Practical answers from Scott Forman about buying, selling and owning property in Key West.
Market
In the latest Key West condo snapshot, captured October 3, 2026 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, the median asking price was $865,000. The middle half of the 51 active condo listings ran from about $644,000 to $1,184,000. During the prior three months, 18 condos closed at a median price of $751,500. Those figures are useful benchmarks, but the right budget depends on neighborhood, size, condition, parking, amenities, association costs and rental rules.
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Your Key West home is worth what a qualified buyer is likely to pay under current conditions, not the citywide median or an online estimate. The best starting point is a comparative market analysis using recent nearby sales and current competition, adjusted for neighborhood, property type, legal use, living area, condition, lot, pool, parking, elevation, insurance, association obligations and rental rights. The answer should be a supported range, not a single unexplained number.
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As of October 3, 2026, a budget around $1 million can buy a Key West condo, townhouse, duplex, multi-unit property or single-family home. It usually will not buy every feature in every neighborhood. In the current MLS snapshot, 41 active properties were priced from $850,000 to $1.15 million. The real decision is which trade-offs you want to make on location, size, condition, parking, pool and ownership costs.
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Key West property taxes are parcel-specific. There isn’t one reliable percentage you can multiply by the purchase price. Your bill depends on taxable value, millage rates, exemptions and any non-ad valorem assessments. For a buyer, the important point is simple: don’t use the seller’s current tax bill as your future budget. Estimate the property after the sale and use your own exemption status.
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Neither is automatically better. A Key West condo usually gives you less exterior responsibility, but you share costs and decisions through an association. A single-family home usually gives you more control, but the maintenance and repair bills are yours. The right choice depends on how you plan to use the property, how much control you want, and which costs you are comfortable carrying.
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Key West buyers have negotiating room right now, but this is not a market where every seller is desperate. The useful numbers are days on market and the gap between asking price and closing price. Those tell you more than broad headlines.
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If you're buying a home in Key West, one of the questions you're probably going to ask is: what is flood insurance going to cost me?
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AE, X and VE are FEMA flood-zone designations, and in Key West the differences can matter when you are comparing two otherwise similar homes. AE and VE are within FEMA's Special Flood Hazard Area. X is outside that high-risk area, but X does not mean zero flood risk.
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Yes—but not every Key West property can legally be rented short term. In the City of Key West, the Licensing Division treats residential rentals of 28 days or less as transient and rentals that may not be rented for less than 29 days at a time as non-transient. A buyer should verify the exact property, current license status, zoning, and private restrictions before relying on Airbnb, Vrbo, or other short-term-rental income.
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