Housing is still expensive in Florida, but at least it’s not as bad as it once was.
Average rent cost and housing value have stabilized over the last two years, but they still remain high. This is according to indexes that measure the current value of homes and cost of rent nationwide, and compare them to a historical projection of what costs should be if they had developed at a steadier pace.
For example, the average home price in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers metro area was actually undervalued after the Great Recession. But during the pandemic, prices shot up about 50% above expected value. Home prices have stabilized since, but, as of April, the average cost of a home in Fort Myers was about $399,339, which is about 37.6% over the expected price. That’s high—even by Florida standards. In better news, rents have actually gone down in the area compared to last year and are only slightly above the expected cost of rent.