Street Economics

North Miami Beach, Florida

HJR 1 Homestead-Exemption Tax-Base Exposure

Miami-Dade County . 2025 final assessment roll

Snapshot

The North Miami Beach read

North Miami Beach fits the Renter-Heavy archetype. A majority of the residential housing here is not owner-occupied: 55% or more of units are rentals or second homes, and most of that non-owner stock is held by Floridians — in-state landlords and second-home owners — making this a local-ownership rental market rather than an absentee one. Owner-occupancy is a minority of the housing picture.

At full $250,000 phase-in in 2028, HJR 1 exposure sits at 12.7%, with the 2027 step landing at 8.6%. Exposure runs lower than a homeowner town because the amendment only helps homestead owners, and most units here are non-homestead. The insulation is real, but it reflects a community where most residents rent rather than own — a housing-and-ownership signal, not a fiscal win.

Of 17,210 residential housing units, 38.1% are owner-occupied, 5.5% are owned by out-of-state owners, and 56.3% are non-homestead but Florida-owned. North Miami Beach ranks 322 of 404 cities by exposure statewide, meaning it sits among the less-exposed cities in Florida.

Land-use composition

Share of taxable value by category, North Miami Beach, 2025 roll:

Note on the industrial row: 12.0% of industrial parcels are out-of-state owned, and those parcels account for 30.9% of industrial value — a meaningful concentration of outside ownership in a small but notable slice of the roll.

What the exposure band means

Band: Low exposure. The base is already substantially non-homestead. The amendment is a manageable headwind. Focus on protecting the diversified base that provides the insulation.

Looking ahead

Neither of the following changes the exposure figure above; both shape how North Miami Beach grows its base after the amendment takes effect.

First, beginning January 1, 2027, the annual assessment-increase cap on non-homestead property drops from 10% to 5%, covering commercial, industrial, and small residential rentals of nine units or fewer. Because capped values can only rise 5% a year, the main path to growing taxable value in these categories is transactions: a sale or change of control resets assessed value to market. Transaction velocity matters more to non-homestead base growth than it did under the old 10% cap, and the tighter ceiling widens the gap between long-held and recently-sold properties faster than before.

Second, new Florida residents who did not maintain a Florida permanent residence as of December 31, 2026 phase into the larger exemption over five years rather than receiving it all at once. This cannot be read from the roll, so the figures above assume full application — meaning near-term exposure could run slightly lower than modeled in places with many recent arrivals still inside their five-year window.

Where the opportunity is

These recommendations are based solely on the tax roll’s land-use composition. They do not account for whether local land development regulations and zoning permit the use, whether there is local obstruction, or the political dynamics that usually decide what actually gets approved. This is a starting point for a conversation, not a development plan.

• Treat the low exposure as a housing-and-ownership signal, not a fiscal win. Most residents do not own where they live. The 12.7% exposure figure reflects a renter-majority community, and the policy conversation should hold both realities at once: the city is relatively insulated from HJR 1, and most of its residents are not building equity through homeownership.
• Grow taxable commercial, light-industrial, and employment value so the base does not rest mainly on rental housing. Commercial already accounts for 15.2% of just value — a meaningful share — but there is room to deepen it along existing corridors and within the commercial core. Industrial sits at only 2.5% of value across 75 parcels; light-industrial and employment uses on underutilized or converting land represent a real opportunity to add non-homestead base in a category the amendment does not touch.
• Support deed-restricted and well-managed rental and missing-middle housing. Rental is non-homestead and already the dominant tenure in North Miami Beach, so adding well-managed rental units adds taxable base without displacing residents. The 56.3% Florida-owned non-homestead share confirms this is a local-ownership rental market; the opportunity is to keep that stock healthy and growing rather than letting it erode.
• Where resident stability and ownership are goals, pair any owner-occupied housing push with anti-displacement measures. New owner-occupied homestead housing is the one category the amendment exempts, so treat it as a community-values decision, not a tax-base move. The fiscal case runs in the other direction.

Watch-out: Renter-heavy with mostly Florida landlords is a local rental market, not absentee ownership — do not describe it that way. High rental share at modest values still usually signals an affordability and local-wealth issue, not a tax-base achievement. The low exposure number and the ownership reality belong in the same sentence.

Source and scope

All figures are computed from the Florida Department of Revenue 2025 final assessment roll, the most recent certified roll in the state’s possession. The roll is used as a structural proxy for tax-base composition, not as a dollar forecast for any specific budget year. HJR 1 / CS-HJR 1F is on the November 2026 ballot; the 2026 roll is the assessment roll in place when voters decide. If the amendment passes, the first roll actually affected is the 2027 roll (the $150,000 step), followed by the 2028 roll at full $250,000 phase-in. Ownership shares are measured on a residential-unit basis. The out-of-state figure is a mailing-address proxy: it undercounts true outside ownership (an out-of-state owner using an in-state LLC address counts as Florida) and does not prove where an owner actually lives. This read is a land-use-composition starting point, not a full fiscal, economic, or legal plan.

Place: north miami beach, fl