It is more expensive to own a high-rise condo in South Florida than just about anywhere else in the U.S. except for an island between the East and Hudson rivers.
And that doesn’t include paying for the condo itself. That’s just the cost of upkeep in the form of monthly fees.
An annual review of condo buildings of at least seven stories managed by First Service Residential finds the average association fee of a Miami-Dade high-rise condo is up almost $500 a month compared to last year. Average monthly assessments now run more than $1,900 a month for these types of buildings. The cost is just over $1,800 a month for units in Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach.
Only condos and co-ops in New York City have higher average costs per square foot.
"Miami seems to be a highly desirable area," said Robert Smith, the south region president of First Service Residential. "What you're seeing is that strong international buyers are here (with) different types of expectations around service."
High-end luxury buildings have dominated the new construction market as developers look to recoup costly land and higher building expenses. Newer buildings not subject to reforms put in place after the collapse of the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside also have experienced more demand.
Sales of $1 million-plus condos were up 7.6% in Miami-Dade County in October, according to data from the Miami Realtors Association. The realtors group also found over the past two years more than half of newly built condos have been brought by international buyers.
"The luxury market remains really strong and with that market comes service expectations," Smith said.
However, it’s not necessarily pool-side towel service that has driven up monthly fees. It’s been insurance, personnel and, to a lesser degree, building up financial reserves.
The 2025 data is the second year First Service collected what it calls “benchmark” information on the budgets of buildings it manages across North America.
The proportion of a condo unit’s monthly fees going toward insurance rose 25% to $377 a month. The average high-rise condo owner in Fort Lauderdale/Palm Beach paid $438 a month for its association’s insurance this year. Active hurricane seasons in Florida over the past few years coupled with the Surfside condo building collapse fueled fast escalating property insurance premiums.
But Smith is seeing some relief. ”What's encouraging for me is that we're starting to see some relief in the insurance market with more carriers and reduced premiums,” he said.
Insurance costs are second only to regular operating expenses for the condo associations surveyed. Those operating costs include professional management fees, which were up more than 40% on average per unit from a year ago.
Associations also are putting away more money into reserves than they did last year. About 12 cents of every HOA budget dollar went into reserves in this year’s study, up from 9 cents in 2024. Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach associations are putting away 14 cents of every budget dollar.
While an improvement from a year ago, the proportion of association budgets going toward building financial reserves in South Florida remains below associations in most other large metropolitan areas.
“We're working with our associations consistently now about strategic planning to understand what their goals are and what their future looks like in order to deal with milestone inspections (and) starting a reserve fund appropriately,” said Smith.
Physical inspections of older buildings and examining financial statements of older buildings are required under reforms passed by state lawmakers after the Champlain Towers South tragedy, which killed 98 people in 2021.
