“We don’t need any more new homes being built,” said Punta Gorda realtor Brian Helgemo. “We could sell what’s existing.”<\/p>\n
Housing inventory remains above pre-pandemic levels, according to Amir Neto, director of FGCU Regional Economic Research Institute.\u00a0Helgemo said there’s a large number of homes for sale, reducing the need for new construction.<\/p>\n
Roughly 23,500 homes are currently listed in Lee County, according to data from\u00a0Realtor.com<\/a>. Helgemo said builders are offering big incentives to move property – including waiving closing costs and offering commission to realtors.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Three years ago they wouldn’t pay us a commission,” Helgemo said. “And now, you know because there are so many homes, they’re trying to get that business.”<\/p>\n Shan Swelland is president of the Charlotte DeSoto Building Industry Association. Swelland also described the decline as a market correction.<\/p>\n He said Charlotte County home permits are down, but noted that permit applications are holding steady. There was a strong demand for people to move inland and remodel their homes last year, the association said.\u00a0<\/p>\n “We had tons of hurricane damage, and you know there was a lot of work from that,” Swelland said. “And now we’re just steadying out again, and hopefully back to building homes again.”<\/p>\n Swelland said contractors are still dealing with higher construction costs that exploded during COVID-19. Building material prices have increased at the fastest pace in three years, according to the National Association of Home Builders.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n Prices of building materials used in residential construction, excluding energy, were up 3.7% in April according to the most recent\u00a0Producer Price Index<\/a>.<\/p>\n Prices are also going up for home buyers.\u00a0<\/p>\n Chris Jones is an economics professor at the University of South Florida. He is also president of\u00a0Florida Economic Advisors, a Tampa-based economic consulting firm.<\/p>\n Jones said there is a growing affordability gap for home buyers. The national median single-family home price grew to five times the median household income in 2024, according to Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University.<\/a> That nearly matched previous record highs.<\/p>\n He said the Fort Myers area has the highest unemployment in the state at 4.9 percent.\u00a0<\/p>\n “There’s no question that homes are becoming increasingly unaffordable for the average working-class individual in most of our metropolitan markets,” Jones said. “Including Southwest Florida.”<\/p>\n Fort Myers and Naples are also a big second-home market, Jones said. As inflation forces Americans to limit their spending, fewer people are investing in a winter home.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jones cautioned that month-to-month permit data can be misleading. But he said builders are scaling back new development across the state.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n