Florida Amendment 3: What the November Ballot Means for Investment Property

04 September 2026 · SFR Capital

Florida voters will decide Amendment 3 on November 3, 2026. It is a legislatively referred property-tax amendment: it passed both chambers in a June 1–2 special session (CS/HJR 1F) and needs 60% of the vote to take effect. Most of the coverage is about homesteads. The part that matters to an investor is one line about everything that is not a homestead.

The ballot title changed, the amendment did not

It was originally titled “Save Our Homes From Excessive Property Taxes.” In early August a Leon County judge ruled that title and summary misleading, calling the old title closer to a political slogan than a description, and the Attorney General issued revised language on August 13–14. The measure now appears as “Increased Homestead Exemption; Lower Cap on Increases in Non-Homestead Property Assessments.” Only the description voters see was changed. The underlying text is the same.

What it would do

• Raise the homestead exemption for all non-school levies to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, indexed to inflation after that. It replaces the current roughly $50,000 structure. The $25,000 school-levy exemption stays as it is.
• Create a path to eliminating non-school homestead taxes. The Legislature would have to set up a uniform procedure letting counties and municipalities raise the homestead exemption up to a property’s full assessed value, with special districts able to follow by referendum. There is no timeline and no requirement that any local government actually use it.
• Cut the annual assessment-increase cap on non-homestead property from 10% to 5%. That covers second homes, rentals, and commercial property.
• A five-year waiting period on the larger exemption for anyone who is not a Florida resident as of December 31, 2026. New residents get the existing exemption first and the increased one starting in year five.
• Restrict what county and municipal property-tax revenue can fund: public safety, education, infrastructure, natural resources, bond debt service, employee retirement, and operations and administration.
• Effective January 1, 2027 if it passes.

The fight over it

The state’s Revenue Estimating Conference put the recurring cost at roughly $12 billion for the $250,000 exemption and the cap change together, before any local elimination of homestead taxes. Supporters call it the largest property-tax relief in state history for primary-residence owners. Opponents include the Fraternal Order of Police, county governments such as Orange County, and Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, who called it “a train wreck.” Their argument is that it guts local funding for emergency services and infrastructure. Florida TaxWatch notes there is no state reimbursement for fiscally constrained counties and nothing stopping local governments from raising millage rates or fees to make up the difference. A separate line of opposition points out that renters get no direct benefit.

What an investor should take from it

Two things, and neither is the headline.

The 5% cap is a real change to how fast assessments can climb on rentals and second homes. Under the current 10% cap, a non-homestead property in a rising market can see its assessed value, and its tax bill, compound quickly year over year. Halving that cap slows the tax drag on a buy-and-hold. It does not lower the bill; it lowers the rate at which the bill can rise.

The millage response is the unknown. If local governments lose homestead revenue and cannot cut services, the tools left are millage rates and fees, which fall on every taxable property including yours. The net effect on an investment property could be smaller assessment growth against a higher rate. Nobody can price that until county budgets react in 2027 and 2028.

The five-year residency rule matters if your sponsor or your buyer is relocating to Florida. A homestead purchased by a new resident in 2027 carries the old exemption until 2032, which changes the tax line on any exit that assumes an owner-occupant buyer.

For underwriting, none of this moves a 12-month loan. For a hold beyond 2027, it belongs in the tax assumption, in both directions.

This is a summary for investors, not tax or legal advice. The amendment text and the revised ballot language are public record with the Florida Division of Elections.

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SFR Capital LLC (SFR) is a private lender, license exempt under Fla. Stat. § 494.00115. SFR only makes business purpose mortgage loans on non-owner occupied Florida investment property. Nothing here is an offer or commitment to lend. All loans are subject to SFR approval of the sponsor, property collateral, title and documentation.