Palm Beach County Home Age and Florida's Age-Based Roof and Insurance Rules, 2026

Several Florida rules that decide whether a home can be insured, what discounts it earns and what a roof repair must include turn on how old the home or its roof is. This paper counts how many single family homes in Palm Beach County fall on each side of those lines, using only the public property tax roll filed with the Florida Department of Revenue. Of 378,587 single family homes with a recorded year built, 89 percent were built in 2006 or earlier and are 20 years or older in 2026, the age at which Citizens Property Insurance requires a four point inspection. 77 percent were built before 2002, when the first Florida Building Code took effect. 91 percent were built in 2008 or earlier, so their original roofs predate the 2007 code edition that exempts a roof from the 25 percent rule. Only 8 percent were built in 2012 or later, the only group whose roofs are certain to be under the 15 year line in Florida Statute 627.7011. Homes with a just value of $1 million or more are newer, but 62 percent still predate the Florida Building Code. The roll used is the 2023 submission. Adjusting for homes built since then lowers each share by about two to three points. Year built is not roof age. The accompanying CSV gives home counts and total just value by city and year built, with no parcel identifiers, owner names or addresses.