Selling a Condo in Daytona Beach Shores, FL (2026): SIRS, Assessments, and What It Actually Takes to Close

Selling an oceanfront condo in Daytona Beach Shores in 2026 is a document game as much as a price game — here is what the current numbers say and what Florida law requires you to hand your buyer.

Robert Kirkland, REALTOR® — KCAP Certified · Simply Real Estate · 75+ Volusia Transactions
Serving Port Orange, New Smyrna Beach, Daytona Beach, Daytona Beach Shores, Ormond Beach, Ponce Inlet, Edgewater, South Daytona, DeLand & Deltona

After 75+ Volusia County transactions, here is the mistake I watch condo sellers make in Daytona Beach Shores: they spend six weeks staging the unit and zero minutes gathering the building's paperwork. Then a buyer goes under contract, asks for the structural integrity reserve study, and the deal stalls for three weeks while the association hunts for a document nobody has read.

In a beachfront condo market, the unit is not really what you are selling. The building is. And since the post-Surfside laws took hold, buyers — and their lenders — know it. The sellers who close smoothly in this market are the ones who show up on day one with the building's story already assembled.

Here is where the market actually stands, what the law actually requires, and what I would do in the 60 days before you list.

What the Daytona Beach Shores numbers actually say in 2026

I want to be careful here, because the public data sources disagree with each other more than usual right now, and I would rather give you an honest range than a confident wrong number.

• Median sale price: roughly $385,000 to $415,000, depending on the source and the period. Redfin reported a median sale price of about $384,720 for the three months ending May 2026, up 7.2% year over year. Realtor.com listed a median sold price of $415,000 in its key indicators as of June 2026. Sources vary — treat this as a range, not a single number.
• Price per square foot: also split. Redfin showed about $265/sq ft (up 21.3% year over year) as of that same period; Realtor.com showed $317/sq ft as of June 2026. Different mixes of what sold will do that in a small market.
• Days on market: this is the one to pay attention to, and the spread is wide. Redfin reported a median of 122 days for the three months ending May 2026 — 49 days longer than the same period a year earlier. Realtor.com reported 48 days as of June 2026. The two count differently, so I plan my sellers around the longer end.
• Negotiating position: Redfin put the sale-to-list ratio at about 94.5%, with only about 1.0% of homes selling above list and roughly 34.3% of listings taking a price drop. Redfin rates the market "not very competitive," noting the average home sells for about 6% below list.
• Inventory: Realtor.com counted 376 active listings as of June 2026, down about 18.9% from a year earlier.

Zoom out and the statewide picture explains a lot. Florida Realtors reported that in June 2026 the statewide condo and townhouse median was $305,000, up 1.7% year over year, on 8,900 sales (up 14%), with condo and townhouse inventory sitting at an 8.1-month supply — against just 4.5 months for single-family homes. For the second quarter, Florida Realtors counted about 27,100 condo and townhouse sales statewide, up 9%, with the median holding at $310,000.

Read that inventory number again. Roughly eight months of condo supply statewide is a buyer's market by any conventional definition. Sales volume is genuinely recovering — that 14% year-over-year gain is real — but buyers have choices, and they are using them.

Why the "days on market" gap matters to your listing plan

A seller who budgets for a 48-day sale and gets a 122-day sale makes bad decisions in month two. They panic-cut $25,000 when a $10,000 adjustment would have done it, or they accept a weak offer because the carrying costs are biting.

My advice is simple: build your plan around the slower figure. If it sells faster, wonderful. If you need to be out by a date certain — a closing on the next house, a lease starting, a snowbird season ending — work backward from four months of marketing time plus 30 to 45 days to close, and start earlier than feels necessary.

The document package Florida law requires you to give the buyer

This is the part sellers do not expect, and it is not optional. Under Florida Statutes §718.503(2)(a), a unit owner who is not a developer must, before the sale, provide a buyer under contract — at the seller's expense — a current copy of all of the following:

1. The declaration of condominium
2. The association's articles of incorporation
3. The bylaws and rules of the association
4. An annual financial statement and annual budget of the association
5. The inspector-prepared summary of the milestone inspection report described in §553.899, if applicable
6. The association's most recent structural integrity reserve study — or a statement that the association has not completed one
7. The turnover inspection report described in §718.301(4)(p) and (q), for turnover inspections performed on or after July 1, 2023
8. The "Frequently Asked Questions and Answers" document required by §718.504

The statute also entitles the buyer to a governance form summarizing how condo associations are run.

Notice item six especially. If your building has not completed a structural integrity reserve study, the law does not let you stay quiet about it — you disclose that fact. I have watched that single line reset a negotiation. Better it resets in week one, on your terms, than in week six when the buyer's lender finds it.

None of this is legal advice, and association document requirements shift with each legislative session. Confirm your specific obligations with your closing attorney or title company before you list.

Milestone inspections and SIRS: what your building's status does to your price

Two requirements drive most of the anxiety in coastal Florida condo sales, and it is worth knowing exactly what they say rather than what the rumor mill says.

Milestone inspection. Under §553.899(3)(a), an owner of a building three or more habitable stories in height that is subject to the condominium or cooperative form of ownership must have a milestone inspection performed by December 31 of the year the building reaches 30 years of age, based on the certificate of occupancy date, and every 10 years thereafter. A meaningful share of the oceanfront towers along South Atlantic Avenue are well past that 30-year threshold.

Structural integrity reserve study (SIRS). Under §718.112(2)(g), a residential condominium must have a SIRS completed at least every 10 years after the condominium's creation for each building three habitable stories or higher. The study must cover, at minimum: the roof; the structure, including load-bearing walls and primary structural members; fireproofing and fire protection systems; plumbing; electrical systems; waterproofing and exterior painting; windows and exterior doors; and any other item with a deferred maintenance or replacement cost above $25,000 (or the inflation-adjusted threshold) whose failure would affect those systems.

Here is the practical translation for a seller. A buyer's first question is no longer "what are the dues?" It is "what has this building already been told it needs to fix, and is the money there?" A building with a completed milestone inspection, a completed SIRS, and reserves funded toward it is a genuinely easier sale than the identical unit in a building that has none of that. That difference shows up in your price, whether or not anyone names it out loud.

Special assessments: disclose early, price accordingly

If your association has levied a special assessment, or has one under discussion, get the number and the payment schedule in writing from the association before you list — not after you are under contract.

Sellers ask me whether to pay it off or credit the buyer. There is no universal answer; it depends on the size, the schedule, and whether your buyer is paying cash or financing. What I can tell you is that the worst version is the one where the buyer learns about it late. Late disclosure costs you leverage, and often costs you the buyer.

Pricing into a buyer's market without giving the building away

With roughly a third of Daytona Beach Shores listings taking a price drop and a sale-to-list ratio in the mid-90s, the pricing math is not subtle: the first list price is the one that does the work. Overpriced condos in this market do not get "discovered" — they get stale, and stale invites lowball offers.

Three things I would weigh heavily:

• Direct comparables inside your own building. In a condo market, the building next door is a different product with a different insurance profile and a different assessment history. Comps from your own tower — and your own line of units — carry far more weight than citywide medians.
• Your building's compliance status relative to its competition. If your association is ahead on inspections and reserves, that is a marketing asset, and I will say so in the listing.
• Total cost of ownership, not just price. Buyers underwrite dues, insurance, and assessments alongside the mortgage. A unit priced 5% higher with dramatically lower carrying costs frequently wins.

What I would do in the 60 days before you list

1. Request the full document package from the association now. All eight items above. Associations and management companies take time, and some charge fees.
2. Confirm your building's milestone inspection status and date. Get the inspector-prepared summary if one exists.
3. Get the most recent SIRS — or confirm in writing that none has been completed. Either way, you need to know before a buyer asks.
4. Pull the current budget, reserve balances, and any assessment history or pending assessments.
5. Get a current insurance picture for the association and for your unit's HO-6. Buyers now ask, and vague answers cost money.
6. Handle the cheap cosmetic items. Once the paperwork is clean, the unit still has to show well against the other listings in your tower.

The honest bottom line

Daytona Beach Shores in 2026 is a market where sales volume is improving and prices are holding up reasonably well, but buyers have leverage, homes take a while, and the building's compliance file is doing more work than your kitchen backsplash.

Sellers who assemble the documents first, price against their own tower, and disclose assessments early tend to close on schedule. Sellers who wait for the buyer to ask tend to renegotiate. After 75+ transactions in this county, that pattern has been about as reliable as anything I have seen.

If you own a unit in Daytona Beach Shores and you are thinking about 2026 or 2027, I am happy to walk your building's file with you before you commit to anything. No pressure, no listing agreement required — just an honest read on where you stand.

Market figures above are as reported by Redfin (three months ending May 2026), Realtor.com (key indicators as of June 2026), and Florida Realtors (June and second-quarter 2026 statewide data). Statutory references are to the 2025 Florida Statutes, the current official edition. Data and law both change — verify current figures and your specific legal obligations with your closing attorney before making decisions.