{"id":128302,"date":"2026-01-22T21:32:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T21:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/128302\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T21:32:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T21:32:07","slug":"cape-coral-residents-question-home-affordability-despite-new-report-lee-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/128302\/","title":{"rendered":"Cape Coral residents question home affordability despite new report | Lee County"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\">CAPE CORAL, Fla.\u2014A new national report suggests owning a home could cost less than renting. Still, many residents in Cape Coral, Southwest Florida&#8217;s largest city, say that affordability feels out of reach.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">For sale signs are planted all around Cape Coral, yet getting the keys to a home isn&#8217;t easy. A new report from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.attomdata.com\/news\/market-trends\/home-sales-prices\/2026-rental-affordability-report\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ATTOM<\/a> indicates that while owning can be cheaper than renting, high prices and upfront costs are preventing many from becoming homeowners.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The report states that home prices are rising faster than rent in most markets, making it harder for first-time buyers to save, even if their monthly payment would be lower. In Cape Coral, many families struggle.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">&#8220;The cost of living is high, and that makes it harder, especially for first-time home buyers,&#8221; said a resident who chose to stay anonymous.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Jose Torna, a realtor from Coldwell Realty in Cape Coral, believes current mortgage rates are not out of reach.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">&#8220;First-time buyers don&#8217;t need twenty percent; FHA is three-and-a-half percent,&#8221; said Torna.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Despite the numbers suggesting homeownership might be cheaper, many residents question whether it truly matters when affordability remains a challenge.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CAPE CORAL, Fla.\u2014A new national report suggests owning a home could cost less than renting. Still, many residents&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,3837,325],"class_list":{"0":"post-128302","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cape-coral","8":"tag-cape-coral","9":"tag-cape-coral-headlines","10":"tag-cape-coral-news","11":"tag-collaborator_gen_stories","12":"tag-lee"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}