Renting vs buying in Cape Coral
The Cape Coral region's single-family median sale price is up 6.1% on the year and Zillow's index of every home in the city down 3.9%, and Lee County's median rent is down 4.8% on Apartment List's count. Here is the arithmetic, including a thirteen-line tax bill that the homestead exemption makes smaller, the City's assessments that it does not, the two taxes Florida charges on the loan, and the mortgage insurance that stops in the middle of the model, and then the part the arithmetic misses.
Calculator
The short answer
Half the single-family homes sold in the Royal Palm Coast Realtor Association's Cape Coral region in August 2026 went for more than $389,950 and half for less, up 6.1% on a year earlier, on 442 sales. That is the board's region of its listing service, the closest published figure to the City, not the City's own line. A three-bedroom rents for about $2,300. Run those against each other at a 2% appreciation assumption and the answer turns on how long you stay and on the mortgage rate, which was 7.28% on the 1 October survey.
The two price measures disagree. The board's median is up 6.1%, while Zillow's index of every home in the city, at $335,825, is down 3.9%, and its condominium index is down 9.2%. The region had 4.9 months of single-family supply in August. Lee County's median rent is down 4.8% on Apartment List's count, and Florida law forbids any cap.
The millage is low and the bill is not. Thirteen levies make 15.3806 mills. A homesteaded owner pays about $5,362 a year on the median house, 1.38% of the price, after the exemption, and the City's fire, stormwater and garbage assessments, about $1,080 a year, arrive on the same bill. On a lot where City water and sewer have only just arrived, the utility extension assessment can add more than both.
Getting in costs more than in Texas, and so does getting out. A buyer pays about $1,716 of tax on the loan on top of the usual closing costs, roughly $4,056 in all before lender fees. Selling costs about 6.7% once the commission, the deed stamp and the title policy are counted, or roughly $26,127 on this house, which is the shape that punishes a short stay.
The calculator below opens with real Cape Coral figures and every one of them is editable. Three warnings: the property tax rate is set to 1.38% of the price, the homesteaded rate, not the 15.3806 mills levied before the exemption, so if you will not live in the house, set it to 1.54%; no flood premium and no utility extension assessment is included anywhere; and below 20% down the owner is charged private mortgage insurance every month until the balance reaches 78% of the price, at which point it stops. All three are explained in the questions below.
Your situation
Compare like for like: the rent on somewhere you would actually be willing to live, not the cheapest listing in the city. Drop the price to around $300,000 and the rent to a one-bedroom figure to compare apartments instead, and put the condo fee in under Assumptions.
20.0% down. The renter starts with this plus closing costs: $82,046: invested instead.
The single biggest lever. Buying costs a lot to enter and a lot to exit, and only time amortizes that away.
Assumptions: every one of them editable
The Cape Coral region's single-family median sale price is up 6.1% year over year, on 442 sales, and Zillow's index for the city is down 3.9%. Zillow's condominium index for the city, at $191,729, is down 9.2%. Try zero, and try a negative number for a condo.
What the renter earns on the down payment they never spent. This is the comparison's hidden lever. A renter who spends it instead of investing it does far worse than this model shows.
Florida forbids its counties and cities from controlling rents at all. The statute allowed a narrow exception (a declared housing emergency, a specific finding, and a referendum) and the legislature closed even that in 2023. There is no cap, no guideline and no prospect of one, so any rent-growth figure you enter here is a forecast rather than a legal ceiling.
Roofs, furnaces, fences, hail. Averaged out it is a real cost even in the years nothing breaks.
Zero for a house with no association. About one Cape Coral owner in eight pays a homeowners' or condominium association fee, at a Census median of $386 a month, and the gated subdivisions, Sandoval, Cape Harbour and Tarpon Point among them, have associations of their own. A condominium fee carries the building's insurance and reserves: $450 a month is a reasonable middle, and an older building facing its milestone inspection can be more.
Commission and legal fees, charged against the price you eventually sell at. The owner's net worth below is after this comes off.
Net worth, side by side
The buyer's line is home value minus what is still owed minus the cost of selling, plus anything they invested in months when owning was cheaper. The renter's line is one portfolio: the down payment and closing costs they never spent, plus the monthly difference whenever renting is cheaper.
Show the year-by-year figures
| Year | Owner | Renter | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $62,142 | $101,337 | −$39,196 |
| 2 | $72,791 | $121,412 | −$48,621 |
| 3 | $83,833 | $142,308 | −$58,475 |
| 4 | $95,286 | $164,063 | −$68,776 |
| 5 | $107,176 | $186,717 | −$79,541 |
| 6 | $119,525 | $210,312 | −$90,788 |
| 7 | $132,359 | $234,894 | −$102,535 |
| 8 | $145,707 | $260,507 | −$114,801 |
| 9 | $159,597 | $287,202 | −$127,605 |
| 10 | $174,061 | $315,030 | −$140,968 |
| 11 | $189,134 | $344,043 | −$154,909 |
| 12 | $204,852 | $374,300 | −$169,448 |
| 13 | $221,252 | $405,858 | −$184,606 |
| 14 | $238,376 | $438,781 | −$200,404 |
| 15 | $256,270 | $473,132 | −$216,862 |
| 16 | $274,980 | $508,982 | −$234,002 |
| 17 | $294,557 | $546,402 | −$251,845 |
| 18 | $315,055 | $585,466 | −$270,411 |
| 19 | $336,533 | $626,255 | −$289,722 |
| 20 | $359,054 | $668,852 | −$309,798 |
| 21 | $382,684 | $713,344 | −$330,660 |
| 22 | $407,495 | $759,822 | −$352,327 |
| 23 | $433,564 | $808,383 | −$374,819 |
| 24 | $460,974 | $859,128 | −$398,154 |
| 25 | $489,813 | $912,162 | −$422,349 |
| 26 | $520,176 | $967,598 | −$447,422 |
| 27 | $552,164 | $1,025,551 | −$473,386 |
| 28 | $585,888 | $1,086,144 | −$500,256 |
| 29 | $621,464 | $1,149,507 | −$528,043 |
| 30 | $659,016 | $1,215,773 | −$556,757 |
- The rate is fixed for the life of the loan, so there is no renewal to model, but nothing here credits you for refinancing into a lower one either.
- Neither household is credited with tax on their investments, and the buyer's gain on a principal residence is tax-free while the renter's portfolio may not be.
An estimate from published figures, not a lender quote.
Questions people actually ask
Is it worth buying in Cape Coral right now?
It depends more on the house, the canal and the street than on the market. The median single-family home in the Royal Palm Coast Realtor Association's Cape Coral region sold for $389,950 in August 2026, up 6.1% on the year, on 442 sales; that is the board's region of its listing service, not a line the City draws, and houses only. Zillow's model of a typical value inside the city, condominiums included, is $335,825, down 3.9%, so the two measures do not agree on the direction. On rents, Apartment List has Lee County's median down 4.8% on the year and Zillow's observed rent index for the city up 1.0%. At 7.28% on a 30-year loan, the mortgage on the median house with 20% down is $2,134 a month; add $447 of property tax, $90 of City assessments and $475 of homeowners insurance and the owner's month is about $3,146, before flood cover or any utility extension assessment, against a three-bedroom rent of about $2,300. The region had 2,162 single-family homes listed in August against 2,722 a year earlier, 4.9 months of supply against 6.2.
How long do you have to stay for buying to beat renting in Cape Coral?
Getting in costs about $4,056 before lender fees, and $1,716 of that is Florida's tax on the loan itself. Getting out costs about 6.7%: around 5.5% of commission, the seller's 0.7% documentary stamp on the deed and, where the seller buys it, the owner's title policy, $2,025 at this price on the state's promulgated rate. On a $389,950 house that is about $26,127. On the defaults below owning never catches renting at all: the renter is ahead in every one of the 30 years the model runs. The friction alone is a shorter and different answer: at a 2% appreciation assumption those two ends take about 4.0 years to earn back. Zillow's index for the city is down 3.9% on the year, so try zero as well.
Why does this page use 1.38% property tax when Cape Coral is charged 15.3806 mills?
Because of Florida's homestead exemption, not because of any assessment lag: a purchase resets the assessment to what you paid. The bill has thirteen lines. The City of Cape Coral levies 5.3079 mills for operations and its voted parks bond; Lee County 4.2534 across its general revenue, its All Hazards Protection District and its Library District; the Lee County School District 5.3190; the South Florida Water Management District 0.2301 over three lines; and the hyacinth control, mosquito control and West Coast Inland Navigation districts 0.2702 between them, 15.3806 in all for 2025. There is no fire district on the bill, because the City pays for fire service with an assessment instead. The school district's lines are charged on the price less $25,000; everything else on the price less a second slice as well. On a homesteaded $389,950 house that comes to about $5,362 a year, 1.38% of the price. Without the exemption, which is what a landlord pays and what a buyer who never files pays, the same house owes about $5,998. The second slice is indexed to inflation: the Department of Revenue published $25,722 for 2025 rather than the $25,000 this page assumes, which takes the bill to about $5,354. For 2026 the City Council capped its operating rate at 5.1988, the rolled-back rate.
What are the City's assessments, and are they in that rate?
No, and they are not small. Three City assessments come on the same Lee County bill as non-ad valorem lines, and no exemption touches them. For 2025-26 the fire service assessment was $349.32 a parcel plus $3.47 for each $5,000 of the structure's value, $540 on a house whose structure the property appraiser values at $275,000; stormwater was $156; and solid waste $384 a dwelling. That is about $1,080 a year, which this page counts in the owner's monthly costs rather than the tax rate. For 2026-27 the City puts the same house's fire assessment at $515 and stormwater at $163. A vacant lot also pays for the City's lot mowing unless the owner opts out and mows it.
What is a utility extension assessment, and does it change the answer?
It can change it a great deal, and nothing in the calculator includes it. None of this includes a Utilities Extension Project assessment. Cape Coral began as a low-density community on septic tanks and shallow wells, and the City has been bringing water, sewer and irrigation lines in area by area since 2001, charging each lot a special assessment for the line extension and a capital facility expansion charge for its share of the plants: 93,343 of the city's 137,402 parcels have City water available and the rest are in the North areas still to come. The two latest areas, North 1 West and North 1 East, cost $33,367 and $32,288 on a standard 10,000-square-foot lot paid in the prepayment period, or up to $3,734 and $3,385 a year on the tax bill over the 30-year default term at 6.5% and 6.25%, before the cost of connecting the house and abandoning the septic tank. An assessment is a lien that stays with the lot when it sells, it is in no millage and no homestead exemption reduces it, so read every non-ad valorem line on the seller's last bill, ask the City whether the lot is in an extension area not yet assessed, and in a gated subdivision ask for the association's budget too. If the lot you are looking at carries one, add the annual installment to the owner's costs above.
Why is the seller's tax bill so much lower than the figure here?
Save Our Homes, mainly. A homesteaded property's assessed value may rise no more than 3% a year, or the change in the consumer price index if that is lower, for as long as the same owner keeps the exemption, and it resets to market value on the roll after a sale. A neighbor who bought years ago can be taxed on a fraction of what you will be for the same house. If you are selling a Florida homestead, you can carry up to $500,000 of that accrued benefit to the new one if you establish it within three years, on an application due by 1 March.
What are the closing costs, and why do they get bigger if I put less down?
Florida taxes the loan as well as the house. The documentary stamp on the deed, 70 cents per $100, is the seller's by convention. Yours is a second documentary stamp on the promissory note at 35 cents per $100 and a non-recurring intangible tax on the mortgage at 0.2%. On a $311,960 loan that is $1,716, and because it is charged on the borrowing rather than the price it rises as your down payment falls: at 5% down it is $2,037. With a settlement fee around $850, the buyer's title charges, an inspection at about $700 (in Florida that is really three reports, the general one plus wind mitigation and four-point, and the last two are what an insurer asks for; on a canal lot add a seawall and dock inspection) and the clerk's recording, the buyer's side comes to roughly $4,056 before lender fees.
Does this include flood insurance, and what did Hurricane Ian do here?
No. The $475 a month here is homeowners insurance, which in Florida covers wind, with a separate hurricane deductible of 2%, 5% or 10% of the dwelling limit, and does not cover rising water. Ian came ashore on Cayo Costa, across Pine Island Sound from the city, on 28 September 2022 at 130 knots, and the National Hurricane Center puts its maximum inundation at 6 to 9 feet above ground in Pine Island, Cape Coral and the other communities at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee; the surge sensor in Cape Coral was lost. In Lee County 52,514 structures were affected and 5,369 destroyed, and 36 of the 41 people the surge killed died in the county. Flood is a separate policy, priced off the elevation certificate, and from 1 January 2027 every Citizens Property Insurance homeowners policy with wind cover must carry it too. Published averages for the homeowners policy alone run from about $3,700 to $8,700 a year here, so get a quote on the specific house, with its wind mitigation report and elevation certificate.
What is FEMA's substantial improvement rule, and why does everyone here mention it?
Because it decides whether an older house below today's flood elevation is a renovation or a rebuild. The City applies it to any building in a FEMA high-risk zone that does not meet current flood standards: if the cost of repairing or improving it reaches half the building's depreciated market value before the work, the whole structure has to be brought up to the rules for new construction, its lowest floor elevated, and a building that took that much damage counts whatever repair is actually done. After Ian the City stopped adding five years of earlier repairs to the count, and since July 2025, under two new state laws, it judges each permit on its own. If you are buying a house that took water in 2022, the substantial damage determination, the permits for every repair since, and the elevation certificate are the first documents to ask for, ahead of anything on this page.
How much do you need for a down payment in Cape Coral?
Legally, nothing sets a floor: this is a lender's decision rather than a rule. Conventional loans start at 3% down and FHA at 3.5%. On a $389,950 house, 3% is $11,699 and 20% is $77,990. What the low end costs you on a conventional loan is private mortgage insurance: at 3% down, about $274 a month until the balance reaches 78% of the price, which takes 12.8 years and about $42,200. At 5% down it is $207 a month and $30,000. In Florida a smaller down payment also means more tax on the loan at closing. Florida Housing's Hometown Heroes program lends up to 5% of the loan, between $10,000 and $35,000, to first-time buyers in teaching, health care, first response, the military and other listed jobs.
Does Florida have rent control?
No, and Cape Coral is not permitted to introduce it. Florida forbids its counties and cities from controlling rents at all. The statute allowed a narrow exception (a declared housing emergency, a specific finding, and a referendum) and the legislature closed even that in 2023. There is no cap, no guideline and no prospect of one, so any rent-growth figure you enter here is a forecast rather than a legal ceiling. Rents here are down 4.8% on one of the two indexes this page cites and up 1.0% on the other, which is a market condition rather than a protection. If you are renting long-term, set the rent-growth input above the 2% default and see what it does to the answer.
Why are the one- and two-bedroom rents so much lower than what I see listed?
Because they are Apartment List's medians for Lee County, which publishes none for the City, and they describe apartments. A house rented out is not what an apartment index measures. Zillow's observed rent index for the city, which counts houses, was $1,949 in August, and the Census Bureau's 2024 survey put the city's median gross rent at $1,998. The calculator opens on a three-bedroom rent of $2,300, which sits among those measures, and you should replace it with the rent on the house you would otherwise lease.
What is the calculator not accounting for?
Federal tax, mainly, and it cuts both ways. Mortgage interest and property tax are deductible if you itemize, and whether itemizing beats the standard deduction depends on the household: first-year interest on the median loan is about $22,600 and property tax about $5,362. A principal residence's gain is excluded up to $250,000 single or $500,000 married under section 121, and the renter's portfolio is not. None of that is modeled, and none of it is advice. Four Cape Coral things it also cannot price: the flood policy; a utility extension assessment on a lot still on a well and septic tank; the seawall and dock on a canal lot, whose repair no figure here includes; and the condominium market, where Zillow's city index is down 9.2% on the year and an association fee carries reserves the state no longer lets a board waive.
Which figures here are estimates
The prices, rents, millage, exemptions, assessments and title premiums above come from published sources, each one listed below with the period it describes, and the tax figure is derived from that millage through Florida's own exemption rules. These do not:
- The headline price as a Cape Coral figure: it is the Royal Palm Coast Realtor Association's Cape Coral region of the Southwest Florida MLS, whose line the report does not publish, and no one publishes a median for the City itself
- The three-bedroom rent, at $2,300 a month: Apartment List publishes one- and two-bedroom medians only, and for Lee County rather than the City, and $2,300 sits among the Census Bureau's three-bedroom median gross rent, Apartment List's three-bedroom listings and Zillow's single-family rent index for the metro area
- The one- and two-bedroom rents, which are Apartment List's Lee County medians and run well below Zillow's observed rent index for the city and the Census Bureau's median gross rent
- The condominium fee, at $450 a month: the Census Bureau publishes a median association fee of $386 for the 12% of Cape Coral owners who pay one
- Home insurance at $475 a month, between published Cape Coral averages of $3,695 and $8,688 a year, with a hurricane deductible of its own and no flood policy in it
- The fire service assessment, worked on a house whose structure the property appraiser values at $275,000, the City's own example; it rises with the structure's value
- The settlement fee, the buyer's title charges and the inspection, which are the state's estimates rather than Lee County's own
- Who buys the owner's title policy, which the contract decides: the cost of selling assumes the seller does, as in most of Florida
- The utilities and City assessments an owner pays over a renter, at $175 a month
- Maintenance at 1% of the home's value a year, which on a canal lot leaves out the seawall and the dock
- Every forward-looking rate: appreciation, rent growth, cost inflation and the return on the invested difference
- The private mortgage insurance rate, which is priced per borrower by credit score rather than published as a schedule
- Any Utilities Extension Project assessment, which is not in the tax rate on this page and is a real annual cost on lots in the North areas
If you want the payment side on its own, with the biweekly plan, prepayments, the month mortgage insurance stops and the two taxes Florida charges on the loan, the mortgage calculator covers it in more detail. To work out where rather than whether, start with the neighborhood guides.
Sources
- Market insights report, August 2026: market summary and Cape Coral region · Royal Palm Coast Realtor Association · retrieved Supports: A Cape Coral region single-family median sale price of $389,950 in August 2026 against $367,500 in August 2025, up 6.1%, on 442 closed sales against 441, Cape Coral region single-family active inventory of 2,162 against 2,722, and 4.9 months' supply against 6.2, A Cape Coral region condominium median of $206,000 on 38 closed sales in August 2026, A market-wide single-family median of $365,000 for Lee and Hendry counties excluding Bonita Springs and Estero, against $355,000 a year earlier, Separate region pages for Fort Myers, Fort Myers Beach, Lehigh Acres, North Fort Myers, Pine Island and Sanibel; data from the Southwest Florida MLS, updated 4 September 2026
- Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places and counties, 2020 to 2025 · United States Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program · retrieved Supports: A population of 236,264 for Cape Coral city on 1 July 2025, against 233,108 a year earlier and an April 2020 estimates base of 194,004, all of it in Lee County, A population of 875,607 for Lee County on 1 July 2025
- 2025 Gazetteer files: places, Florida · United States Census Bureau · retrieved Supports: A land area of 106.265 square miles and a water area of 13.366 square miles for Cape Coral city
- 2025 millage rates for Lee County, Florida: taxing district millage book (district 057, City of Cape Coral) · Lee County Property Appraiser · retrieved Supports: District 057, City of Cape Coral, 2025 tax roll millage: Lee County general revenue 3.7623; public school by local board 2.2480 and by state law 3.0710; City of Cape Coral 5.1471 (rollback 5.1471, proposed 5.5188); Lee County All Hazards Protection District 0.0693; Lee County Library District 0.4218, SFWMD district-wide 0.0948, Everglades Construction Project 0.0327 and Okeechobee basin 0.1026; Lee County Hyacinth Control District 0.0192; Lee County Mosquito Control District 0.2116; West Coast Inland Navigation District 0.0394; City of Cape Coral parks voted debt service 0.1608, A total of 15.3806 for districts 057 and 056, and the same City levies in the redevelopment expansion districts 273, 279 and 314, The Lee County unincorporated MSTU at 0.8398 and the North Fort Myers and Bayshore fire districts at 3.5000 on the countywide page, none of them in district 057, A listing that does not include any non ad valorem special assessments
- Cape Coral council sets fiscal 2027 property tax cap rate · Gulfshore Business · retrieved Supports: A maximum operating millage of 5.1988 for fiscal 2027, the rolled-back rate against the prior year's 5.1471, set by the City Council on 22 July 2026 (the report was published 23 July), A 0.1554-mill levy for the parks general obligation bond, A fire service assessment of $515.43 on the average single-family home valued at about $275,000, a 4.58% decrease; stormwater at $163, up $7
- Cape Clips: highlights from the August 26, 2026, City Council meeting · City of Cape Coral · retrieved Supports: Fire service assessment for 2026-27: the flat tier from $349.32 to $341.63 a parcel and the structure tier from $3.47 to $3.16 per equivalent benefit unit, the average single-family home from $540.17 to $515.43, Stormwater from $156 to $163; solid waste for individual residential households unchanged at $384.25
- Tax billed assessments (non-ad valorem taxes) · City of Cape Coral, Customer Billing Services · retrieved Supports: Stormwater at $156.00 per equivalent residential unit for fiscal 2026 and $149.00 for 2025, A fire service assessment of $349.32 per parcel (Tier 1) and $3.47 per $5,000 of structure value (Tier 2) for fiscal 2026, against $278.84 and $3.07 for 2025, Solid waste at $384.25 per dwelling unit for fiscal 2026 and $345.76 for 2025; lot mowing by district on vacant lots, Utilities Extension Project assessments on a standard 10,000-square-foot parcel: North 1 West $33,367 prepaid or $35,930 financed at 6.50%, first on the taxes in 2024; North 1 East $32,288 prepaid or $33,142 financed at 6.25%, first on the taxes in 2026; 30-year default terms, Maximum annual installments for North 1 West of $812, $1,490 and $660 for water, sewer and irrigation line extension and $131, $383 and $258 for capital facility expansion charges; for North 1 East $855, $997, $803, $126, $360 and $244, Utilities extended to nearly all of south Cape Coral and work under way north of Pine Island Road
- Water, wastewater and irrigation rate schedules, effective 1 October 2026 · City of Cape Coral, Financial Services · retrieved Supports: A water capacity charge of $25.36 a month on a 5/8-inch meter and a residential commodity charge of $5.44 per thousand gallons to 5,000, A wastewater capacity charge of $32.83 a month and $12.85 per thousand gallons, Single-family irrigation at a flat $13.40 a month
- City of Cape Coral GIS: Ownership, Canals and Bridges layers · City of Cape Coral, ArcGIS Server · retrieved Supports: 137,402 parcels, 93,343 with City water available and 91,771 with City sewer, the rest in the Utilities Extension Project's North areas, 20,889 lots marked on salt water, 16,881 on fresh water and 406 on the river, Saltwater canals in five navigation systems on the Canals layer (PublicWorks MapServer 11), and 160 bridges with vertical clearances on the Bridges layer (PublicWorks MapServer 0)
- Tropical cyclone report: Hurricane Ian, 23 to 30 September 2022 · National Hurricane Center · retrieved Supports: Landfall on the barrier island of Cayo Costa at 1905 UTC on 28 September 2022 at 130 knots, and near Punta Gorda at 2035 UTC, Maximum inundation of 6 to 9 feet above ground level in Pine Island, Cape Coral and other communities along the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River, with sensors in Matlacha and Cape Coral lost or destroyed, 36 of the 41 storm surge fatalities in Lee County, and at least 52,514 structures affected in Lee County, 5,369 destroyed and 14,245 with major damage, An estimated $112.9 billion of damage in the United States, $109.5 billion of it in Florida
- Notice to industry: substantial improvement and substantial damage, and the FEMA 50% rule notice · City of Cape Coral, Development Services · retrieved Supports: Substantial improvement as any repair, reconstruction, rehabilitation, alteration, addition or other improvement whose cost equals or exceeds 50% of the market value of the building before the work, and any repair of a substantially damaged building, City staff comparing the cost of the work with the depreciated market value of the building, and a building at or over 50 percent brought into compliance with the floodplain rules for new buildings, its lowest floor elevated, From 10 July 2025, under HB 683 and SB 180 (2025), determinations made per permit rather than on aggregate improvements
- Cape Coral helps Hurricane Ian recovery, removing five-year look-back for FEMA's 50% rule · Woodward, Pires & Lombardo, P.A. · retrieved Supports: Ordinance 96-22, approved 30 November 2022, removing the five-year cumulative count of repairs and additions from the City's substantial damage determination
- Additional homestead exemption adjustment, revised January 2025 · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: A CPI change of 2.9% and a maximum additional exemption of $25,722 for 2025, against the $25,000 base year of 2024
- Exemption information pamphlet · Lee County Property Appraiser · retrieved Supports: A homestead exemption of up to $50,000: the first $25,000 against all taxes and an additional $25,000 on assessed value over $50,000 for all levies other than school taxes, Applications on Form DR-501 by 1 March, and portability to a new homestead established within three years of 1 January of the year the old one was abandoned
- Zillow Home Value Index, all homes, single-family and condominium series, by city · Zillow Research · retrieved Supports: A typical home value of $335,825 for the city of Cape Coral (region 30742, Lee County) in August 2026, against $349,486 in August 2025, down 3.9%, A typical single-family value of $346,047 against $359,529, down 3.7%, and a typical condominium value of $191,729 against $211,186, down 9.2%, from the single-family and condominium files
- Zillow Observed Rent Index, by city and single-family by metro · Zillow Research · retrieved Supports: An observed rent index of $1,949 for the city of Cape Coral in August 2026, against $1,929 a year earlier, up 1.0%, A single-family observed rent index of $2,154 for the Cape Coral metro area (region 394440) in August 2026, from the metro single-family file
- Rent estimates summary, September 2026 · Apartment List · retrieved Supports: For Lee County, September 2026: $1,258 overall, $1,032 for one bedroom and $1,186 for two, with rents down 0.61% on the month and 4.8% on the year, No row for the City of Cape Coral among the file's cities
- Apartments for rent in Cape Coral, FL: average rent · Apartment List · retrieved Supports: Average listed rents of $1,336 and up for a studio, $1,607 and up for one bedroom, $1,832 and up for two, and $2,419 and up for three or more
- Median household income, median home value, median gross rent and tenure, tables B19013, B25077, B25064 and B25003, 2024 American Community Survey 1-year estimates · United States Census Bureau, via the Census Reporter API · retrieved Supports: A median household income of $85,584 in Cape Coral city, against $83,602 in Lee County and $77,735 for Florida, A median owner-occupied home value of $401,800 in Cape Coral city, 69,402 of Cape Coral's 87,681 occupied homes owner-occupied, and a median gross rent of $1,998 against $1,812 for Florida
- Median gross rent by bedrooms, table B25031, 2024 American Community Survey 1-year estimates, Cape Coral city · United States Census Bureau, via the Census Reporter API · retrieved Supports: A median gross rent of $1,719 for one bedroom, $1,702 for two, $2,272 for three and $2,637 for four
- Monthly homeowners' association and condominium fee, tables B25142 and B25143, 2024 American Community Survey 1-year estimates, Cape Coral city · United States Census Bureau, via the Census Reporter API · retrieved Supports: 8,351 of 69,402 owner-occupied units, or 12%, paying a homeowners' association or condominium fee, A median monthly fee of $386 among them, and 1,993 paying $500 or more a month
- Primary Mortgage Market Survey, 1 October 2026 · Freddie Mac · retrieved Supports: A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 7.28%, up from 7.03% the week before and 6.34% a year earlier
- Documentary stamp tax · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: 70 cents on each $100 of consideration on a deed in every county except Miami-Dade, 35 cents per $100 on a promissory note, capped at $2,450
- Rule 69O-186.003, Florida Administrative Code: title insurance rates · Florida Department of State, Florida Administrative Code · retrieved Supports: An owner's title insurance premium of $5.75 per $1,000 of liability to $100,000 and $5.00 per $1,000 from $100,000 to $1 million
- Florida homeowners insurance · NerdWallet · retrieved Supports: An average Cape Coral premium of $3,695 a year, $308 a month, against $3,725 in Fort Myers, on a sample policy with $500,000 of dwelling cover, updated 20 February 2026
- Best home insurance in Florida (2026) · Insurify · retrieved Supports: An estimated average annual premium of $8,688 in Cape Coral for $300,000 of dwelling cover, against $10,296 in Naples and $13,716 in Port Saint Lucie, current as of 30 September 2026
- Renters insurance in Florida · NerdWallet · retrieved Supports: An average Cape Coral renters premium of $140 a year, $12 a month
- Section 627.701, Florida Statutes: liability of insureds; hurricane deductibles · The Florida Legislature · retrieved Supports: An insurer offering hurricane deductibles of $500, 2%, 5% and 10% of the policy dwelling limits
- Flood: Citizens' flood insurance requirements · Citizens Property Insurance Corporation · retrieved Supports: Under section 627.715, Florida Statutes, most new and renewing Citizens personal residential policies with wind coverage required to carry flood insurance by 1 January 2027, Homes in a FEMA special flood hazard area required already
- FloodSmart · Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Flood Insurance Program · retrieved Supports: Most homeowners insurance not covering flood damage
- SB 4-D (2022): Building Safety, chapter 2022-269, Laws of Florida · The Florida Senate · retrieved Supports: Milestone inspections required of condominium and cooperative associations, and a prohibition on waiving or reducing reserves for certain items after a specified date
- Florida Hometown Heroes Housing Program · Florida Housing Finance Corporation · retrieved Supports: Down payment and closing cost assistance for first-time, income-qualified buyers in eligible occupations employed full time by a Florida-based employer, Up to 5% of the first mortgage, a maximum of $35,000 and a minimum of $10,000, as a 0%, non-amortizing, 30-year deferred second mortgage that is not forgivable
These are estimates built from published figures, not a lender quote, a pre-approval or financial advice. Rates, premiums and state and federal rules change; confirm anything you plan to act on with a mortgage professional and read the sourcing methodology.