In June 2024, owners at SurfSide Club South, a condominium on the Ormond Beach oceanfront, were facing special assessments of more than $100,000 per unit, according to a ClickOrlando report. The station reported that the costs came from required engineering work, repairs and reserve funding, on top of rising insurance and hurricane repairs.
"The hope is, when we get the restoration part done, then the units will be worth more and I can sell," one owner told the station.
Since the Surfside collapse, Florida law has required older condo buildings to pay for their own long-term structural care. That cost doesn't disappear when a building lists units at lower prices. Some of it moves out of the sale price and into dues and assessments, so a falling condo median can mean the cost has shifted rather than dropped.
The September number that looks like a bargain
Florida Realtors tracks the Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach metro, which covers Volusia and Flagler counties. Here is how its September 2026 report compares condos and single-family homes.
| Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach metro | Condos and townhouses | Single-family homes |
|---|---|---|
| September 2026 closed sales | 209, up 1.5% year over year | 898, down 11.6% year over year |
| September 2026 median price | $279,000, down 7.0% | $360,000, unchanged |
| Year-to-date median through September 2026 | $286,750, up 0.6% | $360,000, up 1.4% |
Condo sales held steady in September 2026 while the condo median slipped 7%. Single-family sales fell, but their median didn't move. That pattern usually means buyers are still willing to buy condos but are paying less for each one. Given what the law now requires of these buildings, part of that lower price likely reflects costs a buyer expects to pay after closing.
Across Florida, condos also take longer to sell. In September 2026, the statewide condo report showed 7.7 months of supply and a median of 65 days to contract. The statewide single-family report showed 4.4 months of supply and 47 days for houses. Those are statewide numbers, not Volusia figures, but they point the same way. Condo buyers have more choices and more time, so they negotiate on price.
Where the missing dollars went
Before the post-Surfside laws, a condo association's owners could vote to set aside less money for future repairs, or nothing at all. That kept monthly dues low and left the bill for later.
The money can come from regular dues, special assessments, lines of credit or loans. Each of those routes ends up with the owners.
The amounts got larger at the same time. In an April 2025 story on Daytona Beach-area condo costs, Spectrum News 13 quoted a building manager's estimates. Insurance for a beachside building had gone from about $90,000 a year before 2021 to about $300,000. Concrete restoration had gone from about $1 million to $2 million or $3 million. The same story put typical Volusia beachside dues at $800 to $1,200 a month and followed a former owner at the Ocean Ritz who sold after his fees, insurance costs and a special assessment kept rising.
So a buyer comparing a $279,000 condo with a $360,000 house is not comparing the full cost of each. With the condo, some costs can show up later through the association.
Inspections and reserves
The 2024 ClickOrlando story described a milestone inspection deadline. A structural integrity reserve study, or SIRS, is a funding study.
For a buyer, two buildings with the same monthly dues today can be in very different positions. One may be fully funding its reserves. The other may be paying for repairs now and facing higher reserve payments later.
Where the paperwork shows condo costs
Association records can include budgets, financial statements and information about special assessments, lines of credit or loans.
Ormond Beach also has its own local record. In 2024, the City Commission took up an ordinance putting the state's milestone inspection requirement into effect for condo and cooperative buildings three stories or taller. It was introduced at the June 4, 2024 meeting and came back for second reading on July 23, 2024.
When we compare beachside condos with clients, these are some of the records we look at:
- The most recent SIRS
- The milestone inspection report and the repairs it recommends
- The current budget, including whether reserves are paused or reduced
- The annual financial statement, including any special assessment, line of credit or loan
- Minutes from recent board meetings where funding votes were discussed
Read side by side, those five records can help buyers compare dues, repairs and funding.
A few quick answers
What happened to SB 722? SB 722, a 2026 Senate bill about SIRS reserve waivers and reductions, died in committee on March 13, 2026.
Is a lower condo price still a good buy? It can be. A building that has finished its study, funded its reserves and completed its concrete work may be priced to reflect costs that are already paid. The building's records can help buyers compare costs.
This post is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Please confirm the details of any building, budget or contract with an attorney, accountant or other qualified professional.
If you're weighing an oceanfront condo in Ormond Beach against a house a few miles inland, we're glad to go through the association records with you, page by page, before you make an offer. Reach out to Wendy Schwoerer, and we'll help you look at what a building owes as closely as you look at the view.
