by Mike Colpitts 
Summer in Fort Myers usually sees a seasonal slow down in home sales as the market responds to the summer heat wave. Snowbirds have returned home, schools are out for summer, and many buyers wait out the Florida summer heat to make a new home purchase.
July lived up to its standard as home sales declined, with 1,434 homes, condos and townhouses selling during the month, according to statistics compiled from the Royal Palm Coast Association of Realtors MLS. The majority were single family homes, 1,072. The soft condo market remains slow with just 220 closing through the end of the month.
The Fort Myers market is a rare oddity in housing markets throughout the U.S. with its summer slow down. Most housing markets experience the most home sales during summer while the kids are out of school for summer. In Fort Myers home sales slow in the heat as temperatures soar into the 90’s in July and even hotter during August, which slows the housing market as prospective buyers wait out the heat to tour homes.
In the summer of 2025 the market has shifted into a distinctly friendlier buyers market, with lower prices in a classic Southern slow down, with a supply of homes that is ripe for picking off a deal on the market.
The post Covid pandemic bubble initialized the market’s correction, with median home values hitting $465,000 in May 2022. Home prices have dropped substantially since then in Southwest Florida. Depending upon which service you rely on, the average price has dropped between 20 and 30% since the market’s peak.
There are some areas in Fort Myers that are still particularly strong, including Downtown Fort Myers, Sanibel island and Fort Myers Beach. However, a bulging inventory of homes and condos still puts a drag on the market. It has been a strong buyers market in Fort Myers and Cape Coral for more than two years and will inevitably turn into a sellers market again.
The high end of the market is still very strong. Homes listed for $1.5 million and higher in Fort Myers Beach are selling near list price, with only five to seven percent reductions at closing. Most of the high end sales are in cash so monied buyers aren’t slowed down by higher mortgage rates than three years ago.
The inventory of homes listed for sale on the market continues to decline as sellers pull their homes off the market and buyers step up to make purchases in growing numbers.
Higher interest rates in the range of 6.5‑7% range, more expensive homeowners insurance and increased inventory combined to slow demand turning the Fort Myers market and many other housing markets into a buyers market after years of record low mortgage rates.
However, home sales have increased over the past quarter, demonstrating that even during the hottest part of the year home sales are strong in the region. New businesses are moving to the area and opening, including manufacturing as Florida sees a resurgence of growth that is forecast to sustain.
The average time for homes to sell has grown to 82 days for condos and 61 days for homes demonstrating a buyer’s market is afoot as Fort Myers home sales slow. The shift from a red hot seller’s market into a strong buyers market has become evident with more for sale signs on front lawns throughout the city and the number of days homes listed on the market at more than four times what it was four years ago.