This Small Florida Beach Town is Seeing the Deepest Rent Cuts in the U.S.

Cape Coral-Fort Myers recorded its 33rd consecutive month of annual rent cuts in March. With effective asking rents down 11.1% year-over-year, March marked the second straight month with rent declines deeper than 11%, levels not seen since the Great Recession. That rate underperformed Cape Coral’s five-year monthly average (an increase of 4.8%) and ranked as the nation’s deepest cut among the largest 150 markets, according to data from RealPage Market Analytics. In comparison, rent cuts in the U.S. overall were much more conservative at 0.7%. For further perspective, Cape Coral is one of only 20 markets that have recorded annual rent cuts in 30 or more consecutive months over the last three years. Additionally, the market’s recent performance is a significant departure from the roughly 11% to 35% annual increases seen in Cape Coral from July 2021 to February 2023, when renters were flocking to small Florida beach towns. Weighing on rent performance, annual completions in Cape Coral have remained near 20-year highs over the last few years. Although annual demand has accelerated over the last two years as well, it has not been sufficient to stabilize rent performance. About 6,700 units remain in Cape Coral’s construction pipeline with the majority ‒ roughly 4,800 units ‒ expected to complete in 2026. As the supply pipeline dwindles in late 2026, look for annual rent change in Cape Coral to turn positive once again in the early months of 2027.