New Construction in Naples and Collier County: What It Actually Costs in 2026

New construction in Naples runs from $137.98 to $4,652 per square foot. We computed that spread ourselves across 79 Collier County communities on September 1, 2026, dividing published base prices by published square footage. Every new detached home also carries $34,051.97 in county impact fees before fire, a cost no resale buyer pays.

Last updated: September 2026. Every figure on this page carries its publisher and the date we read it.

By McGreevy and Comisar, the Southwest Florida team of Jesse McGreevy (Florida licence SL3101296) and Marc Comisar (Florida licence BK3060671), a top-reviewed Naples real estate team and Top 1% Real Estate Agents Nationally Since 2008, brokered by Domain Realty. Reach Jesse direct at (239) 898-6072.

The short answer

New construction in Collier County spans a factor of 34 in price per square foot, carries roughly $34,051.97 of county impact fees that a resale buyer never pays, and in most master planned communities adds a CDD assessment collected on your property tax bill. Those three facts explain almost every price difference a buyer runs into here.

What a new home in Naples costs, from $137.98 to $4,652 a square foot

There is no single price for new construction in Naples, and any page that gives you one is guessing. We priced 79 actively selling, recently completed and announced communities across Collier County on September 1, 2026, took each builder’s published base price, divided it by that builder’s published square footage, and showed the arithmetic on every row. The result is a factor of 34 between the cheapest and the most expensive square foot in the county.

The floor is $137.98 a square foot, at Gatherpoint in Ave Maria, where Pulte’s Upton plan runs $739,990 across 5,363 square feet. The ceiling is $4,652 a square foot, at Rosewood Residences Naples, where the top residence is $45,000,000 across 9,673 square feet.

Most buyers will never touch either end. The mainstream single-family band in Collier sits between $228 and $335 a square foot. Attached and coach product runs $271 to $405. Downtown Naples towers run $1,058 to $1,333. Ultra-luxury beachfront runs from $1,486 upward.

The lowest verified builder base price anywhere in Collier County is $299,990, a 1,448 square foot attached villa at Del Webb Naples, which is age restricted. The lowest base price with no age restriction is $305,990, a 1,511 square foot townhome at SkySail by Neal Communities.

The $34,051.97 nobody puts in the base price

A new single-family detached home under 4,000 square feet of living area, in unincorporated Collier County, on county water and sewer, pays $34,051.97 in county impact fees before fire district fees are added. At 4,000 square feet and above it is $36,823.95.

That money is real and it is not in the sticker price on the model home sign. It is roughly 5.9 percent of the average construction value of a Collier single-family permit. A resale buyer pays none of it.

This is the single clearest reason new construction carries a premium in this county, and it is the number most commonly missing from pages about Naples new construction.

The benchmark: 79 Collier communities on one yardstick

Below is every for sale new construction community we could identify in Collier County, compared on one fixed set of columns. We priced each from the builder’s own published figures on September 1, 2026, computed the price per square foot ourselves, and labelled every cell verified, inferred or unknown so you can see how strong each number actually is.

How we built this table, and what a blank cell means

McGreevy and Comisar fixed the columns before collecting anything, so the table could not be shaped to a conclusion after the fact. Then we went to primary sources only: the builder’s own site, the community’s own site, the district’s own adopted budget, and Collier County’s own records. We did not use real estate portals, and we did not use other brokerages.

We have sold Southwest Florida since 2004, have been the number one team in Southwest Florida since 2012, and are the Top 1% Real Estate Agents Nationally Since 2008, so a fair amount of this is checking what we already believed against what the county actually publishes. Several things we believed turned out to be wrong, and those corrections are on this page too.

Every cell is labelled. V means verified against a named publisher on a named date. I means inferred, with the reasoning shown. U means unknown.

A U is not laziness and it is not a placeholder we intend to come back and fill. It means we worked the sources and the number is not published. We would rather show you the boundary of the public record than hand you a plausible guess. The section further down called “What we could not tell you” says exactly where those boundaries are and what we tried.

Where a builder publishes a price but not a square footage, we show the price and leave the price per square foot blank rather than estimating it.

The price spread, and the ends of it

Section 1: East Naples, Collier Boulevard (951) corridor, and the Marco approach

Section 2: North Naples, Immokalee Road and Livingston Road corridors

Section 3: Ave Maria and eastern / rural Collier (Rural Lands Stewardship Area)

Section 4: Large golf and luxury master-planned communities

Section 5: City of Naples and the coastal condo / tower market

Section 6: Attainable and workforce for-sale housing

Bundled golf: only two communities in Collier actually have it

This is the most common factual error in Naples new construction content, and it costs buyers real money when they get it wrong.

Only two Collier communities have genuinely bundled golf, where the membership comes with every home and is included in the fees. They are Heritage Bay, where all units carry it across 27 holes, and Treviso Bay, where 825 of 1,431 properties carry it and no additional golf memberships are available at any price.

Everywhere else the golf is optional, equity based, or a mandatory social membership with golf as a separate paid upgrade. That includes Lely Resort, Fiddler’s Creek, Quail West, Grey Oaks, Olde Cypress, TwinEagles, The Quarry, Greyhawk, Talis Park and Mediterra. The National at Ave Maria bundles a golf or social membership with every residence, which is a third structure again.

If golf is why you are buying, the question to ask is not “does this community have golf.” It is “is a membership included, is one available, and what does it cost on top.”

Ready to talk about a new build in Naples?

McGreevy and Comisar priced all 79 of these communities, on one yardstick, because nobody else publishes it that way. If you want that work applied to your actual shortlist, including the HOA and CDD numbers builders do not publish, that is the part we do by phone and estoppel rather than by web search. Between us we have represented buyers and sellers on more than $900 million in personal sales, and we are the Top 1% Real Estate Agents Nationally Since 2008. Call Jesse direct at (239) 898-6072.

Buying: see how we represent buyers on a new build in Collier County, including the builder registration rule below that can cost you representation on your first visit. Start at how we work with buyers, or call Marc Comisar direct at (239) 287-5873.

Selling: if you already own in a community the builder is still selling, your competition is the sales office, not the other resales. That changes how your home should be priced and marketed. Get a real number at what your home is worth, or call Jesse McGreevy direct at (239) 898-6072.

Who the person in the model home works for

The agent in a builder’s model home is paid by the builder and represents the builder, and Florida law does not require that person to tell you so. This section covers who represents whom, whether bringing your own agent changes the price you pay, and the registration rule that quietly settles the answer on your very first visit.

Florida’s default is transaction broker, and what that actually means

The person who greets you in a Naples model home is paid by the builder and represents the builder. That is not a criticism, it is the arrangement, and it is worth understanding before you disclose your budget to them.

Florida is unusual here. Under Florida Statutes section 475.278, the statutory presumption is that a licensee is operating as a transaction broker, which is a limited form of representation. A transaction broker owes you dealing honestly and fairly, accounting for funds, skill and care, disclosure of known material facts affecting value, and limited confidentiality. It specifically does not owe you loyalty, obedience, or full disclosure. A single agent owes you all of those. The two are genuinely different products.

There is a wrinkle that almost nobody publishes. Florida requires no disclosure notice at all for transaction brokerage, so the default relationship is also the one that generates no paperwork to tell you it is the default. And section 475.278(5)(b)1 expressly exempts builder sales offices from giving you any brokerage relationship disclosure whatsoever.

So in a Naples model home you may receive no disclosure, and the absence of a form is not evidence that someone is representing you.

This is general information and not legal advice.

Does bringing your own agent cost you more

Ordinarily no, and we will show you the evidence rather than assert it.

Participating builders publish what they pay a cooperating broker, out of closing proceeds. GL Homes publishes “generally 3% of the net purchase price (base purchase price plus lot premium, not including any options, less all credits and promotional discounts).” Neal Communities publishes “up to 3% … on the base home and home site premium.” Toll Brothers publishes “Yes. Commission amounts will vary.”

We found no builder that publishes a discount for arriving unrepresented. GL Homes additionally bars brokers from rebating any of that commission to you, so the money is not capturable by you in either direction.

Three honest caveats, because “it costs you nothing” is a half truth:

Lennar states that it “does not pay commissions to cooperating real estate brokerages in all communities,” so it is not universal.

Since August 2024, your written buyer broker agreement, not the builder, sets what you owe. If the builder pays less than your agreement provides, the shortfall is yours. That is a conversation to have before you tour, not after.

The defensible claim is not that representation is free. It is that you will not be quoted a different price for the house.

The registration rule that can cost you representation on your first visit

This is the most actionable warning on this page.

Most builders require your agent to be present and registered at your first contact, not your first purchase. Registration after the fact usually does not cure it.

Lennar requires the broker to be documented on the first customer interaction, which explicitly includes a website inquiry, an internet sales conversation, a first visit, or a self-guided or virtual tour. Failure “will render Cooperating Broker ineligible for commission.” Registration alone is not sufficient; the broker “must also accompany the Prospect during Prospect’s initial visit.”

GL Homes requires the broker present at the initial visit, with a two day cure window that only applies if you named them on the traffic form.

Neal Communities disqualifies a buyer who has “otherwise indicated … they are not being represented by a broker.”

Akel Homes pays no commission for one year after your last contact.

The practical consequence: if you fill in a form on a builder’s website on a Sunday evening, or walk into a model home alone, you may have permanently forfeited represented status in that community. If you want representation, involve your agent before the first click, not before the contract.

What it costs to carry, every month

Nobody stacks these costs. Every competing page defines HOA and CDD separately, quotes a generic range, and stops there. A Naples new build actually carries five separate lines: county impact fees folded into your purchase price, annual property tax that jumps sharply in year two, a CDD assessment in most communities, homeowners insurance, and flood insurance where it is required. Here is the whole stack. Call Jesse direct at (239) 898-6072 to have it run on a specific address.

Collier County impact fees, line by line, and the May 2026 phase-in

For a single-family detached home under 4,000 square feet of living area, in unincorporated Collier County, on county water and sewer, effective May 1, 2026:

Fire is separate and depends on which district you are in. North Collier Fire charges $476.00 per unit under 4,000 square feet, or $833.00 at 4,000 and above. Greater Naples Fire charges $0.433 per square foot under roof. Immokalee Fire charges $0.94 per square foot under roof with a 4,000 square foot cap. Ochopee Fire charges $0.60 per square foot under roof with the same cap.

Worked example. A 2,400 square foot living, 3,200 square foot under roof home in the Greater Naples Fire district on county utilities pays $34,051.97 plus $1,385.60, or $35,437.57. The identical home in North Collier Fire pays $34,051.97 plus $476.00, or $34,527.97. Same house, roughly $900 apart, purely on district.

Collier is running a phased increase. Phase 1, effective February 1, 2026, was $32,646.49. Phase 2, effective May 1, 2026, is $34,051.97. That is $1,405.48, or 4.3 percent, in three months, driven mostly by Schools rising from $8,789.54 to $9,888.16.

Four things worth knowing that the schedule itself tells you:

Fees are calculated at the rate in effect when the building permit is submitted, or at Certificate of Occupancy, whichever is less. You get the lower of the two.

Payment is due before the Certificate of Occupancy, except fire impact fees, which are due at permit issuance.

If you are tearing down and rebuilding, you are charged only the difference between the fees for the previous home and the new one, at current rates, and Collier imposes no time limit on rebuilding to keep that credit, provided the original home was legally permitted.

Ave Maria has its own schedule entirely, at $21,831.68 for the same home. That is $12,220.29 less. Two reasons appear on the county’s own schedule: the district provides its own parks, so Community Parks drops from $968.23 to $48.41 and Regional Parks from $2,249.93 to $1,237.46, and no county water or sewer impact fee is charged at all, because Ave Maria Utility Company serves the town.

The City of Naples and City of Marco Island do not assess Collier County Community Parks, Law Enforcement, Fire, Water or Sewer impact fees. They do pay county Roads, Schools, EMS, Government Buildings, Jail, Libraries and Regional Parks, plus their own municipal fees.

CDD assessments: the half that ends and the half that never does

Collier County has 31 distinct Community Development Districts, enumerated directly from the county Growth Management Department’s own mapping service, which publishes 33 polygons. Mediterra is two polygons and Fiddler’s Creek is two separate districts.

A CDD is not a homeowners association. It is a local unit of special purpose government under Chapter 190 of the Florida Statutes, with an elected Board of Supervisors, public meetings under the Sunshine Law, an adopted public budget, and the power to issue tax exempt bonds.

Every CDD assessment has two components that behave completely differently, and conflating them is the most common mistake buyers make.

Debt service repays the bonds that built the roads, drainage and amenities. It is fixed per lot by product type or lot width, it can usually be prepaid, and it falls to zero at bond maturity.

Operations and maintenance funds the annual running of the district. It is reset every year through the budget process, and it never ends.

At Heritage Bay in fiscal 2027, O&M is $557.00 for all six product types, while debt service varies by a factor of about 3.6 between a four story unit and a Classics II home. Debt service is between 64 and 87 percent of a Heritage Bay assessment. When those bonds mature, every one of those lines drops to roughly the O&M figure alone.

Across the Collier districts that publish a genuine per unit total, single-family assessments run from $1,372.97 to $5,105.46 a year. The low end is a Coral Harbor 34 foot villa at Naples Reserve in fiscal 2027, at $678.54 general fund plus $694.43 debt. The high end is a 150 foot lot in the Wentworth Estates district at Treviso Bay in fiscal 2027, at $1,499.21 O&M plus $3,606.25 debt.

Note the shape of that. Because O&M is flat within a district and debt service scales with lot width, the spread inside a single community can be wider than the spread between communities. Ask for the number for your specific lot, not the community.

And assessments do not only rise. Naples Reserve O&M actually fell from $717.36 in fiscal 2026 to $678.54 in fiscal 2027, over the same period Heritage Bay’s rose from $506.00 to $557.00.

One risk point that matters more than most buyers realise: CDD assessments are collected by the Collier County Tax Collector as a non ad valorem line on your annual property tax bill, under Chapter 197. They sit below the ad valorem taxes, you must pay both portions together, and they are enforced with the same lien and tax certificate machinery as property tax itself. That is a materially different risk profile from falling behind on HOA dues.

Florida section 190.048 requires a boldfaced, conspicuous disclosure in the contract for the initial sale of a parcel inside a district. Read it.

Why your property tax bill roughly triples in year two

This catches almost every new construction buyer in Collier County, and the entire mechanism is one sentence of statute.

Florida Statutes section 192.042(1) assesses real property as of January 1 each year, and provides that “improvements or portions not substantially completed on January 1 shall have no value placed thereon.”

So if your house was a slab or a frame on January 1, you are taxed on the land only for that year. The following January the finished house is on the roll at full just value, and the bill arrives in November reflecting it.

Save Our Homes does not rescue you. Under section 193.155(1) the cap is the lower of 3 percent or the change in CPI, and it applies beginning the year after the year the property receives homestead exemption. A brand new home has no prior capped value to grow from.

The homestead timing gate is stricter than most people expect. Section 196.011(1)(a) requires two things: ownership and permanent residence as of January 1, and an application filed on or before March 1. A buyer who closes in February 2027 does not get homestead for the 2027 tax year no matter how fast they file, because they did not own and reside on January 1. They wait for 2028.

Total millage in the unincorporated Naples area for the 2025 tax year is 10.5058 mills. Inside the City of Naples it is 9.0514. Schools are the largest single block at 4.2490 mills, roughly 40 percent of the bill.

The biggest geographic swing is the fire district. Greater Naples Fire is 2.0000 mills, North Collier Fire’s North Naples service delivery area is 1.0000, and Big Corkscrew Island and Immokalee are both 3.7500. Two otherwise identical homes a few miles apart can differ by 2.75 mills, which is about $2,750 a year on a $1,000,000 taxable value.

A worked example, and it is an example rather than a quote. In unincorporated Naples at 10.5058 mills, a land only assessment of $250,000 in year one produces roughly $2,626 of ad valorem tax. Land plus improvement at $800,000 just value with homestead in year two produces roughly $7,977. Add a CDD assessment and the realistic all in bill moves from about $2,600 to somewhere between $9,400 and $11,800. It roughly triples, and it can more than quadruple.

Your TRIM notice arrives in August showing proposed rates and hearing dates. The bill follows on November 1.

Homestead, the March 1 deadline, and the $500,000 portability lever

If you held a Florida homestead as of January 1 in any of the three immediately preceding years, section 193.155(8) lets you transfer up to $500,000 of accumulated Save Our Homes benefit to your new Collier home. This is the single largest lever available to a Florida buyer moving within the state, and it is routinely missed.

The trap is the three year window. A buyer who sold a Florida home, rented for four years, and then bought new in Naples has lost portability entirely.

One forward looking item you should know about: Florida Amendment 3 is on the November 2026 ballot and proposes raising the non school homestead exemption from $25,000 to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028. That it is on the ballot is verified. The outcome was unknown when this page was published.

Insurance in Collier: where new construction wins, and where it does not

New construction genuinely does insure better here, and the best evidence for it is local and forensic rather than promotional.

After Hurricane Ian, the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety evaluated 3,646 single-family homes, 327 light commercial buildings and 230 multifamily structures across Southwest Florida. Among the 455 single-family homes built to the modern Florida Building Code, none had structural damage from wind. Homes built before 2002 showed structural damage at nearly twice that rate, and 2.3 times higher where peak winds exceeded 130 miles per hour. Only one modern code building in the entire sample showed any visible structural damage. The study estimates the modern code prevented one to three billion dollars of structural loss in Ian alone.

The honest counterweight, from the same study: this is about structural performance. Roof cover, soffit, fascia and siding damage still occurred on modern code homes, and the researchers found product approval “less effective for asphalt shingles, soffits, fascia and siding.” A new home is dramatically less likely to be destroyed. It is not immune to a claim.

The mechanism that turns this into a premium credit is the Uniform Mitigation Verification Inspection Form, OIR-B1-1802, which every Florida insurer uses. It rates roof covering compliance, roof deck attachment, roof to wall connection, roof geometry, secondary water resistance and opening protection. A new Collier home arrives with the top rating in essentially every category by construction. There is no retrofit to buy.

Now the part the promotional pages leave out. Collier County is getting less insurance relief than most of Florida. In the rate change recommendations Citizens Property Insurance filed in December 2025, Collier’s average HO-3 premium is $4,531, which is 29 percent above the statewide Citizens HO-3 average of $3,506 and 36 percent above Lee County’s $3,322. Collier’s recommended HO-3 change was negative 3.1 percent, against negative 4.8 percent statewide and negative 14.1 percent in both Broward and Miami-Dade.

The reason is not that Collier is being punished. The very large South Florida decreases track the collapse of litigation driven loss costs in the counties that had the worst litigation problem. Collier never had that profile, so it never had that excess to give back.

And Collier wind only coverage is going up, not down. Citizens HW-2 wind only in Collier averages $5,508 across 508 policies, recommended to rise 4.2 percent to $5,737. Dwelling wind only DW-2 averages $7,832 across 157 policies, recommended to rise 8.7 percent to $8,512.

One caveat that must travel with those figures: these are Citizens’ recommended December 2025 numbers. The Office of Insurance Regulation subsequently approved a deeper statewide average decrease of 8.7 percent at renewals from spring 2026. County level approved figures may differ from recommended.

Flood is a separate engine and being new does not lift the mandate. If your home is in a Special Flood Hazard Area with a federally backed mortgage, flood insurance is required regardless of how high you built. Elevation improves the premium; only a Letter of Map Change removes the requirement.

Unincorporated Collier County is a Community Rating System Class 5 community, earning a 25 percent flood premium discount, worth about $9.6 million a year countywide. Under Risk Rating 2.0 that discount applies to all NFIP policies in the community, including policies outside the flood zone. That last part is under known and worth asking your agent about. Note the scope: Class 5 covers unincorporated Collier. The City of Naples, Marco Island and Everglades City are separate CRS communities with their own classes.

Worth knowing regardless of zone: more than 25 percent of flood claims nationwide come from structures in X and X500 zones, where flood insurance is not required.

The rules that govern your build

Four bodies of rule decide what your Collier home must physically be: the Florida Building Code sets wind and opening protection, the county floodplain ordinance sets how high you build, FEMA flood mapping sets whether those rules apply to your lot at all, and Florida statute sets how fast the county must review your permit. Each one has a Collier specific detail that surprises people.

Every home in Collier is in the Wind-Borne Debris Region

This is the strongest single county wide claim in our research, and it corrects a widespread misunderstanding in both directions.

Collier County is not in the High Velocity Hurricane Zone. The Florida Building Code enumerates the HVHZ for exactly two jurisdictions, Miami-Dade and Broward. Collier’s own permit submittal list asks for “Florida Product Approvals or Miami-Dade NOA numbers,” accepting either, which is precisely what a non HVHZ jurisdiction does. A builder advertising Miami-Dade approved products in Naples is making an above code marketing choice, not meeting a legal requirement.

But every single-family home in Collier County is in the Wind-Borne Debris Region. Ultimate design wind speed for an ordinary single-family home across Collier runs from 149 to 172 miles per hour, rising from inland and eastern Collier toward the coast. That comes from the county’s own wind load mapping layer. The Wind-Borne Debris Region threshold is 140 miles per hour, and Collier’s minimum is 149.

There is no part of Collier County where a new home can be built without impact protection on glazed openings. Hurricane impact windows in a Naples new build are a code baseline, not an upgrade. If a salesperson is selling them to you as a premium option, the right question is about design pressure rating and glass versus shutters, not whether you get protection at all.

The Florida Building Code 8th Edition (2023) is in effect. The 9th Edition takes effect December 31, 2026, which is inside the shelf life of most homes being contracted today.

Flood elevation: BFE plus one foot, and Collier’s crown-of-road rule

New residential structures in the Special Flood Hazard Area must be elevated to the higher of two standards, and both apply.

The first is Base Flood Elevation plus one foot of freeboard. The second is Collier specific: 18 inches above the crown of the road if paved, or 24 inches if unpaved.

That second rule regularly drives finished floor elevations above BFE plus one on interior lots, and it surprises people who have only researched the FEMA standard.

The flood map is changing, with a Summer 2027 target

The current effective Flood Insurance Rate Map for Collier County took effect February 8, 2024, the first comprehensive update in decades. That is the map governing construction and insurance today.

A Physical Map Revision is in process. The preliminary map was released March 20, 2025, an open house was held June 17, 2025, the 90 day appeal period opened August 19, 2026, and the county’s target effective date is Summer 2027, subject to the appeal review.

Some 2026 press reporting said the new maps would take effect in fall 2026. The county’s own August 19, 2026 release says Summer 2027. Use the county.

Study areas in the revision include the Cocohatchee basins, District 6, Henderson Creek, Ave Maria, the Faka Union and Fakahatchee basins, and the Southern Coastal basin. The City of Naples is not in the new analysis. Homes just east of Naples in District 6 are.

If you are buying a lot to build on, this matters: your flood zone and therefore your required elevation and your insurance may change before you close.

The 50 percent rule, and why it turns coastal renovations into teardowns

The 50 percent rule is why so much coastal Collier property is being replaced rather than renovated, and Collier screens it in a specific way worth knowing.

The trigger question on the county permit form is “Is the work greater than 25 percent of the market value of the structure?” The county’s formula is Declared Value divided by (Improved Value multiplied by 1.30). Above 25 percent, the full 50 percent rule forms are required. The county’s own worked example is $150,000 divided by ($344,537 times 1.3, or $447,898.10), which equals 33.5 percent, and forms are required.

Staff also evaluate other open permits at the same location.

Here is the genuinely local difference. Collier County imposes no rolling multi year lookback, unlike some Florida counties, and has no waiting period once an existing permit has been finalised through the Certificate of Occupancy process. That materially changes renovation strategy on an older coastal property.

Permits, inspections, and the 30-business-day statutory clock

Collier County does not publish a measured average permit review time. We looked for one across the county’s Building Permits pages, its permitting resources, and its meetings and reports section, and three separate research passes came back empty. The portal itself is access gated.

So we will publish the defensible number, which is the statutory one. Under Florida Statutes section 553.792, a local government must approve, approve with conditions, or deny a building permit application within 30 business days for a single-family home under 7,500 square feet, and 60 business days at 7,500 square feet or more. Within 5 business days of submittal the local government must give written notice of what is needed to make the application complete, and if it fails to do so the application is automatically deemed properly completed.

The clock starts only on a complete and sufficient application, and an applicant may waive it in writing.

You will see third party sites quoting “typical” Collier review times of 20 to 30 business days, or 1 to 10. Both are unsourced. We are not repeating either.

The inspection sequence itself traces the real build spine, and Collier publishes the codes: 100 Footings, 101 Pile Caps, 102 Grade Beam, 103 Floating Slab, 133 Monolithic Slab, 200 Plumbing Underground, 119 Fill Cells, 118 Lintel Beam, 104 Tie Beam, 106 Columns. Every permit requires a Certificate of Occupancy or Certificate of Completion, and the Collier Clerk’s own guidance is blunt about it: the job is not finished until the permit is closed. Open permits at a property are a real problem at resale.

The lived reality

This is the section most new construction pages skip, because none of it is flattering. It is also the part that decides whether you are happy in year three. Below: how long a build actually takes when you read the distribution instead of the average, what it means to buy while the developer still controls the board, why selling in years one to five is harder than buyers expect, how design centre pricing really works, and what Florida’s builder warranty does and does not cover.

How long it really takes, and why the average hides the tail

The average is not the number you want. The distribution is.

In the South in 2024, 78 percent of production and spec homes finished within six months of start. But among contractor built homes, the distribution was 12 percent at three months or less, 28 percent at four to six, 23 percent at seven to nine, 13 percent at ten to twelve, and 23 percent at thirteen months or more.

Nearly one in four took over a year. If you are the one in four, the average was never relevant to you.

Build time also scales hard with size, which matters in Naples where large homes are common. In 2024, permit to completion ran about 9 months for 1,200 to 3,999 square feet, 10.7 months for 4,000 to 4,999, about 14 months for 5,000 to 5,999, and about 16 months at 6,000 and above. A buyer told “about a year” for a 5,200 square foot custom home is being quoted the mid size average, not the size matched one.

Nationally in 2024, permit authorisation to completion for single-family averaged 9.1 months. Homes built for sale averaged 7.6 months. Contractor built averaged about 12. Owner built averaged 15.1. The South Atlantic division, which includes Florida, was the fastest in the country at 7.8 months.

Building those components up for Collier, a realistic contract to closing expectation is 7 to 10 months on a production home and 14 to 20 months semi custom or custom, with a meaningful minority running longer. That is an inference from federal data, not a locally measured figure, and we are labelling it as one.

One seasonal factor nobody warns buyers about: when the National Hurricane Center names a storm and a watch or warning is issued for any part of Florida, carriers stop writing new coverage. Most apply it statewide, not just the forecast cone. A lender will not fund without bound hazard insurance, so if a named storm is anywhere near Florida during your closing week and your coverage is not already bound, your closing does not fund. It typically lifts 24 to 72 hours after the threat clears.

That binding pause is carrier practice, not Florida law. Pages describing it as “the Florida law that stops closings” are wrong. The practical effect on you is identical either way.

Buying into a community the developer still controls

Under Florida Statutes section 720.307, owners other than the developer elect at least one board member once 50 percent of parcels in all phases have been conveyed, and a majority three months after 90 percent have been conveyed. The developer keeps at least one seat while it holds at least 5 percent for sale.

Read that definition carefully, because it contains a trap. “Members other than the developer” expressly excludes builders who purchase a parcel to construct improvements for resale. Merchant builder lots do not count toward the thresholds.

And there is an exemption almost nobody mentions. Section 720.307(5) provides that the section does not apply to an association in a community included in an effective Development of Regional Impact development order as of the act’s effective date. Southwest Florida is full of large master planned communities built under DRI orders. A buyer in a DRI community may not have the state turnover protections at all, with control transition governed instead by the recorded governing documents.

We have not determined which specific Collier communities are DRI exempt, and we are not going to guess. But “is this community DRI exempt from the state turnover statute” is a question worth putting to the developer in writing, and almost no competing page tells you to ask it.

One more thing worth knowing, because it explains why the statute exists at all. The Legislature wrote section 720.307(1)(c) specifically because developers sometimes abandon the responsibility to complete the amenities and infrastructure promised in the governing documents, with a rebuttable presumption of abandonment after more than two years of unpaid assessments. That is a legislature acknowledged failure mode, not a scare story.

Selling in years one to five, when the builder is your competition

This is the most under disclosed risk in a new construction purchase, and it is arithmetic rather than opinion.

If you buy in a community that is 30 percent built out and try to sell in year three, your competition is not only the other resales. It is the builder’s own remaining inventory in your community: brand new, under warranty, with a financing incentive you cannot match, marketed full time by an on site sales office.

The scale of that incentive gap is currently large. The NAHB/Wells Fargo builder confidence index sat at 35 in August 2026, the 16th consecutive month below 40. In that month 35 percent of builders cut prices, at an average reduction of 6 percent, and 63 percent used sales incentives, the 16th consecutive month at 60 percent or higher. Nationally there are roughly 117,000 completed unsold new homes, 9.6 months of supply, and the median time a completed new home sits unsold has stretched from 2.6 to 3.2 months year over year.

In Southwest Florida specifically, builders have been buying rates down one to one and a half points below market.

A builder can move a buyer’s monthly payment through a forward commitment funded out of a construction budget. A private seller structurally cannot. That is the whole asymmetry.

The corollary is the useful part: this risk is largest in a community’s early and middle phases and smallest once the builder has closed out. “Is the builder sold out?” is a completely different question from “is the community finished?”, and the first one is the one that affects your resale.

The design center, and the only decision rule that holds up

You will see claims that builders mark up design center options by 40 to 80 percent. We are not publishing a percentage, because the figures in circulation come from sources with a commercial interest in the number.

What is supportable is the mechanism, from NAHB affiliated trade reporting. A builder may target roughly a 50 percent margin on direct construction cost inside the base sales price, while instructing staff to apply about 30 percent on change orders and design selections. Because staff typically apply that 30 percent as a markup rather than a margin, the realised margin on options lands nearer 23 percent. Options are a margin center. How much of one varies by builder and by item.

So use a decision rule rather than a percentage.

Buy from the builder anything structural, hidden, or destructive to retrofit: slab and plumbing rough ins, electrical rough in, structural options, window and door upgrades, anything behind drywall.

Buy aftermarket anything surface level and swappable: light fixtures, mirrors, faucets, closet systems, window treatments, backsplash, and often flooring.

And watch the financing effect, which is the part that actually costs people money. A $30,000 upgrade package rolled into a 30 year mortgage is not a $30,000 decision.

One Collier specific note: impact glass is a code baseline here, not an upgrade, so the real questions at the design center are design pressure rating and glass versus shutters.

On lot premiums, we will be straight with you. No government, university or trade association research exists on whether lot premiums are recovered at resale, in Florida or anywhere, so we will not invent a percentage. What is true structurally is that a lot premium is priced against demand on the day you buy, not against appraised land value, and at resale it is recovered only to the extent an appraiser can find paired sales inside your community. The trap worth naming: a preserve view or water view that is not deeded, not platted as a conservation easement, and not otherwise permanently protected can be built out later. Ask what legally guarantees the view before you pay for it.

Mature tree canopy is worth roughly 3.5 to 4.5 percent of sale price according to Forest Service research covering 844 single-family properties, with property level tree cover near 30 percent maximising the effect. A brand new Collier community delivers with two to three inch caliper trees and sod, at the bottom of that curve. Those studies are national rather than Florida specific, and our growing season is faster than most, so treat it as a direction rather than a Collier number.

What Florida’s builder warranty actually covers, and why 1-2-10 is not law

“1-2-10 is Florida law” is false. It is a commercial third party warranty product a builder may buy and pass through to you. It is not a Florida statutory entitlement, and we found it repeated as law on page after page.

Here is what Florida actually gives you.

Florida Statutes section 553.837, effective July 1, 2025, provides a one year warranty running from the earlier of original conveyance of title or initial occupancy. Its scope is narrow and specific: construction defects in equipment, material or workmanship furnished by the builder or any subcontractor or supplier that result in a material violation of the Florida Building Code. It is a code compliance warranty, not a general “anything that goes wrong” warranty.

The exclusions are explicit: normal wear and tear, normal settling within accepted trade practices, defects caused by work or materials supplied by you or on your behalf, and loss or damage from an act of God over which the builder has no control, such as a natural disaster. Appliances and equipment under a manufacturer warranty are outside it too.

In Collier County that means hurricane damage sits outside the statutory warranty.

The warranty does transfer. It runs the full year even if the home is sold, so a buyer purchasing a six month old spec home from its first owner still has the balance.

A builder’s own express written warranty supersedes the statute if its scope, coverage and duration equal or exceed the statutory minimum and it transfers automatically for at least the first year. That is where the commercial 1-2-10 products live. So the builder’s document, not the statute, usually defines your actual rights. Read it before you sign, not after something fails.

Enforcement is a private civil action. There is no regulator to call.

Behind the warranty sits the repose period, and it got shorter. The statute of limitations is 4 years, running from the earliest of temporary certificate of occupancy, certificate of occupancy, certificate of completion, or abandonment, and for latent defects from discovery or when it should have been discovered. The statute of repose is 7 years, reduced from 10 in 2023, and it is an absolute outer wall.

Four precision points that almost no summary carries. A temporary CO starts the clock, so the 2023 change moved the trigger earlier as well as shortening the window. Warranty repairs do not extend the period. A home used as a model home starts its clock from the date a deed is first recorded transferring title to another party, which matters in Naples where model leasebacks are common. And in a multi building project, each building is its own improvement for the limitations period.

Before suing, Chapter 558 requires written pre suit notice and an opportunity for the contractor to inspect and offer to repair or pay. Notably, section 558.004(14) makes that pre suit process survive a builder’s arbitration clause.

Which builders are actually building

Collier County builders pulled 1,956 residential new construction permits in calendar year 2025, and the ten most active accounted for 55.11 percent of them. We counted those from the county’s own monthly permit workbooks rather than from the MLS, for a specific and measurable reason explained below, and the resulting ranking looks materially different from the ones built on listing data.

The permit-counted builder table, and why we do not use the MLS flag

Most rankings of “top builders” come from MLS data. We do not use it, for a measurable reason.

The MLS New Construction flag records builder data entry habits, not new construction. In a verified Southwest Florida test, only 4 of 10 genuine new construction closings in a single community carried the tag, and homes a builder never listed are absent from the MLS entirely. Any count built on that flag understates reality badly and unpredictably.

So we counted permits instead, from Collier County’s own published monthly building permit reports. We parsed 62 county workbooks and 289,371 rows, filtered to residential new construction using the county’s own field values, deduplicated on permit number, and normalised contractor names.

Collier County builders pulled 1,956 residential new construction permits in calendar year 2025, with $676,201,863.25 of declared valuation. The top ten account for 55.11 percent of them.

Two caveats that must travel with this table.

Declared valuation is administrative, not market value. It is what the builder declares on the permit application. Centex declares exactly $150,000.00 on every permit in 2026, which is obviously a convention rather than a cost. Use the counts to rank builders by activity. Do not read the dollars as what the homes cost.

The City of Naples and the City of Marco Island issue their own building permits and are entirely absent from this dataset. We verified that rather than assuming it: of the 445 countywide rows referencing those cities, every one is a well permit, right of way, fence, pool or reroof. Not a single residential building permit. So this table covers unincorporated Collier County.

As a sanity check, our count of 1,956 sits 0.57 percent above the Census Bureau Building Permits Survey figure of 1,945 single-family units for Collier in 2025. We are slightly above Census while missing two cities, so the difference is definitional rather than coverage: guest houses fall in the same permit class, and Census counts housing units with some imputation while we count permit records.

We also found two publishing defects in the county’s own files, which we report because anyone repeating this work will hit them. The April 2024 report does not exist, with both links serving duplicate March files. And the February 2026 “applied” link serves a February 2025 file.

Where the permits are actually being pulled

Building in Collier is not evenly spread, and the postal address hides it.

Of the county’s residential new construction permits, 1,618 carry a “Naples” address, but that is a postal designation covering essentially all of unincorporated Collier and tells you very little about location.

The number that does tell you something: Ave Maria alone accounts for 15.13 percent of all county residential new construction permits. One planned town, roughly one in seven new homes permitted in Collier County.

Where new construction still exists in Collier

New construction in Collier is concentrated in four distinct places, and they behave nothing like each other on price, fees or utilities. The Collier Boulevard corridor east of 951 holds most mainstream single-family product, North Naples holds the balance, eastern Collier is being built through the stewardship credit system, and Golden Gate Estates is scattered lots with no HOA at all.

North Naples, East Naples, and the Collier Boulevard corridor

The Collier Boulevard corridor east of 951 is where most of the county’s mainstream new single-family product now sits, including Caymas, Terreno and the Hacienda Lakes communities. Toll Brothers’ Seven Shores and Taylor Morrison’s Esplanade by the Islands are on the southern approach toward Marco.

North Naples along Immokalee Road and Livingston Road holds the balance, including Stonecreek, the Valencia communities and the Heritage Bay area.

Naming note worth having, because it causes real confusion: “Esplanade” is four different Collier communities. Esplanade by the Islands in 34114 is actively selling. Esplanade at Hacienda Lakes is sold out. Esplanade at Rivergrass opens in early 2027. Esplanade Golf and Country Club of Naples is the renamed Mirasol PUD. They do not share amenities, prices or districts, and they are not interchangeable.

Ave Maria and eastern Collier: how a stewardship credit built a town

Eastern Collier is filling in through a mechanism most buyers have never heard of, and it explains the geography better than anything else.

The Rural Lands Stewardship Area covers roughly 200,000 acres of eastern Collier under county ordinance and Florida Statutes section 163.3248. Landowners place land into Stewardship Sending Areas for permanent preservation, which generates Stewardship Credits, which are then spent to entitle Stewardship Receiving Areas: towns, villages and compact rural developments.

The approved Stewardship Receiving Areas, from the county’s own mapping, are Ave Maria, Rivergrass Village, Bellmar Village, Hyde Park Village, Brightshore Village, Big Cypress, and Collier Rod and Gun Club at the Preserve. That list is the answer to “why is there suddenly a town out there.”

Hyde Park and Brightshore appear in both the stewardship layer and the district layer, meaning they are RLSA villages that have also formed districts to finance their own infrastructure. That is the complete mechanism, entitlement through to financing.

Separately, the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District covers approximately 77,000 acres east of Collier Boulevard and operates on Transfer of Development Rights. It has a direct permitting consequence: Collier’s single-family submittal requirements list a Preservation Review Form as required if your property is in the RFMUD.

Ave Maria is also where the impact fee arithmetic changes most, at $21,831.68 against $34,051.97 countywide.

Golden Gate Estates: the scattered-lot build path

Golden Gate Estates is a different proposition entirely. It is scattered platted lots rather than a master planned community, which means no HOA, no CDD, and generally well and septic rather than county utilities.

That last point has a rule attached. Collier’s policy is that any building permit for new construction on a property where water or sewer service is available will be required to connect and will be assessed the applicable impact fees. Availability, not preference, determines connection.

The county’s own permit application enumerates the complete list of water providers in Collier: Ave Maria, Collier County, Everglades City, Immokalee, Port of the Islands, or Well. For disposal: Everglades City, Septic, or Sewer.

“Naples” addresses that are actually in Lee County

Southwest Florida marketing routinely attaches “Naples” to Lee County addresses, because USPS city naming does not follow the county line. This changes your taxes, your school district, your fire district and your impact fees.

We verified county membership for every community in our table through the federal Census geocoder rather than trusting the marketing. A 34119 “Naples” address can sit in Lee County. A 34135 “Bonita Springs” address is never Collier.

Verified as Lee County despite Naples marketing: Bonita Bay, Pelican Landing, The Colony, Palmira, Shadow Wood at The Brooks, West Bay Club, WildBlue, Verdana Village, The Place at Corkscrew, Miromar Lakes and Esplanade Lake Club.

Two communities genuinely straddle the line, and we documented both: Mediterra and Quail West.

The market behind the numbers

Collier County permitted 1,945 single-family homes in 2025, down 55.6 percent from its 2021 peak of 4,380, while the average construction value per permit rose to $577,651. Naples is building far fewer and far more expensive houses. That combination, collapsing volume alongside rising value, is the single most important thing happening in this market, and it is the opposite of the picture most listing sites paint.

Four straight years of declining permits, and what that signals

The decline is not a return to normal. 2025 sits 41.1 percent below 2019 and 40.2 percent below 2018, so Collier is building below its pre pandemic baseline, not merely below the boom.

Valuation held while volume collapsed. Total single-family permit valuation fell from $1.53 billion in 2021 to $1.12 billion in 2025, down 26.5 percent, while unit count fell 55.6 percent. Average valuation per permitted unit rose 65.5 percent, from $349,118 to $577,651.

2026 has not turned. January through June 2026 recorded 1,053 single-family units against 1,126 in the same period of 2025, down 6.5 percent.

Collier did have a strong single month, with 231 single-family permits in July 2026, up 48.1 percent year over year. But Collier permit counts are extremely volatile on a base of roughly 170 to 230 permits a month, and no narrative should be built on one month in either direction.

Multifamily is the one segment accelerating. Permits in buildings of five or more units fell from 2,203 in 2021 to 724 in 2025, but January through June 2026 already recorded 865 units, ahead of the full prior year at the halfway mark.

Why Lee County builds five homes for every one in Collier

Lee County now permits 5.1 single-family homes for every 1 permitted in Collier, up from 1.7 times in 2019. Same regional economy, same period, same buyers.

That ratio is the clearest available evidence that Collier’s slowdown is a land supply constraint rather than a collapse in demand. There is simply less entitled, servicable, developable residential land left inside Collier’s urban boundary, which is exactly why the growth is going east into the stewardship areas.

Two other structural facts shape this market in ways that do not apply almost anywhere else in the country.

24.9 percent of every housing unit in Collier County is held for seasonal, recreational or occasional use: 59,512 of 239,406 units. 81 percent of all vacant units in the county are seasonal. Peak season countywide population of 499,426 exceeds permanent population of 413,300 by 86,126 people. The housing stock is sized for a population that is only here part of the year.

And permanent population growth has nearly stopped. Collier added 409 residents in the year to July 2025, down from 14,075 in 2022. Domestic migration turned negative in 2024 and deepened to negative 2,337 in 2025. Natural change has been negative every year. International migration is the only positive component and it fell 46.6 percent.

That last set of figures sits in genuine tension with the University of Florida’s BEBR medium series, which projects Collier at 443,400 by 2030, roughly 6,000 residents a year. We are publishing the disagreement rather than picking a side. BEBR’s low series is far closer to the recent trend, and Collier’s permit decline is entirely consistent with a population stall. Which projection is right depends almost entirely on whether domestic out migration reverses, and the range of defensible “housing units needed” estimates spans an order of magnitude as a result.

One affordability marker to close on. Collier’s median household income is $97,022. The median owner occupied home value is $540,700, a ratio of 6.0 times against a conventional benchmark near 3. The hard construction cost alone of a new single-family home, with no land in it, is already about 5.95 times median income. Separately, the county’s own 2025 Housing Demand Model puts remaining affordable unit need at 3,176 units per year, while Collier permitted 2,736 residential units of all types and all price points in 2025.

What we could not tell you

Some of what buyers ask us is not published by anyone, by any government agency, trade association or university. Where that is true, this page says so rather than filling the space with a plausible estimate. Below is every question we could not answer from a source we would stand behind, together with what we actually tried before giving up on it.

HOA and master association dues. Of the 79 for sale communities in our table, exactly one published a usable figure. Builders do not publish dues and most associations gate them behind resident portals. Getting a real number requires an estoppel letter, a resale disclosure package, or a phone call to the association. We will make that call for your shortlist.

The dollar value of the new construction insurance advantage. Citizens publishes premiums by county but not by year of construction. Published Florida statewide averages range from about $2,625 to about $5,838 depending on coverage assumptions and whether Citizens policies are counted. No publisher issues a clean discount figure, so we are not inventing one.

Whether lot premiums are recovered at resale. No government, university or trade association research exists on this anywhere. We will not publish a percentage.

Collier’s measured average permit review time. Three research passes across county sources found nothing published. We publish the statutory 30 business day clock instead.

Whether an impact fee Phase 3 is scheduled. Phase 2 took effect May 1, 2026. No further phase calendar was published at time of writing.

Collier months of supply, and Collier median new home closed price. Census publishes new home sales only at national and four region level. Trade association county reports are members only. And we will not build the figure from the MLS new construction flag, for the reason given above.

CDD bond maturity dates. The year your district’s debt service falls off is in the bond’s official statement, not on the district’s assessment page. We can pull it for a specific community.

Which Collier communities are DRI exempt from the state turnover statute. This requires per community review of the DRI order and the recorded declaration. We have not done it community by community and we will not guess.

Remaining inventory per community. Published by almost nobody, and where two developer sources exist they sometimes disagree.

Working with us on a Naples new build

We built this page because we could not find one that answered our own clients’ questions honestly. McGreevy and Comisar are the Top 1% Real Estate Agents Nationally Since 2008, and we have represented buyers on new construction across Collier County since 2004. The benchmark table above is our own work, on our own yardstick, and it is the part we keep current.

McGreevy and Comisar is the Southwest Florida team of Jesse McGreevy and Marc Comisar, the number one team in Southwest Florida since 2012, the Top 1% Real Estate Agents Nationally Since 2008, with more than $900 million in personal sales between us and more than 20 consecutive years of Gulfshore Life Five Star awards. Together with Domain Realty Group we have closed more than 4,000 transactions and more than $2.5 billion in production. We are brokered by Domain Realty.

As the Top 1% Real Estate Agents Nationally Since 2008, we tracked every one of these communities through the 2026 build cycle. If a new build is on your list, these are the community pages where our research goes deepest: Naples and Collier County at the top level, then Naples Reserve, Esplanade by the Islands, Stonecreek, Isles of Collier Preserve, Treviso Bay, Kalea Bay, Talis Park, Quail West, Mediterra, Lely Resort and Ave Maria.

For consumer property search across Southwest Florida, including new construction inventory, visit DomainRealtyGroup.com.

Contact us. Jesse McGreevy, (239) 898-6072. Marc Comisar, (239) 287-5873. Domain Realty Group, 239-441-2816.

Our offices. Bonita Springs and Estero headquarters, 24031 S Tamiami Trl #101, Bonita Springs, FL 34134. Naples, 9180 Galleria Ct #200, Naples, FL 34109. Fort Myers, 8290 College Parkway, Unit 201, Fort Myers, FL 33919.

Frequently asked questions

Are CDD fees forever in Naples?

Half of the assessment ends and half never does. Debt service repays the bonds that built the roads and amenities, is fixed per lot, and falls to zero at bond maturity. Operations and maintenance funds annual running costs, is reset every year, and continues indefinitely. At Heritage Bay, debt service is 64 to 87 percent of the assessment.

Across Collier districts publishing a genuine per unit total, single-family assessments run $1,372.97 to $5,105.46 a year. Because O&M is flat within a district and debt service scales with lot width, the spread inside one community can exceed the spread between communities. Ask for your specific lot. The maturity year is in the bond’s official statement, not on the district’s assessment page.

Why did my property taxes go up so much the year after I bought a new build?

Because Florida assessed your land only in year one. Florida Statutes section 192.042(1) provides that improvements not substantially completed on January 1 have no value placed on them. The following January the finished house lands on the roll at full just value.

Save Our Homes does not cushion it, because the 3 percent cap applies beginning the year after homestead is granted and a new home has no prior capped value. In unincorporated Naples at 10.5058 mills, a realistic all in bill moves from around $2,600 to between $9,400 and $11,800 once a CDD assessment is added.

How much are Collier County impact fees, and who actually pays them?

$34,051.97 for a single-family detached home under 4,000 square feet of living area, in unincorporated Collier, on county water and sewer, effective May 1, 2026, before fire. At 4,000 square feet and above, $36,823.95. Fire is separate and district dependent.

The buyer pays, inside the purchase price. It is roughly 5.9 percent of the average Collier single-family permit construction valuation, and a resale buyer pays none of it. Ave Maria has its own schedule at $21,831.68, which is $12,220.29 less.

How much does it cost to build in Naples per square foot?

Three different numbers circulate and they measure different things, so we separate them.

Delivered builder price divided by published square footage across 79 Collier communities runs $137.98 to $4,652, with mainstream single-family between $228 and $335. Hard construction cost implied by Collier permit valuations is roughly $267 a square foot, which excludes land, margin, marketing and financing. The NAHB national average construction cost was about $162 a square foot in 2024.

We will not publish a Collier specific per foot build cost, because the ranges in circulation come from commercially interested sources.

Is a new construction home really cheaper to insure in Collier County?

For wind, the evidence is strong. After Hurricane Ian, IBHS studied 3,646 Southwest Florida single-family homes and found that among 455 built to the modern Florida Building Code, none had structural wind damage. Pre 2002 homes had structural damage at nearly twice that rate. A new home also arrives with top ratings on the state mitigation form with nothing to retrofit.

The honest limits: roof cover, soffit and siding damage still occurred on modern code homes. Flood is separate and being new does not lift the mandate. And Collier’s average Citizens HO-3 premium of $4,531 is 29 percent above the state average, with Collier wind only rates recommended to rise rather than fall.

How long does it take to build a house in Naples?

Realistically 7 to 10 months for a production home and 14 to 20 months semi custom or custom, built up from federal construction data rather than measured locally.

Use the distribution, not the average. Among contractor built homes in the South in 2024, 23 percent took thirteen months or more. Time also scales with size: about 9 months under 4,000 square feet, 10.7 months at 4,000 to 4,999, about 14 months at 5,000 to 5,999, and about 16 months above 6,000.

Add hurricane season risk: if a named storm triggers a watch anywhere in Florida during closing week and your insurance is not bound, the closing does not fund.

Can I negotiate with a Naples builder?

Yes, and you will usually do better asking for something other than a price cut.

Builders have been discounting for 16 consecutive months. In August 2026, 35 percent cut prices at an average of 6 percent and 63 percent ran incentives. In Southwest Florida specifically, builders have been buying mortgage rates down one to one and a half points below market.

Base price has less room than buyers assume, because builder profit averaged 11 percent of sales price. Rate buydowns, closing cost credits, design center allowances and lot premium waivers usually move further, and they cost the builder less than a headline price cut that reprices the whole community.

Does Florida law give me a 1-2-10 warranty on a new home?

No. “1-2-10” is a commercial warranty product a builder may purchase, not a Florida statutory entitlement.

Florida Statutes section 553.837 provides a one year warranty covering defects that result in a material violation of the Florida Building Code. It excludes normal wear, normal settling, work you supplied, and acts of God, which in Collier means hurricane damage sits outside it. It does transfer with the home for the balance of the year.

A builder’s own written warranty supersedes the statute if it meets or exceeds the minimum. Behind both sits a 4 year limitations period and a 7 year statute of repose, reduced from 10 in 2023, with a temporary CO starting the clock and warranty repairs not extending it.

Do I need an independent inspection on a brand-new home?

Yes, and the timing matters more than most buyers realise.

Collier’s own inspection sequence covers code compliance, not your interests, and a passed inspection is not a quality assessment. Book your own inspection before drywall goes up, again at the pre closing walkthrough, and once more at around month eleven, which is the last inspection inside the statutory one year warranty period.

Also confirm every permit at the property has been closed to a Certificate of Occupancy or Certificate of Completion. The Collier Clerk’s own guidance is that the job is not finished until the permit is closed, and open permits are a genuine problem at resale.

Do I need my own realtor to buy new construction in Naples, and does it cost me anything?

The person in the model home is paid by and represents the builder. Under Florida Statutes section 475.278 the default is transaction brokerage, which does not include loyalty, obedience or full disclosure, and section 475.278(5)(b)1 exempts builder sales offices from giving you any brokerage relationship disclosure at all.

Ordinarily bringing your own agent does not change your price. Participating builders publish what they pay a cooperating broker, and we found none that discounts for arriving unrepresented. Since August 2024 your written buyer agreement, not the builder, sets what you owe.

The critical rule: most builders require your agent present and registered at your first contact, including a website inquiry or a self guided tour. Involve your agent before the first click.

Is new construction or resale the better buy in Naples right now?

It depends on which risk you would rather carry, and the honest answer differs from the national one.

New wins on insurance and code performance, on warranty, and on not inheriting deferred maintenance. Nationally the price gap has actually inverted, with existing homes selling for about 1 percent more than new in 2025.

In Collier it has not inverted. New carries $34,051.97 in impact fees a resale buyer never pays, plus in most communities a CDD assessment. New also carries the resale problem: sell in years one to five and you compete against the builder’s own inventory and incentives. Resale wins on mature landscaping, on established HOA governance rather than developer control, and on knowing exactly what the assessment is.

Are CDD fees included in my property tax bill?

Yes. Collier CDD assessments are collected by the Collier County Tax Collector as a non ad valorem line on your annual property tax bill under Chapter 197. They sit below the ad valorem taxes, you must pay both portions together, and they are enforced with the same lien and tax certificate machinery as property tax itself.

That is a materially different risk profile from falling behind on HOA dues, and it is also why the assessment is invisible to a buyer who scans a listing for taxes. Florida section 190.048 requires a boldfaced, conspicuous disclosure in the contract for the initial sale of a parcel inside a district. Read it.

Are CDD fees paid monthly or annually?

Annually, on your November property tax bill, not monthly the way HOA dues are. That one difference causes a lot of budgeting mistakes, because a buyer who has priced a monthly HOA figure into their payment has often set aside nothing for an assessment that runs $1,372.97 to $5,105.46 a year and arrives in a single line.

If your lender escrows taxes, the assessment rides inside the escrow and shows up as a jump in your monthly payment after the first full tax bill lands. That is the same year the finished house hits the tax roll at full just value, so the two increases arrive together and are routinely mistaken for one.

What are the non ad valorem assessments on a Collier County tax bill?

Non ad valorem lines are charged per parcel or per unit rather than as a percentage of assessed value, and in a Collier new construction community the one that matters is the CDD assessment. It arrives as a single annual line under Chapter 197, split between debt service that ends at bond maturity and operations and maintenance that never does.

The split matters because the two halves are quoted together and behave differently. At Heritage Bay in fiscal 2027, operations and maintenance is $557.00 across all six product types while debt service varies by a factor of about 3.6 between a four story unit and a Classics II home. Ask the district for the split on your specific lot, not the community average.

Does the HOA change after the developer turns the community over?

Control of the budget changes hands, and that is the part we can source. Under Florida Statutes section 720.307, owners other than the developer elect at least one board member once 50 percent of parcels in all phases have been conveyed, and a majority three months after 90 percent have been conveyed. The developer keeps at least one seat while it holds at least 5 percent for sale.

Two traps sit inside that. The statute expressly excludes builders who purchase a parcel to construct improvements for resale, so merchant builder lots do not count toward the thresholds. And section 720.307(5) exempts an association in a community covered by an effective Development of Regional Impact order, and Southwest Florida is full of large master planned communities built under DRI orders, so a buyer there may not have the state turnover protections at all. Ask in writing whether your community is DRI exempt.

What is bundled golf, and which Collier communities actually have it?

Bundled golf means the membership comes with every home and is included in the fees, and only two Collier communities genuinely have it. They are Heritage Bay, where all units carry it across 27 holes, and Treviso Bay, where 825 of 1,431 properties carry it and no additional golf memberships are available at any price.

Everywhere else the golf is optional, equity based, or a mandatory social membership with golf as a separate paid upgrade. That includes Lely Resort, Fiddler’s Creek, Quail West, Grey Oaks, Olde Cypress, TwinEagles, The Quarry, Greyhawk, Talis Park and Mediterra. The National at Ave Maria bundles a golf or social membership with every residence, which is a third structure again. The question is not whether a community has golf. It is whether a membership is included, whether one is available, and what it costs on top.

Why is the price I actually pay higher than the builder’s base price?

Because the base price buys the structure, and four other things land on top of it before you close: the lot premium, your design center selections, the county impact fees folded into the purchase price, and anything the builder does not include, which in Naples frequently means the pool and the landscape package.

The impact fee alone is $34,051.97 for a single-family detached home under 4,000 square feet of living area in unincorporated Collier on county water and sewer, effective May 1, 2026, before fire. That is roughly 5.9 percent of the average Collier single-family permit construction valuation, and it sits inside your price rather than arriving as a separate invoice. Our benchmark table prices all 79 communities on delivered price against published square footage for exactly this reason.

Do I have to connect to county water and sewer, or can I build on well and septic?

Availability decides it, not preference. Collier’s policy is that any building permit for new construction on a property where water or sewer service is available will be required to connect, and will be assessed the applicable impact fees. Where county service does not reach the lot, well and septic is the path.

That fork is worth $10,288.00 on the fee schedule, because water at $5,441.00 and sewer at $4,847.00 are the two lines that come off when the county does not serve you. The county’s own permit application enumerates every provider: Ave Maria, Collier County, Everglades City, Immokalee, Port of the Islands, or Well, and for disposal Everglades City, Septic, or Sewer. Ave Maria is served by Ave Maria Utility Company, which is one of the two reasons its total impact fee is $21,831.68 rather than $34,051.97.

How long does Collier County have to review my building permit?

Thirty business days for a single-family home under 7,500 square feet, and 60 business days at 7,500 square feet or more, under Florida Statutes section 553.792. Within 5 business days of submittal the local government must give written notice of what is needed to make the application complete, and if it fails to do so the application is automatically deemed properly completed.

The clock starts only on a complete and sufficient application, and an applicant may waive it in writing. Collier County does not publish a measured average review time. We looked across the county’s building permit pages, its permitting resources and its meetings and reports section, and three separate research passes came back empty, with the portal itself access gated. You will see third party sites quoting typical Collier reviews of 20 to 30 business days, or 1 to 10. Both are unsourced and we are not repeating either.

What inspections does a Collier build go through, and does passing them mean the house is good?

Collier publishes the sequence and the codes: 100 Footings, 101 Pile Caps, 102 Grade Beam, 103 Floating Slab, 133 Monolithic Slab, 200 Plumbing Underground, 119 Fill Cells, 118 Lintel Beam, 104 Tie Beam and 106 Columns. Every permit then requires a Certificate of Occupancy or a Certificate of Completion before the job is finished.

Passing them does not mean the house is good. Those inspections test code compliance, not workmanship and not your interests, which is why your own inspection before drywall goes up is worth more to you than any of them. Confirm as well that every permit at the property has been closed. The Collier Clerk’s own guidance is blunt that the job is not finished until the permit is closed, and open permits are a real problem at resale.

Do I need flood insurance on a new home in Naples?

If the home is in a Special Flood Hazard Area and you have a federally backed mortgage, yes, regardless of how high you built. Elevation improves the premium. Only a Letter of Map Change removes the requirement, and being new construction does not lift the mandate.

Two Collier specifics are worth money here. Unincorporated Collier County is a Community Rating System Class 5 community, earning a 25 percent flood premium discount worth about $9.6 million a year countywide, and under Risk Rating 2.0 that discount applies to all NFIP policies in the community, including policies outside the flood zone. Note the scope: the City of Naples, Marco Island and Everglades City are separate CRS communities with their own classes. And worth knowing regardless of zone, more than 25 percent of flood claims nationwide come from structures in X and X500 zones, where coverage is not required.

What is a wind mitigation inspection, and what is it worth on a new build?

It is the Uniform Mitigation Verification Inspection Form, OIR-B1-1802, which every Florida insurer uses. It rates roof covering compliance, roof deck attachment, roof to wall connection, roof geometry, secondary water resistance and opening protection. A new Collier home arrives with the top rating in essentially every category by construction, and there is no retrofit to buy.

We will not attach a dollar figure to it, and the reason is worth stating. Citizens publishes premiums by county but not by year of construction, published Florida statewide averages range from about $2,625 to about $5,838 depending on coverage assumptions, and no publisher issues a clean discount figure. Anyone quoting you a precise new construction discount for Collier is estimating. What is measurable is the physical performance behind the form: after Hurricane Ian, IBHS found no structural wind damage among the 455 Southwest Florida single-family homes in its sample that were built to the modern Florida Building Code.

When can I first claim homestead on a home that finished mid year?

The January after you both own it and live in it permanently. Florida Statutes section 196.011(1)(a) requires ownership and permanent residence as of January 1, plus an application filed on or before March 1. A buyer who closes in February 2027 does not get homestead for the 2027 tax year no matter how fast they file. They wait for 2028.

If you held a Florida homestead as of January 1 in any of the three immediately preceding years, section 193.155(8) lets you transfer up to $500,000 of accumulated Save Our Homes benefit to your new Collier home. That is the single largest lever available to a buyer moving within Florida and it is routinely missed. The trap is the three year window: sell a Florida home, rent for four years, then buy new in Naples, and portability is gone entirely.

Is my Naples home in the High Velocity Hurricane Zone, and are impact windows an upgrade?

No, and no. The Florida Building Code enumerates the High Velocity Hurricane Zone for exactly two jurisdictions, Miami-Dade and Broward, and Collier is not one of them. But every single-family home in Collier County sits in the Wind-Borne Debris Region, so impact protection on glazed openings is a code baseline here rather than an upgrade.

Ultimate design wind speed for an ordinary single-family home across Collier runs from 149 to 172 miles per hour, rising from inland and eastern Collier toward the coast, and the Wind-Borne Debris Region threshold is 140. Collier’s minimum is 149. If a salesperson is selling you impact windows as a premium option, the questions are design pressure rating and glass versus shutters, not whether you get protection at all. Collier’s permit submittal list accepts either Florida Product Approvals or Miami-Dade NOA numbers, which is precisely what a non HVHZ jurisdiction does.

What can delay my closing that has nothing to do with the builder?

A named storm. When the National Hurricane Center names a storm and a watch or warning is issued for any part of Florida, carriers stop writing new coverage, and most apply that statewide rather than only inside the forecast cone. A lender will not fund without bound hazard insurance.

So if a named storm is anywhere near Florida during your closing week and your coverage is not already bound, your closing does not fund. It typically lifts 24 to 72 hours after the threat clears. That binding pause is carrier practice rather than Florida law, and pages describing it as the Florida law that stops closings are wrong, but the practical effect on you is identical either way. Bind early if you are closing inside hurricane season.

What is a lot premium, and will I get it back when I sell?

A lot premium is priced against demand on the day you buy, not against appraised land value, and at resale it is recovered only to the extent an appraiser can find paired sales inside your own community. We will not publish a recovery percentage, because no government, university or trade association research exists on whether lot premiums are recovered at resale, in Florida or anywhere.

The trap worth naming is the view itself. A preserve view or water view that is not deeded, not platted as a conservation easement, and not otherwise permanently protected can be built out later. Ask what legally guarantees the view before you pay for it. Mature tree canopy is the one landscape factor with real research behind it, worth roughly 3.5 to 4.5 percent of sale price across 844 single-family properties in Forest Service work, and a brand new Collier community delivers at the bottom of that curve with two to three inch caliper trees and sod.

Which design center upgrades are worth paying the builder for?

Use a decision rule rather than a percentage. Buy from the builder anything structural, hidden, or destructive to retrofit: slab and plumbing rough ins, electrical rough in, structural options, window and door upgrades, and anything that ends up behind drywall. Buy aftermarket anything surface level and swappable: light fixtures, mirrors, faucets, closet systems, window treatments, backsplash, and often flooring.

We are not publishing a markup percentage, because the figures in circulation come from sources with a commercial interest in the number. The supportable mechanism, from NAHB affiliated trade reporting, is that a builder may target roughly a 50 percent margin on direct construction cost inside the base sales price while instructing staff to apply about 30 percent on change orders and design selections, and because staff typically apply that as a markup rather than a margin the realised margin lands nearer 23 percent. Watch the financing effect too: a $30,000 upgrade package rolled into a 30 year mortgage is not a $30,000 decision. One Collier note, impact glass is a code baseline here, so the real question at the design center is rating, not whether to buy it.

What is a spec or inventory home, and is it a better deal?

It is a home the builder started without a buyer, so the structural decisions and most of the finishes are already made. You trade choice for speed and, in this market, for leverage: nationally there are roughly 117,000 completed unsold new homes, 9.6 months of supply, and the median time a completed new home sits unsold has stretched from 2.6 to 3.2 months year over year.

That standing inventory is where the incentives concentrate, because a finished house costs the builder money every month it sits. Two things to check before you assume it is the better buy. Federal data puts homes built for sale at 7.6 months from permit to completion against about 12 months for contractor built, so the speed advantage is real. And the Florida statutory warranty runs from the earlier of original conveyance of title or initial occupancy, so a six month old spec arrives with the balance of its year rather than a fresh one.

How is building in Golden Gate Estates different from buying in a community?

It is a different proposition entirely. Golden Gate Estates is scattered platted lots rather than a master planned community, which means no HOA, no CDD, and generally well and septic rather than county utilities. You are buying land and building on it instead of buying a finished product from a sales office.

Two rules follow the lot rather than the builder. Availability decides utilities: any building permit for new construction on a property where water or sewer service is available will be required to connect and will be assessed the applicable impact fees. And if the property sits in the Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District, which covers approximately 77,000 acres east of Collier Boulevard and operates on Transfer of Development Rights, Collier’s single-family submittal requirements add a Preservation Review Form.

Do new construction homes appreciate more slowly while the developer is still selling?

This is the most under disclosed risk in a new construction purchase, and it is arithmetic rather than opinion. If you buy in a community that is 30 percent built out and try to sell in year three, your competition is not only the other resales. It is the builder’s own remaining inventory in your community: brand new, under warranty, carrying a financing incentive you cannot match, and marketed full time by an on site sales office.

The scale of that gap is currently large. In August 2026, 35 percent of builders cut prices at an average reduction of 6 percent and 63 percent used sales incentives, the 16th consecutive month at 60 percent or higher, and in Southwest Florida specifically builders have been buying rates down one to one and a half points below market. A builder can move a buyer’s monthly payment through a forward commitment funded out of a construction budget, and a private seller structurally cannot. The useful corollary is that whether the builder is sold out is a completely different question from whether the community is finished, and the first one is the one that affects your resale.

Downloadable Documents

Every document below is linked at its official primary source. We do not host copies, because the authority URL is the citable one and it is the one that stays correct.

• Collier County Residential Impact Fees, effective May 1, 2026: https://www.collier.gov/files/assets/county/v/1/impact-fees/new-folder-2/residential-rates-050126.pdf
• Collier County Residential Impact Fees, effective February 1, 2026 (Phase 1): https://www.collier.gov/files/assets/county/v/1/impact-fees/new-folder-1/residential-rates-020126.pdf
• Collier County Residential Impact Fees, effective December 1, 2025: https://www.collier.gov/files/assets/county/v/1/impact-fees/residential-rates-120125_1.pdf
• Ave Maria Residential Impact Fees, effective May 1, 2026: https://www.collier.gov/files/assets/county/v/2/impact-fees/new-folder-2/residential-rates-ave-maria-050126-final-2.pdf
• Collier County Floodplain Management FAQs: https://www.collier.gov/files/assets/county/v/1/community-planning-amp-resiliency/documents/floodplain-management/faqs-final.pdf
• Collier County Floodplain Management Information Form: https://www.collier.gov/files/assets/county/v/1/building-plan-review/documents/forms/floodplain-breakout-7119.pdf
• Collier County 2026 Flood Protection Newsletter: https://www.collier.gov/files/assets/county/v/3/community-planning-amp-resiliency/documents/floodplain-management/2026-flood-protection-newsletter.pdf
• Collier County 2025 Annual Update and Inventory Report: https://www.collier.gov/files/assets/county/v/1/planning-and-zoning/documents/2025-auir-final.pdf
• Collier County Affordable Housing Advisory Committee, November 18 2025 agenda packet: https://www.collier.gov/files/assets/county/v/2/housing-and-economic-dev/documents/ahac-agenda-packets/november-18-2025-ahac-agenda-packet.pdf
• Florida Department of Revenue, 2025 Collier Taxing Authority Code Descriptions: https://floridarevenue.com/property/dataportal/Documents/PTO%20Data%20Portal/TACD%20History/2025%20Taxing%20Authority%20Code%20Descriptions/2025%20Collier%20TACD.pdf
• Citizens Property Insurance, 2026 Recommended Rate Filing: https://www.citizensfla.com/documents/20702/39142684/20251210+03Ba+2026+Recommended+Rate+Filing-+combined.pdf
• IBHS, Building Performance in Southwest Florida During Hurricane Ian, Part II: https://ibhs1.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/HurricaneIan_PartII_Templated.pdf
• U.S. Census Bureau, average start to completion: https://www.census.gov/construction/nrc/pdf/avg_starttocomp.pdf
• U.S. Census Bureau, percent start to completion 2024: https://www.census.gov/construction/nrc/pdf/pct_start_to_comp_2024.pdf
• U.S. Census Bureau, Monthly New Residential Sales: https://www.census.gov/construction/nrs/pdf/newressales.pdf
• University of Florida BEBR, Florida population projections 2026: https://bebr.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/projections_2026.pdf
• NOAA National Hurricane Center, Tropical Cyclone Report, Hurricane Ian: https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL092022_Ian.pdf
• Ave Maria Stewardship Community District, Final Budget FY2025-2026: https://avemariastewardshipcd.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/AMS-Final-Budget-2025-2026.pdf
• Naples Reserve CDD, FY2026 general funds: https://naplesreservecdd.net/_assets/documents/fy-2026/2026-NRCDD-general-funds.pdf
• Fiddler’s Creek CDD 2, FY2026 proposed budget: https://fiddlerscreekcdd2.net/_assets/documents/fy-2026/2026-FCCDD2-budget-proposed.pdf
• National Association of Realtors, settlement FAQ: https://www.nar.realtor/sites/default/files/2024-10/nar-settlement-faq-2024-10-29.pdf

Sources

Every figure on this page carries its publisher and the date we read it. All sources below were read on September 1, 2026 unless otherwise dated.

Florida Statutes and state law. The Florida Senate, 2025 Florida Statutes: section 192.042(1) assessment date; section 193.155(1) and (8) Save Our Homes and portability; section 196.011(1)(a) homestead application; section 475.278 brokerage relationships; section 553.792 permit application processing; section 553.837 building code warranty; section 553.84 material violation; section 95.11(3)(b) limitations and repose; Chapter 190 community development districts including section 190.008 and section 190.048; Chapter 197 non ad valorem assessment collection including sections 197.3631, 197.3632 and 197.3635; section 720.307 transition of association control including the DRI exemption at subsection (5); Chapter 558 pre suit notice including section 558.004(14); section 163.3248 rural land stewardship.

Collier County government. Growth Management Department, Impact Fee Administration, Collier County Residential Impact Fees effective May 1, 2026, and the Phase 1 schedule effective February 1, 2026, and the separate Ave Maria Residential Impact Fees effective May 1, 2026. Collier County Impact Fees program page. Collier County Growth Management Community Development District Boundaries mapping service, queried directly. Collier County Growth Management FBC8 Wind Load Category 2 mapping layer, queried directly. Collier County Growth Management RLSA Stewardship Receiving Area mapping layer, queried directly. Collier County Floodplain Management, Building Within the Floodplain, and the Floodplain Management Information Form revised November 16, 2023, and the Analysis of Substantial Improvement or Repair of Substantial Damage page. Collier County Government, Proposed Flood Insurance Rate Map Reflects Changes to Local Flood Risk, published August 19, 2026. Collier County Building Codes and Fees. Collier County Growth Management application requirements for new single-family residential. Collier County Public Utilities. Collier County Board of County Commissioners, Exhibit A Proposed Property Tax Rates Based on July 1, 2026 Taxable Value, July 14, 2026. Collier County Community Planning Section, 2025 Annual Update and Inventory Report population appendix, prepared May 23, 2025. Collier County Affordable Housing Advisory Committee, November 18, 2025 agenda packet containing approved September 16, 2025 minutes. Collier County Operations and Regulatory Management Division, Monthly Building Permit Reports, 62 monthly workbooks parsed. Collier County Comprehensive Plan, Rural Lands Stewardship Area and Rural Fringe Mixed-Use District.

Florida state agencies. Florida Department of Revenue, Property Tax Oversight, 2025 Collier County final millage table transmitted October 3, 2025. Florida Office of Insurance Regulation, newsroom release January 13, 2026, and form OIR-B1-1802 Uniform Mitigation Verification Inspection Form. Florida Building Commission and the Florida Building Code 8th Edition (2023), including section 1620 on the High Velocity Hurricane Zone.

Federal government. U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey, county annual and year to date files, FIPS 12-021. U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Construction, Number of Housing Units Completed by Number of Months from Start, 2024. U.S. Census Bureau and HUD, Monthly New Residential Sales July 2026, release CB26-128. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates 2020 to 2024, tables DP03, DP04 and B25004. U.S. Census Bureau, Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates 2024. U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program vintage 2025. U.S. Census Bureau Geocoder, Public_AR_Current, used to prove county membership for every community in the benchmark. Federal Emergency Management Agency, Community Rating System. USDA Forest Service Research and Development, Anderson and Cordell, and the Forest Service meta analysis on residential tree cover and sale price.

Research institutions and trade associations. Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety, Giammanco, Newby, Pogorzelski and Shabanian, Observations of Building Performance in Southwest Florida During Hurricane Ian (2022) Part II, 2023, DOI 10.82346/768D-DS42. National Association of Home Builders, Cost of Constructing a Home 2024, published January 20, 2025. National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo, Housing Market Index, Affordability Pressures Keep Builder Confidence Low, August 17, 2026. NAHB Eye on Housing analysis of Census Survey of Construction, September 2025. Pro Builder, Margin vs. Markup. University of Florida Bureau of Economic and Business Research, Florida Population Studies Volume 59 Bulletin 203, February 2026. Florida Gulf Coast University Lutgert College of Business, Regional Economic Research Institute, Single-Family Building Permits dashboard, updated August 25, 2026. National Association of Realtors settlement resources.

Insurers. Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, 2026 Recommended Rate Changes by County, filed with the December 10, 2025 board package, and Citizens depopulation reporting.

Community development districts. Adopted budgets and assessment schedules published by Heritage Bay CDD, Naples Reserve CDD, Caymas CDD, Wentworth Estates CDD, Mediterra CDD, Fiddler’s Creek CDD 2, Hacienda Lakes CDD, Lely CDD, and the Ave Maria Stewardship Community District.

Builders and developers. Published pricing, plan specifications, and broker participation policies from Pulte Homes and Centex and DiVosta and Del Webb, GL Homes, Taylor Morrison, Neal Communities, Toll Brothers, Lennar, Minto Communities, Stock Development, Ashton Woods, Mattamy Homes, M/I Homes, Kolter Homes, London Bay Homes, The Ronto Group, Soave Real Estate and Signature Communities, and Akel Homes, together with the individual community and club sites for each development in the benchmark table.

News. Naples Daily News and Gulfshore Business.

Sources we deliberately did not use. Real estate portals, competing brokerages, and realtor personal brand sites were excluded from every cell of the benchmark and every figure on this page. Where a fact existed only on one of those, we recorded it as unknown instead. The Collier County Property Appraiser website was not accessed by any automated means; property tax mechanics on this page come from Florida Statutes, the Florida Department of Revenue, and Collier County’s own published forms.

Full source list

Every URL below was read on September 1, 2026 during the research for this page.

• https://api.census.gov/data/
• https://codes.iccsafe.org/codes/florida
• https://codes.iccsafe.org/content/FLBC2023P1
• https://cvportal.collier.gov/cityviewweb
• https://cvportal.colliercountyfl.gov/CityViewWeb/Property
• https://data.census.gov/api/access/data/table?g=050XX00US12021&tid=ACSDP5Y2024.DP02
• https://data.census.gov/api/access/data/table?g=050XX00US12021&tid=ACSDP5Y2024.DP03
• https://data.census.gov/api/access/data/table?g=050XX00US12021&tid=ACSDP5Y2024.DP04
• https://data.census.gov/api/access/data/table?g=050XX00US12021&tid=ACSDT5Y2024.B25004
• https://floir.gov/newsroom/archives/item-details/2026/01/13/icymi--governor-ron-desantis-announces-major-insurance-rate-relief-as-florida-s-reforms-deliver-results
• https://floir.gov/property-casualty/take-out-companies
• https://floridajobs.org/community-development/community-planning/special-districts/special-district-accountability-program
• https://floridarevenue.com/property/Pages/Taxpayers_Exemptions.aspx
• https://floridarevenue.com/property/dataportal/Documents/PTO%20Data%20Portal/TACD%20History/2025%20Taxing%20Authority%20Code%20Descriptions/2025%20Collier%20TACD.pdf
• https://gis-colliercountygmd.hub.arcgis.com/
• https://gis-colliercountygmd.hub.arcgis.com/api/feed/dcat-us/1.1.json
• https://hub-collierbcc.opendata.arcgis.com/
• https://library.municode.com/fl/collier_county/codes/land_development_code
• https://library.municode.com/fl/naples/codes/code_of_ordinances
• https://msc.fema.gov/
• https://msc.fema.gov/portal
• https://notices.collierclerk.com/notice/impact-fee-ordinance-bcc-1-13-2026/
• https://research.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/26940
• https://research.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/52843
• https://research.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/64240
• https://services2.arcgis.com/SlIq32SqARUHIhSx/arcgis/rest/services/
• https://services2.arcgis.com/SlIq32SqARUHIhSx/arcgis/rest/services/Community_Development_Districts_view/FeatureServer/0
• https://services2.arcgis.com/SlIq32SqARUHIhSx/arcgis/rest/services/FBC8_Wind_Load_Cat_2_(Editable
• https://services2.arcgis.com/SlIq32SqARUHIhSx/arcgis/rest/services/RFMUD_view/FeatureServer/0
• https://services2.arcgis.com/SlIq32SqARUHIhSx/arcgis/rest/services/RLSA_SRA_view/FeatureServer/0
• https://socds.huduser.gov/permits
• https://www.census.gov/construction/chars/xls/squarefeet_cust.xls
• https://www.census.gov/construction/nrc/data/time.html
• https://www.census.gov/construction/nrc/pdf/avg_starttocomp.pdf
• https://www.census.gov/construction/nrc/pdf/pct_start_to_comp_2024.pdf
• https://www.census.gov/construction/nrs/pdf/newressales.pdf
• https://www.census.gov/construction/nrs/xls/newressales.xlsx
• https://www.census.gov/construction/nrs/xls/pricereg_cust.xlsx
• https://www.collier.gov/Business-Resources/Building-Permits-Construction
• https://www.collier.gov/Business-Resources/Building-Permits-Construction/Application-Requirements
• https://www.collier.gov/Business-Resources/Building-Permits-Construction/Application-Requirements/PRAC
• https://www.collier.gov/Business-Resources/Building-Permits-Construction/Application-Requirements/PRCS
• https://www.collier.gov/Business-Resources/Building-Permits-Construction/Application-Requirements/PRFH-New
• https://www.collier.gov/Business-Resources/Building-Permits-Construction/Building-Codes-Fees
• https://www.collier.gov/Business-Resources/Building-Permits-Construction/Meetings-Advisory-Boards-Reports/Monthly-Building-Permit-Reports
• https://www.collier.gov/Business-Resources/Building-Permits-Construction/Permitting-Resources/E-Permitting
• https://www.collier.gov/Business-Resources/Building-Permits-Construction/Permitting-Resources/Inspection-Scheduling
• https://www.collier.gov/Business-Resources/Building-Permits-Construction/Permitting-Resources/View-Permit-History-Permit-Search
• https://www.collier.gov/Business-Resources/Floodplain-Management
• https://www.collier.gov/Business-Resources/Floodplain-Management/Analysis-of-Substantial-Improvement-or-Repair-of-Substantial-Damage
• https://www.collier.gov/Business-Resources/Floodplain-Management/Building-Within-the-Floodplain
• https://www.collier.gov/Business-Resources/Floodplain-Management/Floodplain-Management-Planning-Committee-FMPC
• https://www.collier.gov/Business-Resources/Floodplain-Management/Substantial-Damage-Determinations
• https://www.collier.gov/Collier-County/Organization-Resources/Office-of-Management-Budget/Special-Districts
• https://www.collier.gov/County-Development/Impact-Fees
• https://www.collier.gov/County-Development/Land-Development/Codes-Regulations/Comprehensive-Plan
• https://www.collier.gov/News-articles/2026-News-Articles/August-2026/Proposed-Flood-Insurance-Rate-Map-Reflects-Changes-to-Local-Flood-Risk
• https://www.collier.gov/Resident-Resources/Utility-Billing-Customer-Service/Customer-Service
• https://www.collier.gov/files/assets/county/v/1/building-plan-review/documents/forms/floodplain-breakout-7119.pdf
• https://www.collier.gov/files/assets/county/v/1/community-planning-amp-resiliency/documents/floodplain-management/faqs-final.pdf
• https://www.collier.gov/files/assets/county/v/1/impact-fees/new-folder-1/residential-rates-020126.pdf
• https://www.collier.gov/files/assets/county/v/1/impact-fees/new-folder-2/residential-rates-050126.pdf
• https://www.collier.gov/files/assets/county/v/1/impact-fees/residential-rates-120125_1.pdf
• https://www.collier.gov/files/assets/county/v/1/planning-and-zoning/documents/2025-auir-final.pdf
• https://www.collier.gov/files/assets/county/v/2/housing-and-economic-dev/documents/ahac-agenda-packets/november-18-2025-ahac-agenda-packet.pdf
• https://www.collier.gov/files/assets/county/v/2/impact-fees/2025-auir-final-print-01-21-26.pdf
• https://www.collier.gov/files/assets/county/v/2/impact-fees/new-folder-2/residential-rates-ave-maria-050126-final-2.pdf
• https://www.collier.gov/files/assets/county/v/2/impact-fees/program-flyer-and-application-2026.pdf
• https://www.collier.gov/files/assets/county/v/3/community-planning-amp-resiliency/documents/floodplain-management/2026-flood-protection-newsletter.pdf
• https://www.collierclerk.com/19922-2/
• https://www.collierclerk.com/board-of-county-commissioners-adopts-proposed-millage-rates-as-maximum-property-tax-rates/
• https://www.collierclerk.com/the-job-is-not-finished-until-the-permit-is-closed/
• https://www.colliercountyfl.gov/government/growth-management/divisions/planning-and-zoning-division/comprehensive-planning-section/annual-update-and-inventory-report-auir
• https://www.collierschools.com/exploreccps/budget-and-finance/budget/school-tax-information
• https://www.collierschools.com/exploreccps/did-you-know/impact-fees
• https://www.fema.gov/flood-maps
• https://www.fema.gov/floodplain-management/community-rating-system
• https://www.fema.gov/pdf/floodplain/nfip_sg_unit_8.pdf
• https://www.flhouse.gov/Statutes/2025/0163.3248/
• https://www.floridabuilding.org/
• https://www.floridabuilding.org/fbc/thecode/2013_Code_Development/HVHZ/FBCB/Chapter_16_2010.htm
• https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2018/Chapter190/All
• https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2018/Chapter558/All
• https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/0095.11
• https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/0192.042
• https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/0193.155
• https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/0196.011
• https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/0196.031
• https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/0553.792
• https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/0553.837
• https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/475.278
• https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/553.837
• https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/720.307
• https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/95.11
• https://www.justice.gov/atr/media/1386031/dl?inline
• https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-files-statement-interest-supporting-competition-among-real-estate
• https://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0000-0099/0095/Sections/0095.11.html
• https://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0400-0499/0475/Sections/0475.278.html
• https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0400-0499/0475/0475.html
• https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0500-0599/0501/Sections/0501.1375.html
• https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0500-0599/0558/0558.html
• https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0500-0599/0558/Sections/0558.004.html
• https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0720/Sections/0720.401.html
• https://www.miamidadepa.gov/pa/exemption/homestead-second.page
• https://www.naplesgov.com/building
• https://www.naplesgov.com/building/page/building-permit-forms-fees
• https://www.naplesgov.com/building/page/flood-zone-maps
• https://www.naplesgov.com/finance/page/property-taxes-millage-rate
• https://www.naplesgov.com/media/98296
• https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL092022_Ian.pdf
• https://www.pcpao.gov/amendment3
• https://www.weather.gov/media/mfl/news/HurricaneIanSummary.pdf
• https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/County/
• https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/County/co
• https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/County/co2018a.txt
• https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/County/co2019a.txt
• https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/County/co2020a.txt
• https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/County/co2021a.txt
• https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/County/co2022a.txt
• https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/County/co2023a.txt
• https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/County/co2024a.txt
• https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/County/co2025a.txt
• https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/County/co2506y.txt
• https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/County/co2512y.txt
• https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/County/co2606y.txt
• https://www2.census.gov/econ/bps/County/co{YEAR
• https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/datasets/2020-2025/counties/totals/co-est2025-alldata.csv
• https://avemariastewardshipcd.org/faqs/
• https://avemariastewardshipcd.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/08/AMS-Final-Budget-2025-2026.pdf
• https://bebr.ufl.edu/population/population-data/
• https://bebr.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/projections_2026.pdf
• https://fiddlerscreekcdd1.net/rri
• https://fiddlerscreekcdd2.net/_assets/documents/fy-2026/2026-FCCDD2-budget-proposed.pdf
• https://fiddlerscreekcdd2.net/special-district
• https://flowwaycdd.org/Links.php
• https://heritagebaycdd.com/assessments/
• https://ibhs.org/wind/building-performance-in-sw-florida-during-hurricane-ian-2022-part2-performance-of-modern-florida-building-code/
• https://ibhs1.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/HurricaneIan_PartII_FBC_ExecSummary.pdf
• https://ibhs1.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/HurricaneIan_PartII_Templated.pdf
• https://naplesreservecdd.net/_assets/documents/fy-2026/2026-NRCDD-general-funds.pdf
• https://naplesreservecdd.net/special-district
• https://orangeblossomgrovescdd.net/rri
• https://www.citizensfla.com/-/20251210-citizens-recommends-rate-cuts-for-most-policyholders
• https://www.citizensfla.com/binding-alerts
• https://www.citizensfla.com/depopulation
• https://www.citizensfla.com/documents/20702/31330/Uniform+Mitigation+Verification+Inspection+Form+OIR-B1-1802/
• https://www.citizensfla.com/documents/20702/35182283/2026+Recommended+Rate+Changes+by+County.pdf/0489f6b6-eaed-70d1-c655-892d85fbb659
• https://www.citizensfla.com/documents/20702/39142684/20251210+03Ba+2026+Recommended+Rate+Filing-+combined.pdf
• https://www.floridarealtors.org/law-ethics/library/florida-real-estate-contract-laws
• https://www.floridarealtors.org/law-ethics/nar-settlement-faqs
• https://www.floridarealtors.org/newsroom/flas-housing-market-closed-and-new-pending-sales-rise-april
• https://www.floridarealtors.org/newsroom/flas-housing-market-closed-sales-and-new-pending-sales-rise-july
• https://www.floridarealtors.org/tools-research/reports/florida-market-reports
• https://www.nahb.org/advocacy/industry-issues/labor-and-employment/immigration-reform-is-key-to-building-a-skilled-workforce/concentration-of-immigration-in-construction-trades
• https://www.nahb.org/blog/2019/07/recent-supreme-court-decision-highlights-arbitration-opportunities-for-builders/
• https://www.nahb.org/blog/2025/01/cost-of-construction-survey-2024
• https://www.nahb.org/news-and-economics/housing-economics-plus/special-studies/special-studies-pages/cost-of-constructing-a-home-in-2024
• https://www.nahb.org/news-and-economics/press-releases/2026/04/builders-respond-to-affordability-challenges-with-buyer-incentives-and-innovative-designs
• https://www.nahb.org/news-and-economics/press-releases/2026/08/affordability-pressures-keep-builder-confidence-low
• https://www.naplesheritagecdd.com/questions
• https://www.nar.realtor/sites/default/files/2024-10/nar-settlement-faq-2024-10-29.pdf
• https://www.nar.realtor/the-facts
• https://www.nar.realtor/the-facts/consumer-guide-offers-of-compensation
• https://www.nar.realtor/the-facts/consumer-guide-seller-concessions
• https://www.nar.realtor/the-facts/consumer-guide-to-written-buyer-agreements
• https://www.nar.realtor/the-facts/nar-settlement-faqs
• https://ballotpedia.org/Florida_Amendment_3
• https://civicclerk.blob.core.windows.net/stream/COLLIERCOFL/e667b720-
• https://colliercofl.portal.civicclerk.com/event/1493/files/report/5491
• https://colliercountyfl.qscend.com/311/knowledgebase/article/158445
• https://colliertaxcollector.com/property-taxes/real-estate/
• https://eyeonhousing.org/2025/09/single-family-homes-are-built-faster-in-2024/
• https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/fredgraph.csv?id=
• https://greaternaplesfire.org/resources/capital-projects/
• https://laws.flrules.org/2024/95
• https://nealcommunities.com/for-realtor/
• https://nealcommunities.com/forms/
• https://www.adamsandreese.com/insights/florida-shortens-construction-defect-lawsuits-to-seven-year-window
• https://www.agc.org/news/2025/08/28/construction-workforce-shortages-are-leading-cause-project-delays-immigration-enforcement-affects
• https://www.agc.org/news/2026/01/30/double-digit-increases-aluminum-steel-and-copper-costs-drive-producer-price-indexes-construction
• https://www.benesch.com/project/collier-county-impact-fee-studies/
• https://www.carltonfields.com/insights/publications/2023/arbitration-agreements-in-residential-construction-contracts
• https://www.carltonfields.com/insights/publications/2025/florida-s-new-home-warranty-law-takes-effect-july-1
• http://www.colliercountywatersewerdistrict.org/
• https://www.fgcu.edu/cob/reri/dashboard/building-permits
• https://www.floridadisaster.org/dem/mitigation/floodplain/crs/
• https://www.grozabuilders.com/realtor-info
• https://www.gulfshorebusiness.com/collier/collier-county-sets-maximum-millage-rate-unchanged-for-2027/
• https://www.gulfshorebusiness.com/real_estate/naples-home-sales-accelerate-as-seasonal-buyers-surge/article_6e663a0e-e1c2-4b66-91e0-16835d709d41.html
• https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-homeowners-and-renters-insurance
• https://www.immokaleewatersewer.com/about-us
• https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2025/11/03/846101.htm
• https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southeast/2025/12/11/850645.htm
• https://www.lennar.com/legal
• https://www.lowndes-law.com/newsroom/insights/duties-of-a-real-estate-broker-under-florida-law
• https://www.marconews.com/story/news/local/2025/12/31/growing-pains-in-collier-county-development-is-pushing-north-east/87947139007/
• https://www.mymetrotex.com/will-builders-start-lowering-agent-commissions/
• https://www.nabor.com/realtor-tools/nabor-market-statistics
• https://www.northcollierfire.com/About-Us/Authority-to-Levy-Taxes
• https://www.probuilder.com/home/article/55229316/margin-vs-markup-the-true-impact-of-pricing-decisions-on-home-builder-profits
• https://www.shutts.com/business-and-legal-insights/floridas-new-statutory-home-warranty-what-home-builders-need-to-know
• https://www.smithcurrie.com/publications/common-sense-contract-law/florida-changes-the-statute-of-repose-for-construction-defect-claims/
• https://www.tollbrothers.com/faq
• https://www.wshblaw.com/publication-florida-shortens-timeframe-for-construction-defect-claims