Original Research · Q3 2026 Edition
The True Cost Index.
What does it actually cost to own a home in a Southwest Florida community, before the mortgage and after the brochure? Every quarter, this Index reduces the fee data published on this site — 99 communities across Parrish, Lakewood Ranch, and Wellen Park — to the numbers worth remembering. Computed directly from the published estimates, methodology below, free to cite with attribution.
The Q3 2026 headline
The median tracked community costs between $2,665 and $7,804 per year in combined HOA and CDD, depending on which side of the region you buy in — a 2.9× spread between Parrish and Wellen Park for the recurring costs that never appear on a listing headline. Within regions the spread is wider still: from $556 at the least expensive tracked community to $14,699 where golf membership is bundled into the dues.
Region by region
| Region | Tracked | Median HOA+CDD / yr | Lowest tracked | Highest tracked | No CDD | FEMA Zone X |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parrish | 42 | $2,665 | Aberdeen · $556 | Prosperity Lakes · $9,089 | 57% | 90% |
| Lakewood Ranch | 39 | $5,923 | Avalon Woods · $672 | Esplanade Golf & Country Club · $14,608 | 10% | 97% |
| Wellen Park | 18 | $7,804 | Oasis · $4,972 | Sarasota National · $14,699 | 6% | 89% |
“Lowest” and “highest” reflect the midpoint of each community’s published estimate range; where a community’s dues bundle golf or resort membership, that is the cost being measured, not an error. Per-community figures, ranges, and flood zones live on the full fee tables.
How to read this
- The low-HOA / high-CDD trade is real. Communities advertising minimal HOA dues usually carry the infrastructure bill on the tax side instead. Compare the combined number — it is the only honest comparison, and it is the number this Index tracks.
- Parrish is the value corridor partly because 57% of its tracked communities carry no CDD at all — established neighborhoods that financed their infrastructure decades ago.
- Wellen Park’s premium buys something specific: newer amenities and a walkable town core, financed by newer bonds and amenity-rich HOAs. Whether that trade is worth roughly $5,139 a year more at the median is a lifestyle question, not a math question — but you should make it knowing the math.
- Flood-zone X dominance is engineered, not lucky. The overwhelming majority of tracked master-planned communities sit outside FEMA’s mapped high-risk zones because modern stormwater design put them there — one reason newer inland communities often carry lower total insurance costs than their coastal price peers.
Methodology & limitations
- Source data: the per-community estimates published on this site’s fee pages, compiled from county property records and non-ad valorem assessment rolls, published CDD budgets, and active MLS listing data, reviewed quarterly.
- Computation: published ranges are reduced to midpoints; monthly HOA dues are annualized; “no CDD” counts as zero; medians are taken per region. Everything is deterministic from the published tables — re-run it yourself and you get the same numbers.
- Limitations: estimates vary by lot, product type, and sub-association; bundled-membership communities inflate their region’s top end by design; coverage is currently Parrish, Lakewood Ranch, and Wellen Park, expanding as data is verified. This is a research summary, not a quote for any property.
- Citation: free to cite with attribution to michaelryandailey.com. Journalists and researchers can request the underlying tables any time.
Quick answers
What is the True Cost Index?+
A quarterly summary of the recurring ownership costs — HOA dues plus CDD assessments — across the Southwest Florida communities tracked on this site, expressed as medians and ranges per region. It is computed directly from the same published estimates shown on the fee pages, so the Index and the tables can never disagree.
How are the medians calculated?+
Each community’s published fee range is reduced to its midpoint, monthly HOA figures are annualized, communities with no CDD count as zero for the CDD portion, and the median is taken across all tracked communities in the region. Figures are estimates compiled from county records, district budgets, and MLS data — not quotes for any specific property.
Why does Wellen Park run so much higher than Parrish?+
Two structural reasons: Wellen Park is a newer master plan whose CDD bonds are early in repayment, and nearly every Wellen Park community bundles resort amenities into an HOA billed monthly. Parrish mixes new master-planned communities with older neighborhoods that carry no CDD at all, which pulls its median down.
How often is the Index updated?+
Quarterly, alongside the fee-table review. Each edition is dated, and the underlying per-community figures always live on the fee pages with their own last-reviewed stamps.