prior year's change in the Consumer Price Index, while non-homestead residential property is capped at 10 percent for non-school levies (section 193.155, section 193.1554).

The Department of Revenue says the homestead exemption is what qualifies a home for this assessment limitation (Florida DOR). Section 193.155 resets a home to full just value as of January 1 of the year it first receives the exemption, then applies the annual limit (section 193.155).

The built-up gap is not lost on a move. Under the portability rules in the same section, an owner who buys a new Florida homestead can carry the difference between just value and assessed value from the old one, up to $500,000 (section 193.155). Non-homestead residential property with nine or fewer dwelling units gets a separate 10 percent annual limit in section 193.1554 for every levy except school district taxes (section 193.1554), and nonresidential property and larger residential buildings get a parallel 10 percent limit, also excluding school levies, in section 193.1555 (section 193.1555).

Florida property taxes are due November 1, become delinquent on April 1 of the following year, and earn a 4 percent discount when paid in November (section 197.333, section 197.162).

The discount falls by one point a month: section 197.162 of the Florida Statutes sets 4 percent in November, 3 percent in December, 2 percent in January, 1 percent in February and nothing in March (section 197.162). On a $5,000 bill, paying in November instead of March is worth $200. Under section 197.333, taxes become due on November 1 or as soon as the certified roll reaches the county tax collector, and delinquent on April 1 or 60 days after the original notice was mailed, whichever is later (section 197.333).

The work is split in each county: the property appraiser determines whether a parcel is entitled to an exemption (Florida DOR), and the county tax collector collects the taxes on the county tax rolls (section 197.162). The Florida property tax overview covers how taxes vary across Florida's 67 counties.

Florida condominium and cooperative buildings three habitable stories or taller need a milestone structural inspection by December 31 of the year they turn 30, then every 10 years, plus a structural integrity reserve study at least every 10 years (section 553.899, section 718.112).

Section 553.899 of the Florida Statutes dates the 30 years from the certificate of occupancy and lets the local enforcement agency move the first inspection up to year 25 where local conditions, such as proximity to salt water, call for it (section 553.899). Buildings that turned 30 before July 1, 2022 had to finish their first inspection before December 31, 2024. The law does not reach single-family, duplex, triplex or fourplex dwellings of three or fewer habitable stories.

The reserve study is the money side. Section 718.112 requires a residential Florida condominium association to complete a structural integrity reserve study at least every 10 years for each building three habitable stories or higher, and associations that existed on July 1, 2022 had until December 31, 2025 to complete the first one (section 718.112). Reserves must then be kept for the components the study identifies, based on its findings and recommendations. The Florida condo market overview explains how those requirements reach buyers and sellers of Florida condominium units.

Florida voters will decide Amendment 3 on the 2026 general election ballot, a Legislature-referred proposal titled Increased Homestead Exemption; Lower Cap on Increases in Non-Homestead Property Assessments (Florida Division of Elections).

The Division of Elections lists the measure as House Joint Resolution 1F from the Florida Legislature, filed with an active status date of June 16, 2026, and numbered 3 on the 2026 general election list alongside Amendment 1 on the budget stabilization fund and Amendment 2 on tangible personal property on agricultural land (Division of Elections list). The exemption amounts and caps described above are those in sections 196.031, 193.155 and 193.1554 of the 2026 Florida Statutes.

Two practical points follow from the sources. The second $25,000 homestead exemption is already inflation-indexed every January 1, so the figure can change from year to year even if nothing passes (section 196.031). And the Florida price index was nearly flat, 825.97 to 825.70 between the first and second quarters of 2026 (FHFA index via FRED).

The Florida real estate section has two statewide guides, the Florida property tax overview and the Florida condo market overview, and the table maps each common question to the fact above and the guide that goes deeper.

Values, exemptions and bills are set county by county, so a Florida owner's first contact for local information is the county property appraiser, as the Department of Revenue advises (Florida DOR). Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the Florida Department of Revenue, Florida Legislature, Florida Division of Elections and U.S. Census Bureau websites.