Florida runs on land value — coastal hotels, condos, and multifamily where the dirt is a huge share of the deal. The specifics that change: documentary stamp taxes on the deed, the insurance line in the coverage math, and a deep hospitality leasehold market.
| The item | Why it matters on a ground-lease deal |
|---|---|
| Documentary stamp tax on the fee transfer | Florida taxes deeds at $0.70 per $100 of consideration ($0.60 + surtax in Miami-Dade) — a real closing-cost line on the land sale that gets priced into the deal economics upfront. No tax on the lease itself under standard structuring; confirm treatment with counsel. |
| No state income tax | Like Texas: the land-sale gain is federal-only, land has no recapture, and the 1031 path is fully available. |
| The insurance line IS the coverage math | Florida NOI carries a property-insurance burden that has repriced hard. Ground rent is sized off NOI after real insurance costs — which is exactly why the 3-4x coverage standard protects both sides in Florida more than anywhere. |
| Hospitality leasehold depth | Florida has one of the country's deepest hotel-leasehold markets — oceanfront ground leases are a long tradition — so leasehold financings and exits price with real precedent. |
| Condo-adjacent caution | Where a deal touches condominium or fractured ownership, the ground-lease analysis changes materially. Whole-asset, single-owner properties are the clean lane. |
The caveat that applies to everything above: state law details shift and deal facts control — treat this as the map, not the survey, and confirm the specifics with local counsel and your CPA. The economics (rent sized off income, 3–4x coverage, fixed escalations) are the same in every state.
$0.70 per $100 of consideration statewide ($0.60 plus surtax in Miami-Dade) on the deed. On a $5M land sale that is roughly $35,000 — a known closing cost priced into the structure, not a surprise.
Rent is sized off NOI after real, current insurance costs — not off a pro forma that pretends 2019 premiums. The 3-4x coverage standard absorbs premium volatility; a deal that only works at stale insurance numbers is not sized honestly.
Often the best: hotel yields against ground-lease caps free more land value than any other asset class, and Florida's hospitality leasehold market is deep enough that lenders and buyers transact leasehold hotels routinely.
No state income tax — the gain is federal-only, land carries no depreciation recapture, and 1031 deferral is fully available.
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