If you are thinking about buying a short-term rental or Airbnb on Florida's Space Coast, the number that catches most investors off guard is not the price of the house. A couple of years ago I called my insurance agent about an older place in Cocoa Beach as a nightly rental, and the quote came back at $9,000 or more a year. That is about $750 a month before you have paid a dollar of the mortgage.

The second thing people get backwards is the view. On the Space Coast, where it is legal to rent matters a lot more than how pretty the house is, and the rules can change right across the street. And there is one insurance mistake I keep seeing that leaves owners with no coverage at all if a claim ever comes in.

This guide walks through the Florida rules, the town by town map across Brevard County, the real numbers on prices and insurance and taxes, and the go/no-go test I run on every property before an investor writes an offer.

The Space Coast in 60 Seconds

The Space Coast is Brevard County on the east coast of Florida, about an hour east of Orlando. Picture three long strips running north to south.

  • The barrier island on the ocean side, a long skinny island between the Atlantic and the lagoon, where all the beach towns sit.
  • Merritt Island in the middle.
  • The mainland on the west, with Titusville, Cocoa, Rockledge, Melbourne and Palm Bay.

The water in between is the Indian River Lagoon, a long shallow saltwater lagoon whose pieces are called the Indian River and the Banana River. When people around here say beachside, they mean the barrier island. Mainland means the west side of the river.

Florida Vacation Rental Rules in One Minute

Florida has a statewide rule that limits how much any new local law can restrict vacation rentals. Any city or county short-term rental rule that was on the books before June 1, 2011 got to stay. That is called grandfathering. A town that had a 90-day minimum rule back then still has it, and a town that had nothing cannot add one now.

In 2024 a bill called SB 280 would have moved a lot of this to the state, and the governor vetoed it. As of 2026, state law has not changed. For the most part, the local rule still decides it.

My Go/No-Go Test for Every Property

If you have ever watched a launch on the Space Coast, before a rocket goes up the launch team polls each station and they either call go or no-go. I do the same thing with every rental property. There are four checks and all four have to clear.

  1. The rules. Who controls this exact address, the city or the county, and what is the minimum stay?
  2. The building. What do the HOA or condo documents say? Homeowners associations and condo associations can set rental rules on top of the city's.
  3. The insurance. Can you actually get a short-term rental policy on this property, and what will it cost?
  4. The money. Does the math work after taxes, fees, insurance and the HOA?

Miss any one of those four and the deal is a no-go. Let's go town by town.

Cape Canaveral

Cape Canaveral is one of the easiest go on the rules. It is the small city just north of Cocoa Beach, next to Port Canaveral and the cruise terminals. The city allows short-term rentals under its vacation rental program, with registration, fees and occupancy limits. Beachside condos are the heart of this market, and inventory is deeper than people expect.

Cocoa Beach

Cocoa Beach is the classic Space Coast beach town and the other easy go. In 2025 the city applied its vacation rental rules citywide, raised its fees and tightened occupancy. Anyone on the property for more than 15 minutes counts toward the eight-guest cap. The city fee runs about $220 per guest for a single family home, so a house approved for eight guests pays about $1,750 a year, roughly $150 a month to be allowed to rent.

Recent sales have come in around a median of $365,000 for condos and townhomes and $830,000 for single family homes, so a house runs more than double a condo. Some of the strongest income properties are the non-HOA canal homes near downtown where guests can walk, bike or take a golf cart to everything. Always confirm zoning for the exact property.

Satellite Beach

Satellite Beach is a quieter residential beach town. From what I see in the code, Satellite Beach proper does not allow short-term rentals in its residential areas. The exceptions tend to be on the ocean side of A1A in specific zones, which means you are hunting for exceptions rather than browsing for houses.

Indian Harbour Beach

Indian Harbour Beach is property by property. Some addresses inside the city allow nightly rentals and some do not, and some mailing addresses along A1A are actually county rather than city. The address alone will not tell you the rules. You have to pull the zoning for that specific parcel.

Indialantic

Indialantic is the little town at the south end of the Melbourne Causeway, where the road and bridges cross the lagoon. I treat Indialantic as a no for most of the town because its code treats rentals under 90 days as a commercial use that is only allowed in certain zones. Complicating it further, some Indialantic mailing addresses are actually inside the City of Melbourne and some are county, so once again the address does not decide it.

Melbourne Beach

In the Town of Melbourne Beach there is a registration program with yearly inspections. Occupancy is capped at two people per bedroom, with a maximum of ten. A lot of Melbourne Beach mailing addresses are actually county, so this is property by property too.

Merritt Island

Merritt Island is not a city. It is an unincorporated area with no city limits, so the county writes the rules. The county calls a home rented for less than 90 days a resort dwelling, and it is only allowed in certain zoning, mostly not in typical single family neighborhoods. Some multifamily is not actually zoned as multifamily either. For most Merritt Island addresses the honest answer is no for nightly rentals.

Melbourne and Eau Gallie

On mainland Melbourne and the Eau Gallie Arts District, rentals are property by property. Pockets allow it and pockets do not, and parts of what people call Melbourne are actually unincorporated county with different rules than the city itself.

Cocoa, Rockledge and Titusville

On the north mainland, Cocoa, Rockledge and Titusville are mostly a no-go for houses, so you are hunting for exceptions. These are more traditional residential towns, which means strong long-term and mid-term rental markets, but true nightly vacation rentals are rare.

Where It's a Go, Town by Town

Here is the short version of the map.

  • Easiest go on the rules: Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach.
  • Property by property: Indian Harbour Beach, Melbourne Beach and mainland Melbourne.
  • Mostly a no-go for houses, hunting for exceptions: Merritt Island, Satellite Beach, Indialantic and Titusville.

If you are trying to figure out which side of a city line a house sits on from another state, that is exactly the kind of work Nichole and I handle every week.

The Money: Prices and Room to Negotiate

The good news on the beachside condo market right now: Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral both have deeper inventory than usual, a little over six months of supply at the pace condos sold this past year. Condos in both towns have sold for about 92 to 93 percent of original list price. On a $300,000 condo that is roughly $21,000 to $24,000 off where the seller started. That is a strong position to buy from.

Condo and HOA Rules: The Check That Can End the Plan

The city can say yes and the building can say no. I see listings with a one month minimum in one building and seven nights in the next, and the fees are real. For condo sales that listed a monthly fee, the middle was about $800 a month in Cocoa Beach and about $642 in Cape Canaveral. That is about $26 a day in Cocoa Beach and $21 a day in Cape Canaveral, every day, booked or empty. Buying in a building that allows short-term rentals today matters more than buying one that someone hopes will change its mind.

HOAs on Single Family Homes

Single family homes in the Space Coast can also sit inside HOAs with their own rental rules. The association's documents, called the covenants, conditions and restrictions, control what you can and cannot do with the property. Pull them before you write the offer, not after.

Short-Term Rental Insurance Costs

A typical short-term rental policy on an older Cocoa Beach house ran my last investor $9,000 or more a year, which is roughly $750 a month. That is on top of flood insurance, which is separate because standard homeowners policies do not cover rising water.

The Insurance Mistake That Leaves You With No Coverage

This is the one I never want you to miss. If you use a regular homeowners policy on a house you are renting out short-term, my insurance agent told me there would be no coverage if a claim came in. The policy is written for owner-occupied homes, not nightly rentals, so an insurer can deny the claim and the premium savings mean nothing. If you are renting short-term, you need an actual short-term rental policy. Do not shop for cheap homeowners insurance and hope nobody notices.

Rental Taxes and Licenses

On top of the price and the insurance, there are taxes on every booking.

  • State sales tax: 6 percent.
  • Brevard local surtax: 1 percent.
  • Brevard Tourist Development Tax: 5 percent on rentals of six months or less.

Add those up and about 12 percent of every $100 in rent goes to taxes. You are responsible for collecting and filing it. You also need a state vacation rental license from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, called the DBPR, on top of the city registration. I am not a CPA, so run the taxes by one before you buy.

Will It Cash Flow?

The honest answer is: it depends on the building, the loan, the taxes and the cleaning schedule. The deals that work tend to be properties where you bought in a building that already allows short-term rentals, the HOA fees are reasonable, the insurance is written as a short-term rental policy, and the numbers still clear the 12 percent tax drag. The deals that fall apart tend to be the ones where someone only looked at nightly rate times occupancy and skipped the four checks.

If the cash flow math does not quite work as a nightly rental, the same property often works as a monthly rental or a second home, even if fees go up. I would rather buy a property that still makes sense if the rules change than buy one that only works under perfect conditions.

Thinking About Moving to the Space Coast?

We're Rachel Langley and Nichole Barna, Florida REALTORS® based in Brevard County. Whether you're buying, selling, or relocating, we're here to guide you every step of the way.

We're available days, nights, and weekends — because a move this big doesn't wait for business hours.