Florida has taken a major step toward treating gold and silver as legal tender, opening the door for homebuyers to use the precious metals.
Gov. Ron DeSantis on May 27 signed a bill into law to recognize gold and silver coins in payments in the Sunshine State, making Florida one of a dozen states to move in that direction, including Louisiana, Texas, and Utah.
The new law, which goes into effect on July 1, 2026, requires all gold and silver coins to be stamped with weight, purity, and mint of origin.
Additionally, purchases of gold and silver will be free from sales tax, and money service businesses, such as PayPal and check-cashing places, will be authorized to transmit and accept payments in precious metals.
But the legislation stresses that accepting gold and silver as payment will be optional.
DeSantis touted the bill, known as HB 999, as a “landmark piece of legislation” that offers Floridians greater independence and spares them from being “wedded to a fiat currency.” He pledged the law will transform gold and silver into “real currency again” and not “just investment vehicles for the wealthy.”
Florida turns to gold amid high inflation
For more than five decades, the U.S. dollar was backed by gold, in what was known as the “gold standard,” before the federal government abandoned the practice for domestic use in 1933, and for international use in 1971 under President Richard Nixon, switching to a system of pure fiat money, which refers to currency not fixed to any commodity.
During a press conference in Apopka, FL, last week, the governor argued that amid the current climate of economic uncertainty, precious metals would function as a safeguard against a weakening dollar. He pointed out that over the past decade, gold has tripled in value, while paper currency has seen its purchasing power diminish due to inflation.
“We’ve seen the downgrade in the credit rating over multiple administrations. We’ve seen a lot of problems with the DC swamp. This is our ability to give you the financial freedom to be able to protect yourself against the declining value of the dollar,” said DeSantis.
At the Realtors® Legislative Meetings, hosted by the National Association of Realtors®, in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, the organization’s Chief Economist Lawrence Yun sounded a similar note.
“Gold prices are at a record high, partly reflecting great uncertainty,” Yun said, pointing to a graph from the Wall Street Journal showing how the price of gold nearly tripled from 2015 to 2024, surging from around $1,200 to $3,400 per ounce.
State Rep. Doug Bankson, a Republican from Apopka who sponsored the bill, hailed gold’s tendency to retain its value through the years, offering the promise of fiscal stability for the local taxpayer.
“If you bought a home in 1979, the average cost was $75,000. Those were the days,” Bankson told First Coast News. “If you bought that same home, that same product, now it would be $531,000. However, if you had bought that in gold in 1979, it would’ve been 268 ounces. Today, if you bought that home, 268 ounces. Why? Because it’s a tangible thing that has true value.”
How the law is going to affect real estate
The passing of the law raises the possibility that, come next year, Floridians would be able to use gold or silver coins for a down payment on a home, or even conduct the entire homebuying transaction with bullion, or at least with its value.
So, how much gold and silver would it take to purchase the typical single-family abode in Florida, and how would it work in practice?
One thing that is important to remember is that the price of gold and silver constantly fluctuates, driven by various factors such as supply and demand, geopolitical shifts, and market outlook.
One ounce of gold currently sells for roughly $3,300. The latest Realtor.com® data shows that the median home list price in Florida is $440,000. That means a homebuyer would have to come up with approximately 8 pounds, 5 ounces of gold to complete the purchase.
In comparison, the price of 1 ounce of silver now hovers just north of $33. Going by that rate, it would take more than 823 pounds of silver to buy the typical home in Florida.
But do not expect to see buyers hauling suitcases filled with gold bars to closings.
State Rep. Susan Plasencia, who co-sponsored the bills, told Realtor.com in an email that gold and silver will be held in qualifying bank accounts like any other currency and will be used as such in real estate deals.
“While the metals themselves aren’t handed over in a real estate transaction, their dollar value is,” Plasencia explained. “This provides Floridians with another way to preserve and use wealth, especially in times of inflation.”
Speaking to Realtor.com, Ana Bozovic, a Miami-based real estate agent and founder of Analytics Miami, predicted that the adoption of the law will have “a minimal impact on the buying and selling of homes in Florida,” because most transactions involve third parties, such as lenders and insurance providers.
“All of them would have to be on board with accepting payment in the form of gold,” she said. “This is not something that will happen overnight.”
Asked if she could envision a scenario in which a client would bring actual gold bars to the closing table, Bozovic quipped that “it would be a very James Bond–like event. And if it happens anywhere, it will be in Miami.”
On a more serious note, Bozovic said that “a scenario like this would be a super niche event. This is not something that I see ever happening at scale.”
Questions raised about the use of precious metals
Cara Ameer, a Coldwell Banker real estate agent licensed in Florida and California, told Realtor.com that introducing precious metals to the real estate market has the potential of disrupting how transactions are done in Florida—but it also raises a host of thorny logistical questions.
“How many people would be in a position to actually buy real estate this way? Likely not many,” she said. “Would this encourage investment in silver and gold? Perhaps, but would people really understand it? What if, due to market fluctuations, the value fell short? Then what?
“Just like crypto, which seemed to become a thing, it might be a fad.”
Ameer added that it’s currently unclear whether a buyer would be able to use the value of their precious metals as a down payment, or to qualify for a mortgage based on that value. Likewise, it remains an open question how a buyer would be taxed if they used gold to purchase their home.
Lastly, the use of gold and silver could potentially give rise to fraud in real estate deals.
“This is going to take time to work through, and the implications haven’t been fully considered,” said Ameer. “Buying real estate is complicated enough, let alone using gold and silver to buy.”
Bozovic offered a similar assessment, noting that introducing gold and silver into real estate deals would be challenging due to the existing complexity of the transactions.
“There are no systems in place to facilitate a closing in gold, and spot pricing (current market pricing) volatility would complicate contracts,” she explained.
It is now up to the Florida chief financial officer and the state Financial Services Commission to come up with rules for the new uses of gold and silver, which will then have to be ratified by the state Legislature.
Realtor.com
JUNE 4, 2025
