How Old Are South Florida's Condos? What Florida's Condominium Register Shows

Most of South Florida's larger condominiums were created a generation or more ago. Of the 7,940 condominiums with 20 or more units in Florida's condominium register for Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, 6,054, or 76.2%, recorded their declarations in 1996 or earlier, 30 or more calendar years before 2026. Those 7,940 condominiums hold 723,357 units, and the older group holds 66.3% of them.

Every figure in this article is our own count of the public file, as of the DBPR extracts checked September 27, 2026 (Miami-Dade) and October 26, 2026 (Broward and Palm Beach). The source is the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares and Mobile Homes at the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR). The numbers were computed by a script we publish with the site's code, scripts/register-stats.ts, which reads the same register that builds our condominium pages at /condo-associations.

What the register records, and what it does not

The register has one row per condominium: its project number, name, address, unit count, managing association and the date its declaration was recorded. Under section 718.104 of the Florida Statutes, a condominium is created by recording that declaration, so the recorded date is when the condominium came into legal existence.

It is not a construction date. A condominium can be declared years after an apartment building opens, when the rental building converts to condominium ownership, and for a new tower the recording date and the completion date need not match. It is also not the date of a certificate of occupancy, which is the date Florida's inspection law counts from. The register does not record stories, buildings or inspection status. And 1,064 of the 7,940 rows carry January 1 as the recorded date, which in this file marks a year-only entry rather than a New Year's Day filing. So we count by year.

We count only condominiums with 20 or more units, the same threshold our register pages use, so duplexes and small walk-ups are left out. The full county files have 5,467 rows for Miami-Dade, 3,542 for Broward and 2,653 for Palm Beach.

The 1970s built Broward and Palm Beach; Miami-Dade peaked in the 2000s

Broward and Palm Beach follow the same curve. In Broward, 1,305 of 2,962 condominiums, 44.1%, were recorded in the 1970s, and another 824, 27.8%, in the 1980s. In Palm Beach, the 1970s account for 916 of 2,184, 41.9%, and the 1980s for 747, 34.2%. Both counties then drop sharply: the 1990s are 4.7% of Broward's condominiums and 5.3% of Palm Beach's.

Miami-Dade is flatter and younger. Its busiest decade is the 2000s, with 825 of 2,794 condominiums, 29.5%. The 1970s, with 602 (21.5%), and the 1980s, with 617 (22.1%), are each close behind, and the 1990s add 384 (13.7%). The 1960s account for 162 in Miami-Dade, 284 in Broward and 154 in Palm Beach. The register's earliest year among these condominiums is 1956.

The median recorded year is 1990 in Miami-Dade, 1979 in Broward and 1980 in Palm Beach, and 1981 across all three counties.

New declarations are a small share everywhere. Only 182 of the 7,940, 2.3%, were recorded in 2016 or later: 116 in Miami-Dade (4.2%), 34 in Broward (1.1%) and 32 in Palm Beach (1.5%).

Recorded 30 or more years ago, by county

Counting condominiums recorded in 1996 or earlier, the shares are 57.6% in Miami-Dade (1,609 of 2,794), 85.2% in Broward (2,524 of 2,962) and 88.0% in Palm Beach (1,921 of 2,184).

Weighted by units, the shares are lower, because many of the large newer towers are in Miami-Dade: 50.1% of Miami-Dade's units, 76.6% of Broward's and 80.5% of Palm Beach's are in condominiums recorded in 1996 or earlier.

By city: from 24% to every condominium

Among the 33 cities with at least 50 condominiums of 20 or more units, the share recorded in 1996 or earlier ranges from 24.0% to 100%. Cities here are the mailing city DBPR records, so some Aventura addresses, for example, appear under North Miami Beach.

Every one of Lauderdale Lakes' 103 condominiums was recorded in 1996 or earlier (/condo-associations/in/lauderdale-lakes). Lauderhill follows with 139 of 141, 98.6% (/condo-associations/in/lauderhill), then Deerfield Beach with 296 of 307, 96.4%, and Coconut Creek with 168 of 176, 95.5%. In Palm Beach County, Boca Raton is at 92.4% (353 of 382) and Delray Beach at 92.2% (353 of 383).

Miami-Dade's cities sit lower. North Miami Beach is the exception at 88.7% (181 of 204, /condo-associations/in/north-miami-beach). The City of Miami, the largest city in the register, has 696 of 1,241 condominiums recorded in 1996 or earlier, 56.1% (/condo-associations/in/miami). Miami Beach is at 60.6% (251 of 414, /condo-associations/in/miami-beach), Hialeah at 66.2% (176 of 266) and Coral Gables at 50.7% (37 of 73). Aventura is at 30.9% (17 of 55, /condo-associations/in/aventura), and the lowest share is Miramar in Broward at 24.0% (12 of 50).

In Broward's largest city, Fort Lauderdale, 317 of 423 condominiums, 74.9%, were recorded in 1996 or earlier (/condo-associations/in/fort-lauderdale).

How this relates to milestone inspections and SIRS

Florida's milestone-inspection law, section 553.899 of the Florida Statutes, applies to buildings three or more habitable stories in height under condominium or cooperative ownership. The first inspection is due by December 31 of the year the building reaches 30 years of age, counted from the date its certificate of occupancy was issued, and then every 10 years. A building that reached 30 before July 1, 2022 needed its initial inspection before December 31, 2024. The local enforcement agency may require the first inspection at 25 years where local circumstances, including proximity to salt water, warrant it. DBPR's inspection page says Phase 2 follows only when the Phase 1 visual assessment finds substantial structural deterioration.

The structural integrity reserve study, or SIRS, is a separate requirement under section 718.112. DBPR describes it as applying to residential condominium associations with buildings three or more habitable stories in height, at least every 10 years after the condominium's creation. Owner-controlled associations existing on or before July 1, 2022 had to complete one by December 31, 2025, or by December 31, 2026 when it is done together with a milestone inspection due by then.

The register can't tell you whether a particular building is covered. It records neither stories nor certificate-of-occupancy dates, and a declaration date can be later or earlier than the date a building was completed. A recorded date of 1996 or earlier is not a statement that a building needs an inspection, has missed one or has any structural issue. What the count does show is scale: most of South Florida's larger condominiums were created 30 or more years ago, which is the population these rules were written for.

Questions readers ask about this count

Method and reuse

We read both county extracts, kept condominiums with 20 or more units, placed each in a city from its DBPR mailing address and counted by the year of the recorded date. Eighteen rows give an address without a recognised city; they count toward their county but not toward any city. The script, scripts/register-stats.ts, writes every figure above to a data file so anyone can rerun it against the next extract. Journalists and researchers are welcome to cite the numbers with a link to this page; please write to hello@miamicondohq.com with questions about the method. For what to ask an association about inspections and reserves, see /blog/miami-condo-milestone-inspection-sirs, and for the largest condominiums by unit count, see /blog/largest-condominium-associations-miami-dade-broward.