Hollywood, Florida: Canadian buyer & snowbird guide.

1. Identity

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2024 1-year (Census Reporter), Broward County, City of Hollywood FY2025 Adopted Budget, FL Realtors / PropertyShark, U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts, FEMA, Florida Building Code 8th Edition.

2. Who this city suits

This city suits

A Quebec or Ontario snowbird who values an established French-speaking community over a brand-new development. A Canadian buyer who wants beach access on a working budget rather than a Naples or Boca Raton budget. An investor looking at older condo stock with measurable cash-flow opportunity, provided the buyer is willing to do the milestone-inspection due diligence properly. A family-oriented Canadian buyer interested in west-of-I-95 single-family neighbourhoods (Emerald Hills, Hollywood Hills, Hollywood Lakes) where prices remain meaningfully below Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton equivalents.

This city does not suit

A buyer expecting new construction at every price point. The east-of-I-95 condo inventory is overwhelmingly built between the 1960s and 1980s, and the supply of new builds is concentrated in a small number of luxury towers. A buyer who wants the polished sophistication of Naples, Palm Beach or Coral Gables. Hollywood is plainer, more democratic, more eclectic. An investor whose model depends on short-term rentals: Hollywood permits STRs but enforces some of the strictest noise, licensing and response-time rules in Broward, and many condo associations forbid the practice outright at the building level.

Why this matters for Canadians

Hollywood is the single Florida city where a Canadian buyer can plausibly live partially in French, bank with a Canadian institution down the street, read a Quebec-published monthly newspaper, see a French-speaking dentist or general practitioner, and attend a French-language street festival without leaving the municipal limits. That is not marketing language: those institutions exist on the ground, even as the demographic peak has passed. But the same demographics, the same coastal corridor, and the same 1970s-era condo construction are what make SB-4D and HVHZ insurance pricing material risks. A Canadian who buys a USD 250,000 condo on Hollywood Beach in 2026 without reading the milestone-inspection report and SIRS reserve study is exposing themselves to a special-assessment range of USD 5,000 to USD 150,000 per unit (Verified fact, source: typical SIRS findings reported by Florida condo law specialists).

What to retain

Hollywood is the most accessible, most culturally familiar, and most condo-heavy Canadian destination in Florida. The flip side of that accessibility is older buildings, real hurricane exposure, and the most operationally rigorous STR regime in southern Broward.

3. Climate and seasonality

Hollywood has a tropical monsoon climate. Summers are hot, humid, and rainy. Winters (the snowbird season) are warm and dry. The Atlantic moderates extremes.

Source: NOAA Hollywood, FL station normals, via U.S. Climate Data.

High season: Mid-November to mid-April. This is the Quebec and Ontario snowbird window. Hollywood Beach Broadwalk traffic, motel occupancy, restaurant pricing, and French-language event programming all peak during this window. CanadaFest, the largest annual French-language festival in the United States, is staged each year on the last weekend of January on the Broadwalk between Johnson Street and the surrounding blocks (Verified fact, source: CanadaFest organizers).

Low season: May through October. Heat, humidity, daily afternoon thunderstorms, and hurricane risk push out most northern visitors. Local population predominates. Snowbird-oriented businesses scale back hours or close entirely for several months.

Hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30. Peak activity is mid-August through late September (Verified fact, source: NOAA Hurricane Climatology).

Direct hurricane exposure. Hollywood has not taken a direct major-hurricane landfall in the last two decades, but its proximity to the Florida Straits exposes it to wind damage from storms crossing the peninsula or paralleling the coast. The two reference events for current property owners are:

Hurricane Wilma (October 2005). Wilma crossed Florida from southwest to northeast and brought Category 1 to Category 2 conditions to Hollywood for approximately five hours, with sustained winds in the 80 to 100 mph range. Three single-family dwellings were severely damaged in Hollywood and 16 mobile homes were destroyed in the city limits. Across Broward County, 5,111 dwellings were declared uninhabitable, including 2,800 condominiums and apartments (Verified fact, source: Florida DEP post-Wilma assessment; Wikipedia synthesis of NOAA data).

Hurricane Irma (September 2017). Irma's center passed west of Hollywood. The Seminole Tribe Headquarters in Hollywood recorded one hurricane-force sustained wind reading of 76 mph. Damage in coastal Hollywood was concentrated in roof coverings, screened patios, fencing and trees, rather than structural failures (Verified fact, source: National Weather Service Miami, post-Irma local report).

Seasonal population mix. The City of Hollywood does not publish a formal seasonal-versus-permanent split. Opinion, to flag explicitly: the Hollywood Beach corridor (east of the Intracoastal) is heavily seasonal, with snowbird occupancy concentrated November to April. The west-of-I-95 single-family neighbourhoods are predominantly year-round permanent residents. The Hollywood Hills and Emerald Hills areas function like a normal suburban housing market and do not exhibit a meaningful snowbird seasonal pattern.

4. Canadian presence

Hollywood is the closest thing Florida has to a French-Canadian capital. The label Little Quebec (in French, Petit Québec, sometimes Floribec) refers in popular usage to a strip running along the Atlantic from south Hollywood (Hollywood Beach Broadwalk between Johnson Street and Sheridan Street) into Hallandale Beach to the south and Dania Beach to the north.

Quantitative anchor. Statistics Canada does not publish town-by-town emigration counts to Florida. The closest verifiable proxy comes from Florida-level visitor data. Florida received approximately 2.9 million Canadian visitors in 2025, representing roughly 2% of the state's total 143.3 million visitors, a 15% drop from 2024 (Verified fact, source: Visit Florida via CNN, April 2026). Hollywood's share of those Canadians is not separately measured, but the city's hotel inventory, French-language commerce, and the membership of the Snowbirds de Québec en Floride Facebook group (more than 90,000 members as of 2025) confirm that Hollywood receives a disproportionate share of Quebecois visitors relative to its population.

French-language media on the ground. Four French-language publications maintain editorial offices in Hollywood (Verified fact, source: Richard's Motel local guide, The Walrus feature article 2025):

• Le Soleil de la Floride, a monthly newspaper in circulation since 1983.

Carrefour Floride magazine and the affiliated Journal de la Floride, published six issues per snowbird season (November to April) at approximately 35,000 copies per issue.

• L'Écho Vacances.
• Quoi Faire en Floride.

Annual French-language event. CanadaFest, held each year on the Broadwalk during the last weekend of January, bills itself as la plus grande fête francophone aux États-Unis. Approximately 100 kiosks line a mile of the Broadwalk during the festival, representing Canadian banks, the Canadian Consulate, insurance companies, newspapers, restaurants, and travel companies. Estimated festival attendance over the weekend is approximately 150,000 visitors (Verified fact, source: CanadaFest organizers).

French-speaking services. A non-exhaustive list of long-established French-speaking businesses and services within or immediately adjacent to Hollywood:

Banking. NatBank (a subsidiary of National Bank of Canada with two South Florida branches), Royal Bank of Canada (RBC Bank), and a Caisse Desjardins presence have all operated near the Hollywood/Hallandale corridor.

Healthcare. Clinique Soleil in Hollywood operates as a French-speaking primary-care clinic with hospital affiliations that work with Canadian patient files. French-speaking dentistry includes the Manon Bourque practice. The STAT clinic and the CLSC of Hallandale Boulevard provide additional French-language medical access in the immediate area.

Restaurants and food. EZeat (a Canadian-owned restaurant on the Broadwalk, opened 2024, serving Montreal smoked meat and poutine alongside standard American fare), Flanigan's (a regional chain favoured by French-Canadian patrons), and Le Frenchie Bar and Grill (Hallandale Beach, an iteration of the historic Frenchie's that originally operated on Johnson Street).

• Accommodation. Richard's Motel, Shell Motel, and a network of mid-century motels along South Surf Road and Johnson Street that historically catered to Quebecois clienteles.

Demographic note. The Quebecois community of Hollywood reached its peak in the 1990s. Since then, several forces have eroded the concentration: rising parking and accommodation costs (parking near the Broadwalk has risen from approximately USD 1 to USD 6 per hour), redevelopment along the Broadwalk that replaced low-rise motels with higher-end properties, and a generational transition where bilingual children of the original snowbird generation no longer require French-language services to function in the area. The 2025-2026 winter season also saw a sharp drop in Quebec visitors, with some local hoteliers reporting Canadian-bookings declines of 50% versus the prior year (Typical range, source: CNN April 2026 reporting based on hotelier interviews; precise booking data are not published). The institutions still exist. The density is lower than it was. Opinion, to flag as opinion: for a Canadian buyer, this is neither bullish nor bearish in isolation. It means the cultural infrastructure remains genuinely accessible, and it means that prices have not been distorted upward by snowbird-driven scarcity in the way Naples or Sarasota condos have been.

5. Real estate market

5a. Current snapshot

The Hollywood market as of mid-2025 looks like this (Verified fact, sources: FL Realtors via PropertyShark Q2 2025; Redfin September 2025 city data):

• Single-family homes (SFH). Median sale price approximately USD 540,000 in Q2 2025, essentially flat year-over-year.

Condos. Median sale price approximately USD 255,000 in Q2 2025, down 17.4% year-over-year. This sharp condo decline reflects the SB-4D and insurance pressures discussed below, not weak demand for Hollywood as a destination.

• All residential. Median sale price approximately USD 460,000 in Q2 2025; approximately USD 480,000 in September 2025.
• Transactions. Approximately 649 transactions in Q2 2025, down 15% year-over-year.
• Days on market. Approximately 85 to 91 days as of September 2025, up from earlier-cycle norms.

Price per square foot. Approximately USD 333 to USD 345 (city-wide median), with significant variance by submarket: beach condos run materially higher per square foot, west-of-I-95 SFH materially lower.

5b. Historical trends

Verified fact, sources: Zillow Home Value Index (Broward County), Redfin Hollywood city data, FL Realtors local board data.

• 10 years (approximately 2015 to 2025). Hollywood SFH prices rose approximately 90 to 110%. This is in the ballpark of Broward County overall.
• 5 years (approximately 2020 to 2025). SFH prices rose approximately 35 to 45%, with the bulk concentrated in 2020 to 2022.
• 3 years (approximately 2022 to 2025). SFH prices flat to slightly negative. Condo prices materially negative.

5c. External shocks and how to read the numbers

Three forces have shaped Hollywood real estate trends over the last six years and require explicit context for any year-over-year price comparison to be useful.

COVID-era boom (2020 to 2022). South Florida absorbed an extraordinary wave of in-migration from the U.S. Northeast and Midwest during the pandemic. Broward County and Hollywood participated fully. Many of the price gains of the period reflect this one-time demand shock rather than fundamentals that persist into 2026.

Interest-rate hike (2022 to 2024). The U.S. federal funds rate rose from near-zero in early 2022 to a 5.25 to 5.50% range by mid-2023. Mortgage rates for foreign-national buyers, which sit on top of conventional rates, rose proportionally. This compressed transaction volume more than it compressed headline prices, and explains the days-on-market lengthening visible in 2024 and 2025 data.

Florida insurance crisis (2022 to present). Florida property insurance premiums have risen sharply since 2022, driven by carrier exits, reinsurance cost increases, and litigation reform. Hollywood, as a Broward HVHZ coastal city, sits at the high end of the premium curve. The insurance crisis hits condo buildings doubly hard, because building-wide master policies are part of the HOA assessment.

SB-4D milestone-inspection regime (2022 to present). Florida's Senate Bill 4-D, enacted in May 2022 in direct response to the Surfside Champlain Towers collapse, requires structural milestone inspections for any condominium or cooperative building three stories or taller at 30 years from certificate of occupancy (25 years for buildings within three miles of the coast). Hollywood east of I-95 sits inside the coastal three-mile zone, so the 25-year trigger applies. The 2023 amendment (SB 154) and the 2025 HB 913 update refined the timelines and reserve-study mechanics. Effective January 1, 2025, condo associations subject to SIRS (Structural Integrity Reserve Study) requirements can no longer waive or reduce reserves for the nine structural components covered by the study (Verified fact, source: Florida Statute 553.899 and Florida Building Code 8th Edition).

Opinion, to flag explicitly. Reading Hollywood's headline 10-year price chart in isolation is misleading. The single-family west-of-I-95 market is functioning more or less normally and tracks Broward County overall. The east-of-I-95 condo market is being repriced in real time by the joint pressure of SB-4D, insurance increases, and the unwind of the COVID demand spike. A condo that traded for USD 320,000 in 2022 and trades for USD 250,000 in 2025 is not necessarily a bargain. It may simply be a building whose true cost of carry was previously masked by waived reserves and is now becoming visible.

5d. Local fault lines

Geographic boundaries change neighbourhood character sharply in Hollywood. Three matter most.

The Intracoastal Waterway. The Intracoastal separates Hollywood Beach (the barrier island) from the rest of the city. East of the Intracoastal: condos, motels, the Broadwalk, beachfront. West of the Intracoastal: traditional Florida street grid, ranch homes, suburban infrastructure.

Federal Highway / US-1. US-1 runs north-south parallel to the coast, west of the Intracoastal. The corridor immediately around US-1 (Federal Highway) is commercial and transitional. The blocks east of US-1, between US-1 and the Intracoastal, contain Hollywood Lakes and other established neighbourhoods. Moving west of US-1, neighbourhoods become more mixed.

Interstate 95. I-95 cuts through Hollywood and is the most important socio-economic fault line in the city. East of I-95: established walkable areas, beach access, downtown Hollywood, Hollywood Lakes. West of I-95: suburban single-family neighbourhoods including Hollywood Hills, Emerald Hills, and the larger residential blocks. Median household incomes, school ratings, and average home values vary substantially across this line.

5e. Neighbourhoods to know

The following short list captures the neighbourhoods most relevant for Canadian buyers.

Hollywood Beach (Central Beach, South Central Beach, North Beach). The barrier island. Condos and motels dominate. This is the historic core of the French-Canadian concentration. Most of the condo inventory is from the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s. SB-4D milestone-inspection exposure is significant, and HOA fees have been moving up materially. Median condo prices here are higher than the city median (which is dragged down by older inland condos), but the variance is wide.

Hollywood Lakes. Just west of the Intracoastal between US-1 and the waterway. Historic neighbourhood with Art Deco and Mediterranean Revival homes, some on lake frontage, some on canal frontage. Single-family homes predominate. Median home values are higher than the Hollywood city median. South Broward High School is the local public high school.

Emerald Hills. West of I-95, organized around the Emerald Hills golf course (rated number one in South Florida by USGA, per the neighbourhood's marketing). Larger lots, homes from the mid-1970s with some newer modern estate homes mixed in. Family-oriented. Median home values among the highest in the city of Hollywood.

Hollywood Hills. West of I-95, north of Emerald Hills. Suburban single-family neighbourhood, family-oriented, multiple parks. Hollywood Hills Elementary is highly rated.

Royal Poinciana and Parkside. Downtown-adjacent neighbourhoods just north of Young Circle (the ArtsPark). Mix of single-family homes and walk-up apartments. Walkable to downtown Hollywood restaurants and the Cinema Paradiso.

Beverly Park and Boulevard Heights. Smaller, older neighbourhoods of mid-century ranch homes. More affordable than the Lakes, Hills, or Emerald Hills. Strong Latin-American restaurant and grocery presence.

Washington Park and Liberia. Historic predominantly Black neighbourhoods of west-central Hollywood. Lower median prices than the rest of the city. Recent investor interest has been visible in the form of rehab activity.

Hillcrest and West Lake Village. West side of the city. Hillcrest contains a mix of condos and country-club units. West Lake Village is a gated community of townhouses and SFH with shared amenities.

5f. Special mentions

SB-4D condo inventory. Hollywood, like Hallandale Beach, Sunny Isles, and Pompano Beach, is one of the Florida cities most affected by SB-4D milestone inspections because of the concentration of condo buildings built in the 1970s. Many Hollywood Beach towers were built with minimum concrete cover over reinforcing steel (as little as 3/4 inch instead of the 2 inches required by current code), accelerating chloride-induced corrosion in oceanfront conditions. Buildings older than 25 years within three miles of the coast (which covers most of east-of-I-95 Hollywood) have already passed the SB-4D trigger and should have completed or be completing milestone inspections and SIRS. Buyers must request and read these reports before writing an offer. See our companion guide on SB-4D milestone inspections: SB-4D condo milestone inspections.

HVHZ status. The entire city of Hollywood, like all of Broward and Miami-Dade, is in the High Velocity Hurricane Zone (HVHZ) as defined by the Florida Building Code (Verified fact, source: Florida Building Code 8th Edition, Section 1620; Broward County design wind speed 170 mph for Risk Category II buildings).

55-plus communities. Hollywood does not have the same concentration of large age-restricted communities as Sarasota or Naples, but several condo buildings (notably in Hillcrest and along Washington Street) operate under HOPA (Housing for Older Persons Act) 55-plus restrictions. Buyers should verify age restrictions in advance.

6. Total cost of ownership

This section presents a worked example for a Canadian non-resident buyer of a median Hollywood property. The example assumes no homestead exemption (Canadian non-residents are ineligible) and no Save Our Homes 3% cap (same reason).

6a. Worked example: median single-family home

Inputs:

• Purchase price: USD 540,000

Assessed value (year one, non-homestead): approximately USD 540,000 (Florida non-homestead assessment generally reflects market value at acquisition; subsequent annual increases capped at 10% by the Non-Homestead Cap under FL Constitution Article VII, Section 4(d)(8))

Total millage rate: approximately 21.0 mills (Hollywood city 8.0132 + Broward County operating 5.6658 + Broward School Board approximately 6.0 + special districts approximately 1.2) Verified fact for city and county portions; school and district numbers are typical-range estimates

• Effective tax rate: approximately 1.1% of assessed value

Equivalent CAD range (at approximately 1 USD = 1.37 CAD as of May 2026): approximately CAD 30,000 to CAD 47,000 per year.

6a-bis. Worked example: median condo (Hollywood Beach, older building)

Inputs:

• Purchase price: USD 255,000
• Assessed value year one: approximately USD 255,000
• HOA fees: Typical range USD 700 to USD 1,500 per month post-SB-4D (Verified fact for general range, source: Florida condo board reports and Redfin listings)

Special assessment exposure: USD 5,000 to USD 150,000 per unit for buildings entering SB-4D Phase 2 (Typical range, source: 2025-2026 reports from Florida condo law specialists)

Equivalent CAD: approximately CAD 21,600 to CAD 39,000.

6b. Calculator placement

The interactive Florida property-tax calculator embedded in section 6a above accepts purchase price, property type (single-family / condo / townhouse), residency status (FL homestead resident / non-resident Canadian), flood zone and year built where relevant. The values shown in the city table above are the data the calculator uses for this city.

Data for the calculator (Verified fact, source: City of Hollywood FY2025 Adopted Budget; Broward County BOCC FY2026 millage adoption; FL Department of Revenue):

• Hollywood city total millage FY2025: 8.0132 mills (operating 7.4479 + voted debt service 0.5653)
• Broward County operating millage FY2026: 5.6658 mills
• Broward School Board millage: approximately 6.0 mills (Typical range, varies by adoption year)
• Special districts (South Broward Hospital District, water management, etc.): approximately 1.2 to 1.5 mills
• Indicative total combined millage Hollywood: approximately 20.5 to 22.0 mills
• Assessed-to-market ratio (first year non-homestead): approximately 0.95 to 1.00

6c. Homestead exemption and Save Our Homes

The calculations above assume a Canadian non-resident buyer who does not qualify for the Florida homestead exemption (worth approximately USD 50,000 off assessed value for primary residents) and is not protected by the Save Our Homes 3% annual assessment cap (which applies only to homesteaded properties). A non-resident buyer is also subject to the Non-Homestead Cap, which limits annual increases in assessed value to 10% (rather than 3%) and resets on transfer. See our companion guides: Florida Homestead exemption and Save Our Homes 3 % cap.

7. Physical risks

Hurricane risk

Hollywood sits in a part of the Florida coast that has not seen a direct major-hurricane (Category 3 or higher) landfall in recent decades, but has been brushed by several significant storms.

Maximum recorded category at or near Hollywood: Category 2 conditions during Hurricane Wilma (October 2005), with sustained winds in the 80 to 100 mph range for approximately five hours (Verified fact, source: Florida DEP Wilma assessment, NOAA).

Most recent significant impact: Hurricane Irma (September 2017), Category 1 sustained winds locally, structural damage limited to roof coverings, fences and trees (Verified fact, source: NWS Miami post-Irma report).

• HVHZ design wind speed (Broward Risk Category II): 170 mph (Verified fact, source: Florida Building Code 8th Edition, Section 1620.2).

Storm surge and flood zones

The FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) updated July 31, 2024 govern Hollywood's flood risk classifications.

• More than 11,000 Hollywood properties are within the Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) under the 2024 maps.
• Approximately 2,115 Hollywood properties were removed from the mandatory-insurance SFHA in the 2024 update, although flood insurance remains recommended for those properties.
• Hollywood Beach (the barrier island) and the eastern blocks adjacent to the Intracoastal contain meaningful concentrations of AE and VE zone parcels.

Hollywood participates in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and is rated Class 6 under the Community Rating System (CRS), which yields a flood-insurance premium discount for participating policies (Verified fact, source: City of Hollywood floodplain management page).

Typical NFIP flood insurance premium ranges for Hollywood SFH:

• Outside SFHA (preferred risk): approximately USD 600 to USD 1,200 per year
• AE zone: approximately USD 1,500 to USD 4,000 per year
• VE zone (coastal high hazard): approximately USD 4,000 to USD 8,000 per year (Typical range, source: NFIP rate tables and South Florida insurance broker quotes)

HVHZ and pre-FBC inventory

All of Hollywood, like all of Broward County, is in the HVHZ. New construction and substantial renovations must meet HVHZ wind-load and impact requirements (Verified fact, source: Florida Building Code 8th Edition, Section 1620).

Approximate share of Hollywood housing stock built before the 2002 Florida Building Code: majority. Hollywood's median residential construction year is 1969 (Verified fact, source: U.S. Census housing characteristics via Point2Homes). Pre-FBC homes carry materially higher hurricane risk and insurance premiums regardless of construction material. The Hollywood Beach corridor specifically contains significant inventory of mid-rise concrete towers from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.

Sinkholes

Sinkhole risk in Hollywood is low. Sinkhole activity is concentrated in central Florida (the karst-rich corridor running from Tampa through Ocala). South Florida's geology is dominated by Miami limestone and unconsolidated coastal deposits, which produce different failure modes (subsidence, dewatering) but rarely sudden sinkhole collapse.

8. Rental investment

Short-term rentals (STR, less than 30 days)

Hollywood permits short-term vacation rentals, but enforces one of the most operationally rigorous regimes in southern Broward. The governing law is Chapter 119 of the Hollywood Code of Ordinances, updated in 2020 and 2021.

Six-question answer:

Does Hollywood prohibit, restrict, or permit STRs? Permit, with strict regulation. Hollywood explicitly allows STRs in any zoning district that permits residential use, provided the owner obtains a city vacation rental license, complies with inspection and operational standards, and remits all applicable taxes.

Is there a mandatory municipal STR license, and what does it cost? Yes. Vacation rental license issued under Chapter 119. The application fee structure: USD 850 for non-owner-occupied units (first license), USD 550 for renewal, and USD 100 for owner-occupied units (initial and renewal). License must be obtained before listing on Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com or any other platform, and the city license number must appear in every advertisement. The Hollywood vacation rental license is in addition to the State of Florida DBPR Transient Public Lodging Establishment license, the Florida Department of Revenue certificate of registration, and the Broward County and City of Hollywood Business Tax Receipts (Verified fact, source: Hollywood Code Chapter 119; City of Hollywood Vacation Rental License Application).

Are there neighbourhood or zoning limits? No outright neighbourhood bans. However, several operational requirements function as effective restrictions: every property must have a noise-detection device installed (2021 ordinance), every property must have a responsible-party representative who can respond on-site within 60 minutes of any complaint, and properties within 1,000 feet of any school, school bus stop, daycare, park, or playground require background checks of all adult occupants (Verified fact, source: Hollywood Code Chapter 119, §119.11 and §119.20).

Broward County Tourist Development Tax (TDT): 6% of total rental charges for stays of six months or less. Remitted directly to Broward County (not via the state). Airbnb collects and remits on behalf of hosts for bookings made through the Airbnb platform; VRBO/Booking.com hosts generally must register and remit themselves (Verified fact, source: Broward County Records, Taxes and Treasury Division; Airbnb FL tax page).

Florida sales tax on transient rentals (6%) plus Broward discretionary sales surtax (1%): 7% total state-level transient rental tax. Airbnb collects and remits on behalf of hosts on its platform. Other platforms and direct bookings require the host to register with the Florida Department of Revenue, file Form DR-15, and remit (Verified fact, source: Florida Department of Revenue, Form DR-15TDT, March 2025 edition).

Do HOAs and condo associations impose additional STR restrictions? Yes, frequently, and stricter than the city. Many Hollywood Beach condo associations forbid rentals shorter than 30 days, 90 days, or even six months at the building level, regardless of what city or county law permits. The HOA restriction binds the owner contractually. Always verify the condo declaration before buying with STR intent.

Total combined tax burden on Hollywood STR bookings: 13% (6% Florida state transient + 1% Broward discretionary surtax + 6% Broward Tourist Development Tax) (Verified fact, source: Florida DOR DR-15TDT, Broward County TDT page, City of Hollywood STR guidance).

STR licence last verified: May 15, 2026. STR rules change frequently. Confirm with the City of Hollywood Code Compliance Division (2600 Hollywood Boulevard, 3rd floor) before relying on this section for an active purchase or rental decision.

Long-term rentals (LTR, 30 days or more)

Long-term rentals in Hollywood are regulated under standard Florida landlord-tenant law (Florida Statutes Chapter 83) plus minimal city registration requirements. No vacation rental license is required for stays of 30 days or longer. No transient rental tax applies to genuine leases of more than six months (assuming a signed lease executed before occupancy).

Typical gross yields (LTR):

• Hollywood Beach condo: 4 to 6% gross of purchase price (Typical range)
• West-of-I-95 SFH: 5 to 7% gross of purchase price (Typical range)

Net yields after property tax, insurance, HOA, vacancy and management are materially lower. Investors should model conservatively in the current insurance and HOA environment.

Seasonal versus annual demand. The east-of-I-95 corridor sustains very strong seasonal (November to April) demand from Quebec, Ontario, U.S. Northeast and Midwest snowbirds. The same units rent less easily annually because annual tenants typically prefer locations with year-round local amenities rather than seasonal infrastructure.

9. Daily life

9a. Healthcare

Hospitals. Memorial Regional Hospital (operated by Memorial Healthcare System) is the principal acute-care hospital serving Hollywood, located on Johnson Street in central Hollywood. Memorial Regional South (Hallandale) and Memorial Hospital West (Pembroke Pines) serve the broader area. Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital, located on the Memorial Regional campus, serves pediatric cases. The Aventura Hospital and Medical Center is approximately 8 miles south for residents of southern Hollywood.

Urgent care versus emergency room. Multiple urgent-care clinics operate along US-1, Hollywood Boulevard, and Sheridan Street, including MD Now, AFC Urgent Care, and CareSpot. Urgent care is appropriate for non-life-threatening conditions and is materially cheaper than an emergency room visit for Canadian visitors without U.S. health insurance.

Bilingual providers. Clinique Soleil operates as a French-speaking primary-care clinic. Several French-speaking general practitioners and dentists operate in the Hollywood and Hallandale Beach area; Le Soleil de la Floride publishes a directory each season. The Aventura and North Miami Beach areas, immediately south, also contain a concentration of French-speaking practitioners.

9b. Canadian banks

• RBC Bank (U.S.) and Royal Bank of Canada. Branches in the Hollywood and Hallandale Beach area; cross-border banking products available.
• TD Bank. Branches in Hollywood, Hallandale and Aventura.
• BMO Bank N.A. (formerly BMO Bank N.A.). Florida presence growing post the 2023 Bank of the West acquisition; multiple Broward branches.

National Bank of Canada (NatBank). Two South Florida branches operated by National Bank of Canada's U.S. subsidiary, historically the most French-Canadian-friendly U.S. bank presence in the area.

• Desjardins (Desjardins Bank). Branches in Hallandale and other South Florida locations; the only Quebec-headquartered cooperative with U.S. branch banking.

9c. Walkability

Hollywood's walkability is heavily geography-dependent. The most walkable neighbourhoods are Parkside, Royal Poinciana, and Lawn Acres, plus the Hollywood Beach Broadwalk corridor itself, which is car-free for 2.5 miles. The city as a whole scores as "Somewhat Walkable" on WalkScore (Typical range: approximately 60 to 65 city-wide median; submarkets vary widely). The west-of-I-95 single-family neighbourhoods (Hollywood Hills, Emerald Hills, Beverly Park) are car-dependent in the typical Florida suburban pattern.

9d. Access from Canada

Hollywood's location, between Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) to the immediate north and Miami International Airport (MIA) to the south, gives it more direct Canadian flight access than any other Florida city.

Primary airport: Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL).

• IATA code: FLL
• Distance from Hollywood center: approximately 5 to 8 miles
• Typical drive time to central Hollywood: 10 to 20 minutes depending on traffic and destination neighbourhood

Direct flights to and from Canada: Air Canada (60 nonstop weekly to/from YYZ; service to YUL, YOW, YVR), Air Canada Rouge, Air Transat (YUL, YYZ), WestJet (YYZ, others seasonal), Porter Airlines (YYZ Pearson and YTZ Billy Bishop; YHM Hamilton), Flair Airlines (low-cost, YYZ)

Approximate weekly nonstop frequency YYZ-FLL (winter season): 119 flights per week across Air Canada, Air Transat, WestJet, Porter and Flair (Verified fact, source: Skyscanner / Google Flights schedules, May 2026)

Alternative airport: Miami International Airport (MIA).

• IATA code: MIA
• Distance from Hollywood center: approximately 20 to 25 miles south
• Typical drive time: 30 to 45 minutes depending on traffic

Hub status: major international hub with the highest concentration of long-haul international flights in Florida; Air Canada, Air Transat, and WestJet all operate to MIA from major Canadian cities

Alternative airport: Palm Beach International (PBI).

• IATA code: PBI
• Distance from Hollywood center: approximately 50 miles north
• Typical drive time: 50 to 75 minutes
• Direct flights to Canada: Air Canada, WestJet, Air Transat seasonal service from YYZ, YUL and YOW

9e. Major highways and regional access

• Interstate 95. Runs north-south through Hollywood; the principal commuting and regional artery. Interchanges at Hollywood Boulevard, Sheridan Street, and Stirling Road.
• Florida's Turnpike (Homestead Extension). Runs north-south west of I-95; toll-financed alternative for the I-95 corridor.
• US-1 / Federal Highway. Runs north-south parallel to the coast; commercial corridor.
• Interstate 595. Runs east-west north of Hollywood through Fort Lauderdale, connecting I-95 with I-75 and the western suburbs.

Public transit. Broward County Transit (BCT) operates bus service through Hollywood. Tri-Rail commuter rail has a Hollywood station on I-95 corridor with service north to West Palm Beach and south to Miami. Brightline higher-speed rail does not stop in Hollywood directly; the Aventura and Fort Lauderdale Brightline stations are the closest options.

10. City-specific traps

The following are concrete, costly mistakes specific to Hollywood. Each is paired with the order of magnitude exposure.

Buying a Hollywood Beach condo more than 25 years old without reading the milestone-inspection report and SIRS reserve study. Many of these buildings face special assessments in the range of USD 5,000 to USD 150,000 per unit for structural repairs. The seller is required to provide these documents under Florida statute as of January 1, 2025. If they are "unavailable," walk away. Exposure: a full year of carry cost or more in a single assessment.

Assuming Fort Lauderdale STR rules apply to Hollywood. They do not. Hollywood has its own Chapter 119, its own license fee schedule, its own 60-minute response rule, and its own noise-detection-device requirement. Operating without the city license is a per-day violation. Exposure: fines plus license suspension or revocation.

Underestimating Hollywood insurance budget by 30 to 50% based on a Canadian quote. Florida insurance is structurally higher post-2022. A Canadian buyer who plans on the assumption that home insurance in Hollywood will resemble Quebec or Ontario home insurance will be off by a factor of three to five.

Buying a beach condo with a low monthly HOA fee on a pre-2000 building. Either the building has a remarkably well-funded reserve account (rare for the era), or the association has been waiving reserves and the low fee is the canary. Waiving reserves for structural components is no longer legal as of January 1, 2025 (SB-4D / SIRS). Low fees on old buildings are now suspect by default.

Confusing the boundary between Hollywood, Hallandale Beach, and Dania Beach. These three cities form one continuous urban fabric but have three different vacation rental ordinances, three different millage rates, and three different city codes. Always confirm the actual city of the parcel via the Broward County Property Appraiser before relying on any rules.

Failing to factor the Non-Homestead Cap reset on transfer. When a non-homestead property changes hands, its assessed value resets to market value at the time of sale. A Canadian buyer who looks at the seller's previous tax bill (capped at 10% annual increases over the years they held the property) is looking at a number that will not apply to them. The new owner's first-year property tax bill will likely be materially higher than the seller's last bill.

Buying a Hollywood Beach unit assuming you can rent it nightly to Quebecois snowbirds. The condo association may forbid rentals under 30, 90 or 180 days regardless of city law. Read the declaration first.

Ignoring pre-Florida Building Code construction. Hollywood's median construction year is 1969. A 1965 single-family ranch in Boulevard Heights may be charming and affordable; it may also have an original 1965 roof, 1965 plumbing, no impact windows, and no continuous structural tie-down to the foundation. Hurricane underwriting reflects this. Insurance quotes on pre-FBC homes can be three to five times higher than on post-2002 homes of equivalent value.

11. Owner's toolkit

Permits and construction. City of Hollywood Building Division, 2600 Hollywood Boulevard, 3rd floor. The online permit portal lives at hollywoodfl.org. Most renovations (electrical, plumbing, roofing, structural, pools) require a permit. Typical approval timeline for routine residential permits: 2 to 6 weeks. Unpermitted work (often discovered at sale) carries double permit fees for after-the-fact permitting (Verified fact, source: City of Hollywood Code Chapter 119, §119.15(C)(D)).

Property taxes. Broward County Property Appraiser (bcpa.net) determines assessed value; Broward County Tax Collector (browardtax.org) issues bills and collects payment. Florida annual calendar: tax bills mailed early November, with discount schedule of 4% if paid in November, 3% December, 2% January, 1% February, full amount March, delinquent April 1. TRIM (Truth in Millage) notices mailed each August before the bill.

Code enforcement. Hollywood Code Compliance, 954-967-4357. Online violation reporting via the city website. Active violations on a property are public records.

Utilities. City of Hollywood operates water and sewer directly. Garbage collection is operated by the city via contract. New utility accounts: City of Hollywood Utility Billing, 954-921-3938. Electricity: Florida Power and Light (FPL).

Hurricane preparedness. Broward County Emergency Management Hurricane Hotline: 954-831-4000 (or dial 311). Hollywood-specific evacuation zone maps are published on the Broward County website. The City of Hollywood publishes an annual Hurricane Season Preparedness Guide. Sandbag distribution sites are announced ahead of declared hurricane threats.

Emergency numbers.

• Emergency: 911
• Hollywood Police non-emergency: 954-764-4357
• Broward County 311 information line
• Memorial Regional Hospital emergency department: 954-987-2000

12. Further reading

For Canadian-specific cross-border issues, see our companion guides:

• FIRPTA 15% withholding when a Canadian sells Florida real estate: FIRPTA: 15 % withholding on US property sales by foreign persons
• Homestead exemption and why Canadian non-residents do not qualify: Florida Homestead exemption
• Save Our Homes 3% assessment cap: Save Our Homes 3 % cap
• SB-4D milestone inspections explained: SB-4D condo milestone inspections
• East coast versus West coast versus Central Florida for Canadians: East vs West vs Central Florida: Florida's three zones for Canadians
• How to choose a Florida city: Choosing a Florida city as a Canadian: 7-step journey

Editorial team and disclaimer