CDD Fees in Central Florida: The Cost That Is Not in the Listing

Most new-construction communities in Central Florida sit inside a Community Development District, and the annual CDD assessment is charged on top of property tax and HOA dues. It typically runs US$ 1,500 to US$ 3,500 a year. On a US$ 350,000 property that is enough to cut net rental yield from roughly 3.1% to 2.5% — about a fifth of the return, on a line that does not appear in the listing price.

What a CDD actually is

A Community Development District is a local special-purpose government that finances the infrastructure of a new community — roads, drainage, water and sewer lines, amenities — by issuing bonds. Residents of the district repay those bonds through an annual assessment.

It is not the HOA. An HOA governs rules and maintains common areas; the CDD repays the capital that built the place. A property can carry both, and in Central Florida new construction it usually does.

The two parts, and why only one ends

The assessment has two components, and buyers are often told only about the first.

Debt service repays the infrastructure bonds. It runs for the bond term — commonly two to three decades from issuance — and falls away when the bonds are paid off.

Operations and maintenance funds the district's ongoing costs and is set annually. It does not end when the debt does. As long as the district exists, this piece continues.

What it costs, with the caveat it deserves

Published figures for Central Florida cluster between US$ 1,500 and US$ 3,500 a year, with some fast-growing areas reported higher. Community-level estimates differ meaningfully between sources: one 2026 broker table lists Horizon West at US$ 1,500 to US$ 3,500 and Lake Nona at US$ 500 to US$ 1,500, while another puts Horizon West at US$ 1,800 to US$ 3,000 and Lake Nona at US$ 1,500 to US$ 3,000 or more.

Those ranges come from brokerage and marketing sources, not from the districts themselves, and they disagree. Treat them as an order of magnitude and confirm the parcel.

What it does to the return

Take the Central Florida example we have used before: a US$ 350,000 home let annually at US$ 2,300 a month, with property tax, insurance, HOA, management, vacancy and maintenance applied. Net operating income lands near US$ 10,810, a net yield of 3.1%.

Add a CDD assessment of US$ 2,000. Net falls to US$ 8,810 — a yield of 2.5%. The property did not change. The line was simply not in the advertised arithmetic.

For a buyer comparing two properties at the same price, one inside a CDD and one outside, this is frequently the single largest difference in actual return, and it is the one least likely to be mentioned.

Two details that catch people

It appears on the tax bill, not as a separate invoice. The assessment is a non-ad valorem line on the November property tax bill, which is why buyers who budgeted from a property tax estimate alone are surprised by the total.

It is generally not deductible the way property tax is. The treatment differs from ordinary ad valorem tax, which matters when modelling after-tax return. Confirm with a CPA for your situation.

Is a CDD a reason to avoid a community?

Not by itself. The infrastructure it paid for is real, and communities with CDDs frequently have amenities and road quality that older neighbourhoods do not. The problem is never the existence of the fee. It is discovering it after the purchase price was agreed on a yield that did not include it.

Sources

• Florida Department of Economic Opportunity — special district accountability program
• Orange County Property Appraiser — parcel search and non-ad valorem assessments
• Osceola County Property Appraiser — parcel search
• National Association of Realtors — foreign buyers, April 2025 to March 2026

General information as of October 2026, not tax or legal advice. Published CDD ranges come from brokerage sources and disagree; verify the specific parcel with the county property appraiser before transacting.