Florida condo listings soar as sales sink amid high insurance rates, HOA fees

TAMPA, Fla. - Florida condo owners are stuck in a rut as prices drop and mounting insurance rates and condo fees are scaring away buyers. It’s led to more condos sitting on the market for longer than single-family homes according to realtors in the Bay Area.

Condo owners in the Sunshine State are trying to unload units, as insurance costs and maintenance fees, like an HOA, make it too expensive. It’s led to a 30% jump in condo listings sitting on the market from that just this time last year in Florida.

"What you're seeing here is flood insurance rates have impacted not only single-family homes, but they've really impacted a lot of condominiums, especially if they're on the water. And as these insurance policies rise, HOA payments have gone really high," said Mark Middleton from Silver Trident Realty. "You can clearly see that condos are staying on the market longer. And some of those prices are significantly lower price than they were a year ago."

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The risk of flooding and worsening weather has scrambled the homeowner’s market. Single-family homes are always a necessity, so condo sales have been worse off.

File: Condo

Data from just in the Bay Area shows condo sales are down year over year by 18%. While in many cases, condo owners say insurance costs and HOA fees have doubled in the last few years.

"We have high-interest rates, high insurance or condo fees is how the insurance is wrapped in, and high prices," said Cyndee Haydon with Future Home Realty. "Interest rates are across the United States, insurances across Florida. But the condo catch-up piece is sort of unique right now to the rest of the world that we're dealing with."

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According to RedFin, homeowners’ insurance in Florida costs three times the national average and is escalating with unfortunately no reprieve insight.

The laws and regulations for condo owners also changed following the Surfside tragedy in South Florida in 2021, where a 12-story building collapsed.

Now, new fees for building assessments and safety precautions have been imposed on owners as well.

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