Regularly we report the overall single family home inventory for the county, but today we want to break down the Lee County Florida housing supply by area.
In November we reported an overall month’s supply of inventory of 5.9 months. Today the overall Lee County single family month’s supply stands at 6.84 months, so it has gone up substantially in the past month.
Lee County Florida Housing Supply Best Market
Inevitably, people ask what the month’s supply of inventory is in the area they live in relative to the county overall. Today we are breaking it down by area. As you can see from the graph, North Fort Myers is doing the best at only 5.09 months.
The area hit hardest in the market right now is Fort Myers Beach with an almost 2 year of supply of homes on the market. The outer Islands are next at over 1 year of supply. This tells us something is going on at the beach and on the islands. Repetitive flooding and the cost of cleanup is the most likely issue on many of these homes followed by the high cost of insuring these homes.
Hurricane Ian hit over 2 years ago, and we’ve had some flooding events from Hurricanes Helene and Milton. While offshore, these past two storms did bring onshore water rise. Combining cost and hassle of cleanup with insurance costs has caused many to leave the area or relocate inland.
Fort Myers and Bonita/Estero also beat the overall county numbers. Cape Coral was higher at over 7 months’ supply, but not as bad as I was expecting. For the most part, most areas are between 5-7 month’s supply except for the beach and the islands. A balanced market is considered at 5.5 months’ supply and anything over that is considered a buyer’s market. Anything under 5.5 months is considered a seller’s market. North Fort Myers takes home the prize of being the only seller’s market in Lee County.
This brings home the point that all markets are local. What is happening in other states, counties, or even other areas of town don’t always reflect what is going on at the local and hyper local area.
Buying or Selling
When you are buying or selling, it pays to know what the market is doing where you are. Hiring an expert that studies the market is key, even down to the subdivision level. Other useful tools are www.LeeCountyOnline.com and www.SWFLhomevalues.com. LeeCountyOnline.com allows buyers and sellers to see all the listings and save searches so that new or changing listings are emailed directly to you. Some of the national portals are missing some of the listings, and they don’t have all the search abilities you do with this website. We also love the neighborhood market reports as well.
Swflhomevalues.com provides an instant online home value. Better yet, it allows you to track that value over time. In this way, you can see how a home is doing every month over time. This tool adds perspective on how the market is affecting that home’s value.
Our team has other useful tools, but these two are convenient and allow customers to gather a lot of information on their own without talking to anyone. You can also do it at 2AM when you can’t sleep.
We are not trying to get out of talking with customers. Sande and Brett love talking with people about their situation and ways we can help them accomplish their goals. We also know many people enjoy information before planning, so we like to provide that as well. When the time comes to buy or sell, we hope you’ll think of the Ellis Team at Keller Williams Realty 239-310-6500
Good luck and Happy Holidays. We’re here to help if you need us.
Ellis Team Weekend Open Houses
Open House Saturday 12-3 PM
10813 Dennington Rd Fort Myers FL 33913
Open House Sunday 12-3 PM
11830 Bayport Ln Unit 2304 Fort Myers FL 33908
Open House Sunday 12-3 PM
14386 Reflection Lakes Dr Fort Myers FL 33907
