Bought in 2021 or 2022? What your Florida apartment building is worth now
If you bought a Florida apartment building in 2021 or 2022, it is probably worth about what you paid, give or take your county. The statewide median rose from $142,857 a unit in 2022 to $157,143 in 2025, up 10%, and several big counties went down. The value is rarely the problem. The debt is: the same $1 million loan costs about 46% more a year at 6.86% than at 3.5%.
If you bought between 2021 and 2022, you probably are not in trouble yet. You just want to know where you stand, and you suspect the answer is worse than your purchase price. On value, it usually is not. On debt, it often is. Here are both halves, with the numbers.
You are not alone in this group. Of the 25,156 Florida parcels coded as apartment buildings with five or more units, 4,459 last sold between 2020 and 2022. That is a big slice of the state's owners holding a building bought when the 30-year mortgage rate was near its record low of 2.68% (December 2020).
What happened to prices since you bought
Here is the statewide median sale price per unit for Florida apartment buildings with five or more units, from Florida Department of Revenue sale records:
| Year | Median per unit | Sales | 30-yr mortgage avg | 10-yr Treasury avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | $113,100 | 2,035 | 2.96% | 1.44% |
| 2022 | $142,857 | 1,539 | 5.33% | 2.95% |
| 2025 | $157,143 | 945 | 6.60% | 4.29% |
If you bought in 2021, the statewide line says you are up about 39%. If you bought in 2022, you are up about 10%, a modest gain for three years of ownership. Sales fell from 2,035 in 2021 to 945 in 2025, so the market adjusted mostly by not trading rather than by cutting price. I lay that out in what interest rates did to Florida apartment prices.
A median mixes whatever sold that year, so it is a price level, not a promise about your building. Your county matters more.
Your county, 2022 vs 2025
4 of these 14 counties sold for less per unit in 2025 than in 2022: Orange ($224,138 to $195,978, down 13%), Bay ($118,770 to $104,167, down 12%), Lee ($99,159 to $90,278, down 9%) and Hillsborough ($142,262 to $133,125, down 6%). Orange is the one to watch. Its 2022 median rested on 67 sales and its 2025 median on 33, so fewer and different buildings traded, but a drop that size on that many sales is worth taking seriously. Bay is thin, 16 and 15 sales, so read it as a hint. Pinellas and Pasco also came in lower in 2025, but on 4 and 8 sales, too few to quote a number.
On the other side: Miami-Dade (up 27%), Broward (up 21%), Polk (up 16%) and Escambia (up 14%) kept climbing. South Florida owners who bought in 2022 are likely above water on price. Polk and Escambia started from lower per-unit prices, and those have held.
Want every year for your county, plus rents? Open your county page, for example Hillsborough or Lee, and use the full report form to get the county report emailed to you.
The real problem: The debt math
If you financed a 2021 or 2022 purchase with a five-year or seven-year bank loan, a bridge loan or adjustable debt, your rate was set in a very different world. The 30-year mortgage averaged 2.96% in 2021 and the 10-year Treasury averaged 1.44%. As of September 2026 the 30-year averaged 6.86% (Freddie Mac data on FRED), and the 10-year Treasury was 5.22% on October 8, 2026. On September 16, 2026, the Federal Reserve raised its target range to 3.75% to 4%.
Here is what that does to one loan. Take $1,000,000 on a 30-year amortization:
| At 3.5% | At 6.86% | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly payment | $4,490 | $6,559 |
| Annual debt service | $53,885 | $78,711 |
| NOI needed at 1.25 DSCR | $67,357 | $98,389 |
Same loan, 46% more debt service. Now flip it around, because that is how a lender looks at your refinance. DSCR, the debt service coverage ratio, is your net operating income divided by the annual loan payment. Commercial lenders typically want 1.20 to 1.25. I will use 1.25. If your building nets $100,000 a year, the most the bank will let you pay is $80,000 a year. At 3.5% that supports a loan of about $1,485,000. At 6.86% it supports about $1,016,000. Same building, same income, about 32% less loan.
These are illustrations on a 30-year amortization, not a quote. Commercial apartment loans are priced off Treasuries, not the mortgage average, and your terms will differ. The shape of the problem does not.
And your NOI probably did not grow the way your pro forma said. Insurance runs about $950 to $1,500 a door now in the buildings I price, against about $400 when I started in 2013. Your taxes already reset to your purchase price, roughly 80% of what you paid times the millage, so you are carrying the full post-sale tax bill already. Rents rose fast in 2021 and 2022 and have been close to flat since, per Zillow's rent index for Florida counties (more in Florida rents since COVID).
Your options, honestly
1. Hold and refinance. This is the right call more often than people expect. If your NOI covers a new loan at today's rates at 1.25 or better, and your balance fits under the new loan amount, you refinance, take the higher payment, and keep the building. You keep the upside. Check your numbers on my refinance page before your maturity date, not after.
2. Hold and pay down. If the new loan comes in short of your balance, you can bring cash to close the gap. That is a real option if you have the cash and believe in the building. Just do the math on what that cash earns inside the building versus outside it. My post on cap rate vs cash-on-cash return walks through it.
3. Sell. If you bought in a county that is up, or you bought in 2021 before the last leg of the run, you may have equity to take out. If you are flat on price and the refinance needs cash, selling before your loan matures lets you pick the timing. I lay out the full hold-or-sell test in should I sell my apartment building.
4. Sell with seller financing. This only works if your loan allows it or you have enough equity to pay it off at closing, because most loans carry a due-on-sale clause. If you can, carrying part of the price can widen your buyer pool when bank debt is tight. Details in seller financing your Florida apartment building.
When is holding right? When the building covers its debt at today's rates, your loan has years left on it, and you are not tired. If all three are true, I would tell you to hold. If none are true, waiting usually costs you. Long-time owners face a different version of this question, which I cover in the Florida owners who haven't sold.
How I built these numbers
Prices are the median recorded sale price per unit for arm's-length sales of Florida parcels classified as multifamily (state use codes 03 and 08) with five or more units, from Florida Department of Revenue sale records and county sales files. Rates are yearly averages of FRED series MORTGAGE30US and DGS10. A county-year under 10 sales is noisy, which is why the chart only shows counties with 10 or more in both years. Loan payments are standard monthly amortization math on a 30-year schedule.
Questions owners ask
Is my apartment building worth less than I paid in 2022?
It depends on your county. Statewide, the median sale price per unit rose about 10% from 2022 to 2025, from $142,857 to $157,143. But Orange, Hillsborough, Lee and Bay sold for less per unit in 2025 than in 2022, while Miami-Dade, Broward, Polk and Escambia kept climbing. Your own income at today's expenses decides your number.
How much more is my loan payment at today's rates?
On a $1,000,000 loan with a 30-year amortization, the annual payment is about $53,885 at 3.5% and about $78,711 at 6.86%, roughly 46% more. Commercial loans are priced off Treasuries rather than the mortgage average, so your exact rate will differ, but the jump is about that size.
What does a 1.25 DSCR mean for my refinance?
It means the bank wants your net operating income to be at least 1.25 times the annual loan payment. A building netting $100,000 can carry $80,000 a year of debt service. On a 30-year amortization that supports about $1,485,000 at 3.5% but only about $1,016,000 at 6.86%.
Should I sell or hold an apartment building I bought in 2021?
Hold if the building covers a new loan at today's rates, your current loan has years left, and you still want to own it. Sell if the refinance needs cash you do not want to put in, or your county has risen enough to give you equity. If you bought in 2021, the statewide median is up about 39% since then.
I price buildings the way a buyer's bank will, at today's rates. That is what a good multifamily broker should do for an owner who bought at the peak. Call me and I will run your loan and your income side by side.