Lee County Market Update

May 2023

Click here to watch Mike's Lee County Market Update, a review of what happened in the real estate market in April 2023!

Hi, this is Mike Darda with Compass Florida Realty in Fort Myers and Cape Coral giving you your May 2023 market update for Lee County, Florida. 

We're going to start, as we usually do with the home sold report. In April of 2023, we saw 963 homes close escrow compared to April of last year, where 1,390 homes closed escrow. That's a decrease of 44%. And what has been causing that is the interest rates. 

The next set of statistics we're going to talk about is the active listing. In April of 2022, there were only 1,105 homes on the market, making the market have very few homes for buyers to choose from and a strong seller's market. Right now, we actually are seeing in 2023, 2,905 homes for sale, a 163% increase. So buyers are definitely seeing a lot of more homes to choose from now, which is making it more of a neutral market. 

Average sale price are reflecting this neutral market territory where prices aren't really going up or down very much. In 2022, the average sale price in Lee County was just under 400,000 at $399,999. Right now in 2023, that average sale price is $399,450. So you can see that with a neutral market that we're in now, about a three-month supply of homes out there is that we're actually seeing prices kind of holding at the moment. 

Interest rates are what has created that massive drop in the number of sales. Interest rates right now are 6.43%. That is roughly a percent higher than it was a year ago. And we know that every time rates go up 1%, it decreases a buyer's purchasing power by 10%. So that is why we're seeing fewer buyers in the marketplace. 

So now we're going to cover some area points that are interesting that are happening here in Lee County. Cape Coral has just announced that the Hudson Creek community has gotten preliminary approval from the city of Cape Coral. This is a huge section of land east of Burnstore Road in North Cape Coral. It's 3,500 units of residential, retail, and apartments. There's still no timeline as to when the project is going to be off the ground. They're still in talks about permits and zoning and utilities, but that segways nicely with the Burnstore Road expansion that is now complete. The two-lane expansion is all finished. It's been a long multi-year project, so we're glad to see that done. 

And the Cape Coral Museum. If you're looking for some fun, Cape Coral Museum of History is hosting a brew fest with food and performers to raise money for the museum. 

In Fort Myers Beach, the restorations are continuing from the hurricane. One of the restorations they're doing is to restore the beach, replenish the beach, and they're going to have elevated sand levels. And, of course, who's going to like that the best are the turtles. They're going to have safer habitats because turtle season is just starting here on May 1. 

So if you have any questions about how the market is affecting your plans, whether you're buying or selling real estate, don't hesitate to reach out to us here. We'd be happy to share that with you. Thanks.