Who pays cash here, and why it matters

Cash is the clearest dividing line in this market. Across all of Lee County, about 4 in 10 buyers skipped the mortgage. On the water, and at higher prices, cash becomes the norm. These are the buyers who sold a home up north, are buying a second home, or are moving retirement savings into Florida real estate. Mortgage rates barely touch their decision.

Cash share is the sold financing type recorded on each MLS sale. Condos include low, mid and high-rise buildings.

That is why the top of the market kept growing while the financed side cooled. Sales of $1 million and up rose 18 percent, and their dollar volume rose about 22 percent to $2.71 billion, even as the countywide median eased.

Cape Coral and Fort Myers, side by side

The two biggest cities in the county took different paths this year. Cape Coral held its median price almost to the dollar and sold faster than a year ago. Fort Myers sold more homes, but at a lower median price, pulled down by a heavy mix of condos. Fort Myers buyers also pay cash far more often.

City is the city on each MLS record. Fort Myers therefore includes unincorporated areas with a Fort Myers mailing address. Source: FGCMLS.

On the water: Gulf access, freshwater and dry lots in Cape Coral

Cape Coral has more than 400 miles of canals, and which canal a home sits on matters more than almost anything else about it. A Gulf-access canal lets a boat reach open water. A freshwater canal or lake is waterfront living without the boating route. A dry lot has no water frontage at all. The three trade like separate markets.

Gulf access and waterfront status are the fields recorded on each MLS listing. Freshwater includes canal and lake frontage without Gulf access.

The Gulf-access home costs nearly twice what a dry-lot home does, and buyers for it grew the fastest of the three this year. That growth was concentrated at the top: 279 of Cape Coral’s 297 sales of $1 million or more were Gulf-access homes. When we price a Gulf-access home we compare it only to other Gulf-access homes, and then sort those by bridges, canal width and travel time to the river.

Where Lee County sells its million-dollar homes

Sales of $1 million or more were 6.9 percent of all Lee County sales, but they carried 26 percent of all the money spent on homes. Most of them land in a handful of places. The top sale of the year was $14.9 million in Bonita Springs.

Lee County sales only. Smaller groups, such as Captiva (24 sales) and Lee County homes with a Naples mailing address (29 sales), are not shown.

Single-family homes versus condos

Single-family homes held their value this year. Condos did not. Florida’s condo safety laws, passed after the 2021 Surfside collapse, now require milestone structural inspections and fully funded structural reserves in many older buildings. Some owners chose to sell rather than pay the higher dues or special assessments, which added supply and pushed condo prices down.

Condos include low, mid and high-rise buildings. Townhouses and villas are counted in the county totals but not in either column.

This year compared with last year

More homes changed hands this year and more money moved, at slightly lower prices. That reads as a market resetting after the run-up of 2021 and 2022, not one that has stopped.

Does season matter in Southwest Florida?

Less for speed than people think, more for the kind of buyer. Season here runs from about November through April, when winter residents and visitors arrive. Homes that closed in season took a median of 56 days. Homes that closed in the summer and fall took 59. The number of sales was nearly the same. What changed was cash: about 45 percent of in-season buyers paid cash, versus about 38 percent the rest of the year.

What it costs to own a home here

Florida has no state income tax, so the yearly costs that matter are property tax, insurance and, in Cape Coral, utility assessments. Cape Coral’s combined 2025 property tax rate was about 15.8 mills, roughly 1.6 percent of taxable value, according to the Lee County Property Appraiser. On a $1.42 million home, the median price of a Lee County million-dollar sale, that is about $22,400 a year before exemptions. Rates are different in each city and taxing district.

If the home is your primary residence, a homestead exemption takes about $50,000 off its taxable value and limits yearly increases in assessed value to 3 percent. Second homes and rentals do not get the exemption, and their increases are capped at 10 percent. Amendment 3 on the November 3, 2026 ballot would greatly increase the homestead exemption starting in 2027 if 60 percent of voters approve it.

Taxes are only part of the cost. Wind and flood insurance depend on the home’s age, roof, flood zone and elevation, and can vary by thousands of dollars between two homes on the same street. In Cape Coral, check for unpaid water, sewer and irrigation assessments before you make an offer, and have the seawall and dock inspected on any canal home.

Who has the leverage right now?

It depends on the price range. Months of supply tells you how long it would take to sell every home on the market at the current pace. Under about 5 months favors sellers, over about 6 favors buyers.

Homes for sale are active listings on October 1, 2026. Price ranges for homes for sale use the current list price.

Most single-family homes and most of Cape Coral sit in balanced territory, where a well-priced home still sells. Condos and luxury homes have more supply than buyers right now, which gives a prepared buyer room to negotiate and asks sellers to price with care.

How close to asking do homes sell?

The typical Lee County home sold for 96.8 percent of its final asking price, about 3 percent under. Compared with the first asking price, it sold for 93.5 percent, because many homes had a price cut before they sold. At $1 million and up, homes sold for about 94.1 percent of their final asking price. The homes that sell closest to asking are the ones priced correctly on the first day.

What is my home worth?

Price per square foot gives you a starting range, not an answer. Across Lee County the median sale was $216 per square foot. Gulf-access homes in Cape Coral sold for about $323, homes of $1 million and up for about $523, and homes of $2 million and up for about $760. In Cape Coral, a single-family home with a pool had a median price of $520,000, compared with $315,000 without one. A real value comes from recent sales that match your home on the things that move price here: water type, bridges, pool, elevation, roof age and city water and sewer versus well and septic.

Should I sell now or wait?

The market is not telling most sellers to wait. More homes sold this year than last, and sales of $1 million and up grew faster than the rest. Prices are flat to slightly lower, so the reward goes to homes that are priced right and presented well from the start. If you can choose your timing, listing in the fall puts your home on the market as season buyers arrive. Personal, tax and moving plans can still make waiting the right call.