South Florida's Condo Assessment Crisis, By the Numbers

By Florida Home Vibes

Post-Surfside inspection and reserve-funding rules are starting to show up directly in listing disclosures. (Image: AI-generated for illustration; not a specific building.)

Shop for a condo in South Florida right now and you'll run into a new line item in the listing details: special assessment status. Since the Surfside collapse, Florida law requires condo associations to complete milestone structural inspections and fund Structural Integrity Reserve Studies (SIRS) — and the bill for deferred maintenance is landing on current owners and, by extension, buyers. In the October 16, 2026 edition of the PBP Real Estate Condo Assessment Stress Index (BeachesMLS listing data), 1,278 of 26,105 active condo listings across Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, Martin and St. Lucie counties (4.9%) carry an unresolved special assessment, SIRS funding gap, or milestone inspection flag in their disclosure.

Which Counties Are Hit Hardest

The 4.9% regional average hides a wide county-by-county spread. Broward County leads at 6.1% of listings flagged, followed by Miami-Dade at 4.9%, right at the regional average. St. Lucie sits at 3.5%, Palm Beach County at 3.0%, and Martin County is lowest at 1.4%. Martin (363 listings) and St. Lucie (483) are small samples, so read those two as direction rather than precise rates. Broward and Miami-Dade have the largest stock of pre-1980 condos, and older buildings are where the open issues cluster (see below).

Building Age Is the Real Divide

Age matters more than county lines. Listings in condos built before 1980 show a 7.9% rate of unresolved assessment or inspection issues, nearly eight times the 1.0% rate in buildings constructed since 2000. Buildings from 1980-99 land in between at 4.4%. Under section 553.899, Florida Statutes, condo buildings three or more stories tall need a milestone inspection by December 31 of the year they reach 30 years of age, then every 10 years. A local building official may require it at 25 years where local conditions such as proximity to salt water call for it. So the oldest stock reached its mandatory inspection window first.

The Price Gap Buyers Should Know About

Listings disclosing an open assessment or inspection issue carry a median asking price of roughly $300,000, compared to about $330,000 for listings with no such disclosure, a $30,000 gap. These are market-wide medians across different buildings, and the source notes the gap mostly reflects the age mix rather than a like-for-like discount. Either way, it's not necessarily a bargain. A lower sticker price on an assessment-flagged unit can mean the seller is pricing in a known future cost, but it can also mean the buyer inherits an open-ended special assessment that hasn't been fully quantified yet. The discount and the liability often arrive together.

What to Actually Check Before You Make an Offer

Don't rely on the listing disclosure alone. Request the association's most recent milestone inspection report, the current SIRS report (existing associations were required to complete one by December 31, 2025, though many are still catching up), and at least two years of board meeting minutes where assessments or reserve shortfalls would have been discussed. Ask directly whether any assessment currently approved has an end date and a fixed total, or whether it's open-ended pending further engineering findings — that distinction determines whether you're buying a known cost or an unknown one.

This article is general information, not legal or financial advice. Confirm a specific building's milestone-inspection, reserve-study and assessment status from the association's records, and with a Florida real estate attorney or other qualified professional before making an offer.

Sources & Further Reading

• PBP Real Estate Condo Assessment Stress Index, BeachesMLS listing data (edition 2026-10-16, dated CSV)
• Florida Statutes §553.899 — Milestone inspections
• Florida Statutes §718.112 — Structural Integrity Reserve Study requirements