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Short answer: New construction in Florida can be an excellent buy — often the best one on the market. But five things determine whether it turns out that way, and none of them are the house itself: the quality control behind it, the builder's contract, the property tax reset after the home is assessed, the CDD assessment on your tax bill, and what happens to resale value while the builder is still selling your floor plan.
People buy new so they don't inherit someone else's problems. No aging roof, no twenty-year-old air handler, no previous owner's weekend electrical work. That logic is sound. I'd buy new construction myself, and in the right situation I prefer it.
But the sales center is not designed to walk you through the five things that actually decide whether this was a good decision three years from now. So here they are.
Does new construction in Florida mean the home was built correctly?
Not automatically. Most new homes in Florida are built fine, and builders will correctly point out that serious defect claims represent a very small share of what they produce. But Florida has been building at extraordinary volume, and volume, subcontractor turnover and closing deadlines put pressure on quality control.
Two active matters illustrate the point. The Seminole Tribe of Florida has sued Lennar over alleged defects — roof problems, water intrusion and mold — in hundreds of homes the Tribe paid roughly $300 million to build. Separate Florida litigation involves homeowners and one of the country's other largest builders. These are allegations being litigated, and they do not mean every home either company builds has problems. What they mean is that "brand new" is not a substitute for verification.
There's a timing issue that makes this more urgent in Florida than most buyers realize. Florida's statute of repose for construction defect claims was shortened from ten years to seven by Senate Bill 360 in 2023, and the clock generally starts at completion — the certificate of occupancy — not the day you discover the problem. Florida law also requires owners to notify responsible parties of alleged defects and give them a chance to inspect and repair before filing suit, under Chapter 558 of the Florida Statutes.
What I'd do: hire your own independent inspector, twice. Once during construction before the drywall goes up, and again before closing. Once drywall is installed, the plumbing, electrical, framing, HVAC connections and waterproofing details all disappear. A few hundred dollars against a several-hundred-thousand-dollar purchase is inexpensive insurance, and it is the single highest-return money in the entire transaction.
Is a builder's contract different from a normal Florida real estate contract?
Yes, substantially. In a typical resale you're using a standardized Florida contract. When you buy from a builder, you're signing an agreement the builder's attorney drafted to protect the builder. That doesn't make it unfair — but the flexibility and protections you'd expect from a resale contract may not exist in the same form.
Things worth reading closely before you sign:
- Construction timelines. Builder contracts often give the builder significant latitude on delivery. March becomes June becomes September, and your ability to walk away over the delay may be narrow.
- Material substitutions. Many agreements let the builder substitute finishes, appliances or components when the specified product isn't available.
- Deposit terms. Understand exactly when your deposit becomes non-refundable, and at what stage.
- Financing. On a build that takes a year or more, rates change, your finances can change, and the appraisal can come in under contract price. Whether you can terminate, recover your deposit, or must bring additional cash is entirely a function of what you signed. This matters even more on pre-construction condos, where the gap between signing and closing can be years.
For a purchase of any size, a Florida real estate attorney's review of the builder agreement is money well spent.
One more thing, and it's time-sensitive: if you plan to use a buyer's agent, involve them before you visit the sales center or register with the builder. Builder registration policies vary, but in many communities registering yourself first can affect whether an agent is able to represent you in that transaction. The person in the model home works for the builder. Your agent works for you.
Why do property taxes go up after you buy a new construction home in Florida?
Because the first tax figure you see was often assessed on a lot, not a finished house. When a home is brand new, there may not have been a completed structure on the property during the prior tax year for the county property appraiser to assess. The taxes look low. Then the property is reassessed with the completed home, and the number changes materially.
Florida's Save Our Homes assessment limitation does not prevent that first reset. Once you establish homestead and qualify, it can cap annual increases in the assessed value of your homesteaded property — but the property has to establish that new assessed value first.
I've watched relocating buyers get caught by this every year. Nothing about the mortgage changed and nothing happened to the house, but the escrow payment jumps because the tax bill finally caught up to the finished home.
The question to ask is not "what were the taxes last year." It's "what should the taxes be once this home is fully assessed." That's the number that belongs in your monthly budget.
What is a CDD in Florida, and how much does it cost?
A CDD is a Community Development District — a special-purpose local government used to finance the infrastructure of a large master-planned community: roads, drainage, lakes, utilities, landscaping, amenity centers, clubhouses and pools. The infrastructure is financed with bonds, and homeowners inside the district repay those obligations through assessments that typically appear on the annual property tax bill. Florida CDDs are governed by Chapter 190 of the Florida Statutes.
If you're relocating from another state, there's a good chance you've never encountered one. It is a real line item, and it can be a large one.
Your monthly carrying cost | Included? |
|---|---|
Mortgage principal and interest | Usually the only number quoted |
Property taxes | Often quoted on a pre-assessment basis |
Homeowners insurance | Sometimes estimated low |
HOA dues | Sometimes disclosed at the sales center |
CDD assessment | Frequently missed entirely |
A $3,000 annual CDD assessment is $250 a month. Over twenty years, that's $60,000. That doesn't make a CDD bad — you're getting the roads, the lakes and the amenities that make these communities what they are. But it belongs in the price of the house in your head, because there's a wide gap between qualifying for the mortgage and comfortably affording the total carrying cost.
What to request before you buy: the CDD disclosure. Find out the annual assessment, what portion of it is debt service versus ongoing operations and maintenance, how much bond debt remains, and whether it can be paid off early. The debt portion may eventually retire. The operations and maintenance portion generally continues.
Is new construction harder to resell in Florida?
It can be, if the builder is still selling in your community. Builders have something no individual homeowner has: an incentive budget. Closing cost credits, mortgage rate buydowns, design center credits, lot premium incentives — sometimes tens of thousands of dollars in concessions.
Builders generally prefer not to cut the recorded base price when they can avoid it, because recorded sales set the comps that affect appraisals and pricing across the whole community. So they protect the headline price and give value back through incentives instead.
That's excellent when you're the buyer. Three years later, it's your problem.
Picture it. You bought at $700,000 and put another $40,000 into making it yours. Now you need to move, so you list at $750,000. Five doors down, the builder is still selling your exact floor plan — brand new, never lived in, with a $40,000 incentive package attached. Which one does that buyer choose?
When the builder is still building, the builder is your competition — and unlike you, they can use financing incentives and corporate margins to move inventory. This is why I'm cautious about new construction for anyone who might realistically sell within three or four years, and why I like buying later in the build-out, once the community is mature and the builder is nearly sold out.
And on upgrades: don't assume a dollar at the design center returns a dollar of value. If I'm spending builder money, I prioritize what's difficult or impossible to change later — the lot, ceiling height, structural options, garage space, impact glass. I'm far less willing to pay a builder markup on cosmetic finishes I could replace myself. When you compare new construction to resale, compare the home you're actually buying — after lot premium and upgrades — not the advertised base price.
So would I buy new construction in Florida?
Absolutely — in the right situation I prefer it. New construction with a verified build, a contract you understand, a fully-assessed tax number, the CDD in your math, and a realistic view of resale is a strong purchase. New construction bought on the base price and the model home is a guess.
If you're evaluating a specific new-construction community in Palm Beach County — West Palm Beach, Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens, Boca Raton — I'm glad to tell you what I know about it, and I can connect you with an independent inspector I'd use myself.
Know more, so you can move better.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a real estate agent to buy new construction in Florida? You aren't required to have one, but the sales representative in the model home represents the builder, not you. If you want your own representation, involve your agent before you register with the builder or visit the sales center — many builder registration policies affect an agent's ability to represent you after you've registered yourself.
Does a home inspection matter on a brand-new house? Yes, and arguably more than on a resale, because the window to bring certain construction defect claims in Florida is now seven years from completion rather than ten. The highest-value inspection happens before drywall, when the plumbing, electrical, framing and waterproofing are still visible.
Are CDD fees tax deductible in Florida? Treatment varies by the nature of the assessment, and it's a question for your tax professional rather than your broker. What matters at the buying stage is that the assessment is a real recurring cost that belongs in your monthly budget alongside taxes, insurance and HOA.
Does a CDD ever go away? The bond debt portion may be paid off over time, and in some districts homeowners can pay off their share early. The operations and maintenance portion generally continues as long as the district maintains the infrastructure. Ask for the CDD disclosure and find out how much debt remains.
How much do property taxes increase on a new construction home in Florida? It depends on the assessed value of the completed home versus what the property was assessed at before — often a vacant or partially built lot. The increase can be substantial. Ask the county property appraiser or your agent what the taxes should be once the home is fully assessed, rather than relying on the prior year's bill.
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