Buying Before Selling in Orlando and Central Florida
Program and regulatory figures verified September 19, 2026. Details change; confirm your scenario with us.
Central Florida runs two different move-up markets at once, and the tax answer is opposite in each of them.
The numbers
Orlando's typical home value was $383,445 for the month ending August 2026, down 1.8% over the year, with a mean 70 days to pending. The surrounding markets vary more than people expect: Lakeland at $295,821 and 80 days, Deltona at $330,389 and 89 days, The Villages at $388,139 and 69 days.
The Villages is worth a separate note. Its time to pending fell 11 days over the year, one of the largest improvements in the state, in a market built almost entirely around people moving within or into Florida at retirement age.
Two different buyers, two different answers
Central Florida mixes long-time Florida homeowners moving up or down with a heavy flow of arrivals from other states. The financing question looks similar for both. The tax question does not.
A Florida homeowner who has held a homestead in Orange or Seminole for a decade is carrying an accumulated Save Our Homes assessment difference, portable up to the lesser of $500,000 or the full gap. For that buyer, the timing of the move is one of the larger financial decisions in it, and the window runs from January 1 of the year the old homestead was abandoned rather than from the closing.
A buyer arriving from another state has none of that. No Florida assessment difference to port, and under Section 196.031(5) no Florida homestead at all while they are receiving a residency-based exemption elsewhere. For them the arithmetic is simply the overlap: two payments, the new house at just value, and a realistic sale timeline on the property back home.
Generic Florida advice tends to be written for one of these buyers and handed to the other.
Planning the overlap
At 70 days to pending Orlando is among Florida's faster major metros, which keeps the expected overlap manageable. The 1.8% annual decline is the counterweight. It is steeper than Tampa or Jacksonville, and it argues for conservatism about what the departing home will fetch.
If the departing property is in another state entirely, its local market data governs, not Orlando's. That sounds obvious and is routinely overlooked when people read a single Florida market report and apply it to a house in Ohio.
Loan limits
The 2026 baseline one-unit limit of $832,750 applies across Orange, Seminole, Osceola and Lake counties. With typical values well under $400,000 throughout Central Florida, the conforming limit rarely binds here.
See what happens while you own both houses, or start with the Florida guide.
Frequently asked questions
How long do homes take to sell in Orlando?
A mean of 70 days to pending for the month ending August 2026, against a US benchmark of 53. Nearby markets differ: Lakeland ran 80 days, Deltona 89 and The Villages 69 over the same period.
I am moving to Florida from another state. Can I use portability?
No. Save Our Homes portability transfers an assessment difference accumulated on a prior Florida homestead. A buyer arriving from another state has none to transfer. Under Fla. Stat. Sec. 196.031(5) a person receiving a residency-based ad valorem exemption in another state also may not claim Florida homestead until that is resolved.
Are Orlando home values falling?
The Orlando typical home value was $383,445 for the month ending August 2026, down 1.8% over the year. That is a steeper decline than Tampa at 1.5% or Jacksonville at 0.5%, and it argues for a conservative estimate of a departing home's sale price.
What is the conforming loan limit in Orange County, Florida?
$832,750 for a one-unit property in 2026, the Florida baseline, which also applies in Seminole, Osceola and Lake. Only Monroe County is designated above baseline in Florida for 2026.
Mike Certo · NMLS #260555 · Cornerstone First Mortgage NMLS #173855 · Equal Housing Lender. Educational content about financing, not a loan commitment and not legal, tax, or real estate advice. Homestead eligibility, portability, and landlord-tenant rules change and depend on your facts; your county property appraiser, your CPA or a Florida attorney, and your real estate agent each handle their own part. Loans are subject to borrower and property qualification.