Market Trend: Breakdown of the SWFL Real Estate Market

MARKET TREND: BREAKDOWN OF THE SWFL REAL ESTATE MARKET

This last Thursday, 9/09/2021, numerous real estate experts came together at the Caloosa Sound Convention Center in downtown Fort Myers to present trends and discuss the residential, commercial, and industrial real estate markets.

The gathering consisted of roughly 750 people in person and approximately 400 virtual attendees. The convention leaders included three (3) Lee County commissioners, the mayor of Fort Myers, the sheriff of Lee County, and a handful of executives from numerous construction companies, communities, engineering firms, and architectural firms.

The organizer of the event Randy Thibaut, CEO of LSI Companies, explained why the current market is more of a housing ‘frenzy’ rather than a ‘boom’ similar to the bubble burst of 2005. Thibaut suggested that the worldwide pandemic was the spark of this housing frenzy. He also stated that “this is the most chaotic market I’ve experience in my career.” To put this ‘frenzy’ in perspective, single-family home permits increased by 61% in Lee County, 37% in Collier County, and 32% in Charlotte County year-over-year.

Trends show that residential home markets keep flourishing, notably in the luxury segment according to Denny grimes, President of Denny Grimes & Team at Keller Williams Realty. Grimes said that “these buyers are coming in from other expensive markets” … what we think is expensive, they don’t. E-commerce has shifted the balance of both commercial and industrial real estate, with CRE moving towards smaller, neighborhood mini-strip malls and industrial prospering with last-mile delivery warehouses as reported by Justin Thibaut, president of LSI Companies.