Miami Condo Fees Among Highest In North America Even Before Florida's 2025 Deadline
In this latest issue of the Miami Condo Market Intelligence Report™, we examine a new 40-page report that analyzes condo association maintenance fees in Miami and 14 other markets in North America.
Volume 2024, Issue 31 (Subscribe here)
This week’s Miami Condo Market Intelligence Report™ newsletter examines a new 40-page report that compares the 2024 operating budgets of 750 highrise condo associations in 15 markets around North America.
FirstService Residential, a property management firm that runs 9,000 associations with about 1.7 million units in the United States and Canada, published the “2024 High-Rise Edition” of the “Benchmark: The Guide To Residential Association Operating Costs And Budgets” report.
In producing the report, FirstService Residential crunched its internal numbers for the highrise towers that it manages.
The report’s findings are likely to provide “benchmark” rates for insurance, operations, reserves, administration and utilities for highrise condos in North America.
FirstService Residential, however, cautioned against using the rates featured in the report as industry standards.
Still, condo owners, investors and board members, alike, are probably going to ignore the warning as they are hungry for information to better evaluate the financial stability of associations.
For our purposes, we carved out the budget statistics for highrise condo associations for Miami-Dade County as well as four other markets that may be of interest to buyers, sellers and investors in South Florida.
The markets we decided to compare Miami-Dade County to are Tampa-St. Petersburg, New York City, Los Angeles-San Diego-San Francisco and Toronto.
The Tampa-St. Petersburg market provides some intrastate perspective about what condo associations on the west coast of Florida are facing.
New York City was a natural choice as residents from the empire state have traditionally visited and relocated to South Florida.
The same goes for Toronto, which is a longtime source of second-home buyers and investors in Florida.
The Los Angeles-San Diego-San Francisco metro area is the only possible outlier as it does not have a obvious connection to South Florida.
At least, that was before 2020 when a number of workers from the tech and/or entertainment industries relocated to South Florida.
What we found in analyzing the stats is, condo associations in the United States and Canada, alike, are all facing similar surges in expenses just like South Florida due to a number of factors, including insurance rate spikes, increasing requirements for reserves and an ongoing shortage of labor.
The trigger for these price rises is the fact that an increasing number of states are taking notable strides in the aftermath of the Surfside condo tragedy, where nearly 100 people died and a $1 billion settlement was paid out to the families of the victims.
A federal investigation is currently underway but the preliminary reports suggest a flawed design coupled with a lack of upkeep by the condominium’s association contributed to the disaster.
The Florida legislature has taken a number of steps - prompted by insurance companies threatening to withdraw coverage in the state - to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again.
Up until now, the state’s measures were being implemented slowly but that all changes in 2025.
Beginning in January, condo associations in Florida are required to start collecting money from increasingly cash-strapped unit owners to place into reserve accounts that will be used exclusively to fix, maintain and improve the structural integrity of residential buildings that are at least three-stories tall.
People are dubbing this moment as the 2025 Condo Association Financial Cliff as it is expected to result in significantly higher costs for unit owners. News reports are already chronicling condo owners selling their units at deep discounts ahead of 2025.
Following Florida’s lead, legislatures in Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan and Virginia have taken steps in response to the Surfside tragedy.
Additionally, an increasing number of “forward thinking” associations in states that do not have stringent reserve requirements are opting to start collecting funds from owners in anticipation of necessary upkeep costs in the future.
It is against this backdrop, we did a deep dive into various aspects of highrise condo association maintenance fees for this week’s reports.
Our first story this week focuses on the “benchmark” maintenance fees for “small” and “big” highrise condo associations in Miami-Dade County.
In the second story, we provide insight into how little proportionally that Miami-Dade County condo owners are contributing to reserves.
For the third story, we examine how Miami-Dade County condo owners are spending more on insurance than the four other major markets.
For the fourth story, we explore how the operating expenses for Miami-Dade County condo associations are about one-third less than in New York City.
It is a lot of information but we are confident our reports will assist you to better understand current market conditions in South Florida.
It is worth noting that we are sharing a portion of our research for free with subscribers to our newsletter and readers of CondoVultures.com. If you want access to all of our published information and charts, we would encourage you to join the newly launched Miami Condo Market Investing Club™.
The objective of the Club is to create a community that shares realtime, actionable information on the latest real estate trends, opportunities and service providers in South Florida.
The Club is ideally suited for Do-It-Yourself (DIY) condo buyers who can rely on our latest statistics, expert opinions and access to consulting services.
Additionally, we encourage you to listen or view our podcast wherever you get podcasts. The podcast is available on Apple, Spotify and/or YouTube.
As a reminder, we are always available for consulting, expert witness work and buyside brokerage services just as we have been since 2006.
If you are seeking information on condo resales in South Florida, please visit CondoVulturesRealty.com or call the office at 305.865.5859.
— Peter Zalewski, Founder of the Miami Condo Market Investing Club™
Story 1
Is Your Miami Condo Association Secretly Overcharging You?
A new report from the property management firm FirstService Residential provides a "benchmark" maintenance fee for highrise condo towers in Miami-Dade County.
Story 2
Miami Highrise Condo Owners Contribute Less To Reserves Than Tampa, LA, Toronto Peers
A new report from the property management firm FirstService Residential provides a "benchmark" for reserves in highrise condo towers in five major markets.
Story 3
Miami Highrise Condo Owners Outspend Tampa, NYC, LA, Toronto Peers On Insurance
A new report from the property management firm FirstService Residential provides a "benchmark" for insurance expenses in highrise condo towers in five major markets.
Story 4
Miami Highrise Condo Owners Spend 34% Less On 'Operations' Than NYC Peers
A new report from the property management firm FirstService Residential provides a "benchmark" for operating expenses in highrise condo towers in five major markets.
This information is believed to be accurate and complete but cannot be guaranteed or warranted.
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