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Florida Amendment 3 Explained for Space Coast Buyers and Investors

By John Kleopoulos, Mortgage Loan Originator, NMLS #2686219 | Loan Factory, Inc., NMLS #320841 | Last reviewed October 14, 2026

The short answer: Florida Amendment 3 is on the November 3, 2026 ballot. If at least 60% of voters approve it, the homestead exemption for non-school property taxes rises from about $51,000 to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, and the yearly assessment cap on rentals, second homes and commercial property drops from 10% to 5%. School taxes don’t change, and your 2026 tax bill doesn’t change. Here’s what that means on the Space Coast, with real numbers.

I’m not telling you how to vote. I’m a loan officer in Brevard County, and my job is to show you how this would change the “T” in your PITI payment — whether you’re buying your first home in Palm Bay, moving to Patrick Space Force Base, or running the numbers on a rental in Melbourne.

Key numbers (as of October 14, 2026)

  • Vote: Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Needs 60% approval to pass. — Florida TaxWatch
  • Homestead exemption today (non-school taxes): up to $51,411 in 2026, plus the separate $25,000 school exemption that is not changing. — Ballotpedia
  • Proposed non-school homestead exemption: $150,000 starting January 1, 2027; $250,000 starting January 1, 2028; inflation-adjusted from 2029. — Florida TaxWatch
  • Non-homestead assessment cap: 10% per year today → 5% per year starting January 1, 2027 (non-school taxes). Applies to rentals, second homes and commercial property. — Ballotpedia
  • New-resident rule: anyone who is not a Florida resident on December 31, 2026 starts at the existing ~$50,000 exemption and gets the larger one in their fifth year of homestead. — Florida Chamber
  • Brevard median single-family price: $376,018 (August 2026, Space Coast Association of REALTORS data). — Brevard Coastal Homes market report
  • Homestead filing deadline: March 1 each year, with the Brevard County Property Appraiser. Residency must be established by December 31. — BCPAO

What would Amendment 3 actually change?

Three things, and only for the non-school part of your tax bill. Florida’s property tax bill is really two bills stacked together: school district taxes and everything else (county, city, water management, hospital district, and so on). Amendment 3 touches only the “everything else” part.

  • Homestead exemption, non-school taxes — Today: up to $51,411 (2026). If it passes: $150,000 in 2027, $250,000 in 2028, then indexed to inflation.
  • Homestead exemption, school taxes — Today: $25,000. If it passes: $25,000 (no change).
  • Save Our Homes cap on homestead assessed value — Today: 3% or inflation, whichever is lower. If it passes: no change.
  • Cap on assessed-value increases, non-homestead property — Today: 10% per year. If it passes: 5% per year (non-school taxes only).
  • Reassessment when a property sells — Today: resets to market value. If it passes: no change — still resets.
  • New Florida residents (after Dec 31, 2026) — Today: same exemption as everyone. If it passes: existing ~$50,000 exemption until their fifth year of homestead, then the full amount.
  • Non-ad valorem assessments (garbage, stormwater, CDD) — Today: not affected by exemptions. If it passes: still not affected.

The amendment also limits what counties and cities can spend property tax revenue on, which is why it has drawn opposition from some local governments. That part doesn’t change your bill directly, so I’ll leave the politics to the editorial pages.

One thing voters got confused about: a court ruled the original ballot summary misleading in August, and the Attorney General rewrote it. The title you’ll see on the ballot is “Increased Homestead Exemption; Lower Cap on Increases in Non-Homestead Property Assessments.” Same amendment, clearer wording.

What it means if you’re buying a home on the Space Coast

For a typical Brevard homestead, the savings would be roughly $80 a month in 2027 and roughly $165 a month from 2028 on. Here’s the math on the August 2026 median single-family price of $376,018.

Brevard’s total millage runs around 15–16 mills depending on your city, and roughly a third of that is school taxes. For this example I’ll use 10 mills for the non-school portion (that’s $10 of tax per $1,000 of taxable value). Your actual number depends on whether you’re in Palm Bay, Melbourne, Titusville, or unincorporated Brevard.

On a $376,000 home (assessed value in year one, before any Save Our Homes buildup), at 10 non-school mills:

  • Today: non-school exemption $51,411 → taxable value $324,589 → tax about $3,246.
  • 2027: non-school exemption $150,000 → taxable value $226,000 → tax about $2,260. That’s roughly $986/yr, or about $82/mo, below today.
  • 2028 and after: non-school exemption $250,000 → taxable value $126,000 → tax about $1,260. That’s roughly $1,986/yr, or about $165/mo, below today.

The school portion of the bill — the $25,000 exemption and the school millage — stays exactly where it is. So does anything on your bill that isn’t based on value: garbage, stormwater, and CDD assessments.

Why this matters for your mortgage. Lenders qualify you on the full PITI payment: principal, interest, taxes and insurance. Taxes are usually the second-biggest line after principal and interest, and in Florida they get escrowed. A $165/month drop in taxes is real money in a debt-to-income calculation. On a $376,000 home, it’s the difference that gets some buyers across the 43% DTI line, and it’s a permanent escrow reduction, not a one-time credit.

Two cautions before you count on it.

  1. You have to actually have the homestead. That means owning the home and living in it as your permanent residence on January 1, then filing with the Brevard County Property Appraiser by March 1. If you close in December 2026 and file by March 1, 2027, you’d be in line for the 2027 exemption. If you close in February 2027, your first homestead year is 2028. (Buying now vs. later is a decision about rates, prices and your life — not about this amendment.)
  2. Local governments can raise millage rates. The amendment cuts the taxable base; it doesn’t freeze the rate. Florida TaxWatch and the Florida Chamber have both pointed out that cities and counties may respond by raising rates or fees. The savings above assume millage stays put.

From my files: The buyers who get hurt by property taxes in Brevard are almost never the ones who budgeted for them. They’re the ones who bought a home where the seller had a 15-year-old homestead and a Save Our Homes-capped assessment, saw a $2,400 tax bill on the listing, and were shocked when their escrow was set up on a $5,500 bill after the sale reset the assessment. Amendment 3 would soften that reset for homestead buyers, but it doesn’t eliminate it. Always run taxes on the purchase price, not the seller’s bill.

What it means if you own or are buying a rental (DSCR investors, read this part)

Investors get no new exemption, but they get a slower tax clock: the yearly cap on assessed-value growth for non-homestead property falls from 10% to 5%. That matters more than it sounds in a market that just came through a big run-up.

Here’s how the cap works. When you buy a rental, the assessed value resets to market value — Amendment 3 doesn’t change that. From then on, the county can only raise your assessed value by a capped percentage each year, no matter what the market does. Today that cap is 10% for the non-school portion. Under Amendment 3 it’s 5%.

Example: a $320,000 duplex in Melbourne, held five years, in a market rising 8% a year.

  • Year 1: market value $320,000. Assessed value is $320,000 under either cap (it just reset at purchase).
  • Year 3: market value about $373,000. Under today’s 10% cap, assessed value is about $373,000. Under the 5% cap, about $352,800.
  • Year 5: market value about $435,000. Under today’s 10% cap, about $435,000. Under the 5% cap, about $389,000.

At 10 mills on the non-school portion, the year-five difference is about $460 a year. That’s modest. But in a year like 2021 or 2022, when Brevard values jumped 20%+, a 5% cap would have held your tax bill far below the 10% cap. The real value of the lower cap is protection against the next spike, not a big savings in a flat year.

What this does to your DSCR. Debt service coverage ratio is rent divided by the full payment — principal, interest, taxes, insurance and HOA. Taxes are the one input you can forecast, and a lower cap makes that forecast tighter. If you’re underwriting a hold of 5–10 years, a 5% cap means your year-seven tax line is more predictable, which matters when you refinance and the lender re-runs the ratio on current expenses.

Three things investors should not assume:

  1. The cap doesn’t lower your purchase-year taxes. You still pay on full market value in year one. Run your DSCR on purchase price × millage, not the seller’s bill.
  2. School taxes are still uncapped at 10%. The 5% cap is for non-school levies only.
  3. The cap resets when you sell or when ownership changes. Transferring a property into an LLC after purchase can trigger a reassessment under Florida’s change-of-ownership rules. Talk to a Florida real estate attorney before you retitle anything — that’s outside what I can advise on.

If you’re deciding between buying a rental now or after the vote, the cap applies to property you already own as of January 1, 2027. There’s no reason to wait on the amendment’s account.

What it means if you’re PCSing to Patrick or relocating to Florida

The date that matters is December 31, 2026. If you’re a Florida resident by then, you’d get the full exemption as it phases in. If you become a resident after that date, you’d start at the existing ~$50,000 exemption and wait until your fifth year of homestead for the larger one.

That five-year wait is the single most important detail in this amendment for the Space Coast, because so many of our buyers are arriving from somewhere else — PCS orders to Patrick Space Force Base or Cape Canaveral, a job at L3Harris, Blue Origin or Kennedy Space Center, or a retirement move.

Using the same $376,000 example and 10 non-school mills, here’s the gap in 2028 between an established resident and someone who arrived in 2027:

  • Resident by Dec 31, 2026: non-school exemption $250,000 → non-school tax about $1,260.
  • Arrived in 2027: non-school exemption about $50,000 → non-school tax about $3,260.
  • The gap: about $2,000 a year, or roughly $167/mo, for up to five years.

For military families, “resident” is a legal question, not a mailing address. Service members choose a state of legal residence for tax purposes, and many keep a home state like Texas or Washington even while stationed in Florida. Whether you qualify as a Florida resident for homestead purposes on December 31, 2026 depends on your domicile, your declaration of domicile, where you’re registered to vote, and the Property Appraiser’s rules. The ballot language also says the new-resident rule applies “to the extent permitted by the U.S. Constitution,” which signals it may be challenged. I’d confirm your situation with the Brevard County Property Appraiser (321-264-6700) or a Florida attorney before making a decision based on it.

What I’d tell a family with orders to Patrick for summer 2027: don’t restructure your move around this amendment. It hasn’t passed, the residency rule may face court challenges, and the gap (around $167 a month in the example above) is smaller than the swing you’ll see from insurance quotes, flood zone, or the rate you lock. Pick the house that works for your family and your BAH, and treat Amendment 3 as a bonus if it goes your way.

How lenders will handle this in your approval

Until the exemption is actually on your tax roll, most lenders will keep qualifying you on an estimate of full taxes at the purchase price. That’s a habit of the industry, not a rule you can argue with, and it means Amendment 3 probably won’t change what you qualify for on a 2027 purchase. It would show up later, as a lower escrow payment once the Property Appraiser applies the exemption.

Here’s the sequence most Brevard buyers will see:

  1. At application: the lender estimates taxes, usually purchase price × the local millage rate, sometimes with an assumed homestead exemption. Ask your loan officer which they used. I estimate conservatively — full taxes, no exemption — so nobody gets surprised.
  2. At closing: escrow is set up on that estimate, or on the seller’s current bill if the lender’s guidelines allow it.
  3. First November after you buy: the Tax Collector mails the bill based on the reset assessed value. Your first escrow analysis adjusts to it — this is where the “escrow shortage” letters come from.
  4. The following year, if you filed homestead by March 1: the exemption and the Save Our Homes cap kick in, and your escrow drops at the next analysis.

If Amendment 3 passes, step 4 is where you’d see it: a bigger drop, in 2027 for existing homesteads and in your second year for a new purchase.

What the amendment doesn’t touch: your rate, your loan program, your insurance, your flood zone, your HOA or CDD assessments, your school taxes, and the sale-triggered reset of assessed value. Those are still the five or six things that actually decide whether a Space Coast home fits your budget.

Frequently asked questions

Does Amendment 3 eliminate property taxes in Florida?
No. It raises the homestead exemption for non-school taxes to $250,000 by 2028. School taxes, non-ad valorem assessments and anything above the exemption are still taxed. A $376,000 Brevard homestead would still owe roughly $1,260 in non-school taxes plus the full school portion in the example above.

Will my 2026 tax bill change?
No. The bill you get this November is unaffected. The first year the amendment would apply is 2027.

I’m buying in early 2027. Do I get the $150,000 exemption?
Only if you were a Florida resident by December 31, 2026 and you own and occupy the home as your permanent residence on January 1, 2027 and file by March 1, 2027. If you close in February 2027, your first homestead year would be 2028, and you’d get the $250,000 exemption that year if you were a resident by the 2026 cutoff.

I have a Save Our Homes-capped assessment from years ago. Do I lose it?
No. The 3% Save Our Homes cap on homestead assessed value isn’t changed. The larger exemption would be subtracted from your already-capped assessed value, so long-time owners benefit from both.

I own a rental in Palm Bay. What do I get?
A 5% cap on yearly assessed-value increases for the non-school portion, down from 10%. No new exemption. The cap still resets to market value when the property sells.

Does the amendment affect condos?
Yes, the same as any other property. A condo you live in as your homestead gets the larger exemption. A condo you rent out gets the 5% cap. Condo association fees and special assessments aren’t property taxes and aren’t affected.

What happens if it fails?
Everything stays as it is: ~$51,000 non-school homestead exemption, 10% non-homestead cap. The Legislature could try again in a later session.

Where can I check the official language?
The Florida Division of Elections publishes the full amendment text and the ballot summary. Florida TaxWatch keeps a neutral resource center, and the Brevard County Property Appraiser can tell you how it would apply to your specific parcel.

Sources

Tax examples use a 10-mill non-school rate and the August 2026 median price for illustration. Your millage depends on your city and taxing districts; look up your parcel at bcpao.us. This is general information, not tax or legal advice — consult a CPA or Florida attorney about your situation.

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John Kleopoulos, NMLS #2686219. Loan Factory, Inc., NMLS #320841. Florida License LO-150890. Equal Housing Opportunity. This article is for educational purposes only and is not a commitment to lend, an offer of credit, or tax or legal advice. Programs, rates, terms and conditions are subject to change without notice and to borrower and property qualification. Not all applicants will qualify. Loan Factory and John Kleopoulos are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or any government agency. The $2,000 Best Price Guarantee is subject to the terms and conditions at loanfactory.com/best-price-guarantee.

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