Market Intelligence · Market Pulse
The building budget belongs beside the asking price
Condo buyers may have more room to negotiate. Check the building’s repair savings, planned extra charges and financing before deciding whether a discount is a saving.
Updated · The periods covered by the figures are shown separately.
The Question
A lower condo price may come with a larger building bill. Broward's September condo median fell 14.55% from a year earlier to $235,000. Condo inventory would take 10.2 months to sell at the recent pace, versus 4.2 for houses. That gives condo buyers more choice, but you still need to check the building's finances.
What changed?
| Evidence / date | Verified point | Buyer implication |
|---|---|---|
| Broward / September 2026 | 69 median days to contract; 93% original list received | Allow building-level diligence before treating a price cut as value |
| Fannie / applications from Aug 3, 2026 | Limited Review retired; Full Review or applicable waiver | Borrower preapproval does not settle project eligibility |
| Fannie / applications from Jan 4, 2027 | Standard Full Review budget reserve allocation rises 10% to 15% | Check budget path or qualifying reserve-study alternative |
| Florida / 2026 statute | SIRS every 10 years for covered buildings of 3+ habitable stories | Savings for structural work are separate from the routine building budget |
| DBPR / Jan 1, 2026 | Associations managing 25+ units must post required records online/app | Request the actual inspection, budget and financial records |
What it means for you
On an illustrative $1M annual budgeted-income base, a change from 10% to 15% reserve allocation is $50,000 a year; divided equally across 50 homes it is $1,000 per home annually. Actual allocations and a qualifying reserve study may differ. The point is to test the forward budget, not merely the seller's current dues.
Who Should Care
Financed buyers should have the lender review the building before a contract deadline expires. Cash buyers should read the same file because project eligibility affects future buyers: 54.7% of Broward condo closings were cash in September, leaving a substantial financed share even in a cash-heavy segment. Sellers should resolve missing project records before interpreting every failed loan as borrower weakness.
What RET would do next
Value the unit after adding documented assessments, required work and the forward annual budget. If the reserve or insurance file is incomplete, do not treat the difference from an apparently similar building as pure negotiating upside. Compare buildings with equivalent completed repairs and funding, then negotiate the unit.
Worth Knowing
The Fannie letter preserves a reserve-study alternative with specific funding conditions and expands an applicable waiver to projects of ten or fewer units, subject to conditions including restrictions for 5–10-unit master-association projects. A small project is not automatically eligible, and a budget below 15% is not automatically ineligible under every permitted path.
What to Compare
Read milestone inspection and SIRS separately. DBPR describes a general December 31, 2025 SIRS deadline and a conditional coordination path for qualifying milestone inspections due by December 31, 2026; it is not a universal extension. Compare actual report dates, unfunded items, loan balances, insurance deductibles and the lender's current written project decision.
Sources and dates
- MIAMI REALTORS + RWorld: Broward September 2026 - 2026-09
- Fannie Mae LL-2026-03: project standards and insurance - 2026-03-18; phased effective dates
- Florida Statutes 718.112: structural reserves - 2026 statute
- Florida DBPR: condominium records, inspections and reserves - Reviewed 2026-10-23
Research reviewed October 23, 2026. Periods, geography and property type follow each source; asking prices are not closing prices, medians are not repeat-sale appreciation, and illustrated costs are assumptions. RET analysis is not an appraisal or a forecast. Property documents and current written quotes govern a transaction.
Bring the evidence into your decision.
Request a deeper RET reviewAsk RET uses dated published evidence and approved property readers. Availability inquiries remain a separate request.