CAPE CORAL, Fla. — Cape Coral and Fort Myers likely have the most vacant homes in the country among major metro areas, with 125,764 "ghost homes" according to a new study from Cinch Home Services based on Census Bureau data.
Fox 4 Senior Reporter Kaitlin Knapp has been covering Southwest Florida's housing market for three years and found it didn't take long to locate examples of these vacant properties:
Two vacant homes were right next to each other, with many more in the neighborhood.
"I see hundreds, possibly thousands in Cape Coral right now," said Arianna Falzone, a realtor with RE/MAX Nautical Realty.
The Census Bureau defines vacant homes as properties with no one living in them at the time of the census.
"Ghost homes I would consider anything that's an investment that's sitting vacant for a longer period of time," Falzone said.
Falzone says these vacant properties include foreclosures, homes in probate, or nearly completed construction projects that were abandoned, like those found on Gator Circle.
She attributes many of these vacancies to financial issues facing property owners.
"I think a lot of that has to do with their bank loans falling short or they're running out of money. Huge market downturns for the area," she said. "I do believe that right now we’re in a little bit of a harder economic situation where people are having to work a little bit harder to get their money."
According to Falzone, these ghost homes are negatively impacting the local real estate market.
"You'll look at the curb appeal and say hey, this is a little bit nasty, unkept, which naturally makes your home look less appealing to a potential buyer, which naturally drives the price down," Falzone said.
She says with the market being on a downturn, some people are less likely to invest in properties being built.
"A lot of these builders are deciding to wipe their hands clean and go ahead and pass it on to the next person to finish up the job, which is naturally bringing a different comp scenario when you’re going to price out homes," Falzone said.
Beyond market impacts, there are safety concerns as vacant properties can become targets for theft of building materials.
But, if you drive around Cape Coral, it seems like more building is still happening. Falzone says she has seen a large decrease in a lot of the larger builders constructing new homes.
Falzone says if you see no construction on a home for about two to three months, it's likely going to be considered a vacant home.
Or, a ghost home will have for sale signs come and go because the owner is indecisive about what to do with the property based on the market.
When asked about potential solutions, Falzone expressed hope for market recovery.
"The only thing that we can really hope for is that people start flooding back into the market, the demand starts to rise again and these homes can be pulled, finished or moved onto to the next person that can take care of them right," she said.
North Port also made the list. The study estimates about 93,747 vacant homes, which includes North Port, Bradenton and Sarasota.
"The study analyzed 2023 U.S. Census Bureau data on housing occupancy across metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with populations over 500,000. It calculated the percentage of vacant homes for each area using the total number of households and the number of unoccupied units," the study said. "Only metro areas with populations above 500,000 were included. The final rankings are based on the percentage of homes currently listed as vacant."
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