Sell Your Commercial Property In Lee County, FL

Who rents in Lee County

Renters head 84,149 of the 327,803 occupied households in Lee County, a 25.7% share in the 2020-2024 ACS. Owners outnumber them, holding 243,654 households.

Most of that renter base concentrates in Fort Myers. The city counts 19,539 renter households, a 50.9% renter share, nearly double the county rate. Fort Myers also holds a large share of the county's apartment stock, with 42.4% of its units in 5+ unit buildings. Cape Coral, Estero and Bonita Springs run far more owner-heavy, with renter shares of 22.8%, 14.0% and 18.2%.

Rents, growth and affordability

Lee County's median gross rent climbed 48.4%, from $1,154 to $1,712, between the 2015-2019 and 2020-2024 surveys. Population grew more slowly, up 10.9% to 817,666 residents, an addition of 80,198 people. Renter households rose 10.2%, adding 7,773 households.

Supply grew too. Units in 5+ unit buildings in Lee County grew 7.9%, an increase of 6,817 units. Rental vacancy sits at 10.3%, a cushion for buyers weighing lease-up risk.

Rent burden runs heavy. In the 2020-2024 ACS, 60.0% of Lee County renters paid 30% or more of income on gross rent. HUD's FY2027 two-bedroom Fair Market Rent for the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL metro area is $1,835, effective October 1, 2026, running $123 above the county's median gross rent.

City-by-city comparison

Fort Myers carries the highest renter share and apartment density of the four cities in Lee County. Estero and Bonita Springs, both newer and higher-income, lean toward single-family ownership even with below-county vacancy rates.

Vacancy varies sharply, from 6.5% in Estero to 16.4% in Bonita Springs. Cape Coral and Estero post the highest rents in the table, $1,858 and $1,920, despite renter shares under 25%. Fort Myers, with the lowest rent at $1,580, pairs that with the county's largest renter pool and tightest ownership mix.

Bonita Springs' income growth of 35.5% outpaced its 1.0% renter-household growth over the same five years, a sign that buyer demand there favors ownership over renting.

Property taxes and assessment in Lee County

Lee County property is assessed by the county property appraiser at just value as of January 1 each year, with no automatic reassessment cap for commercial or rental parcels. Florida's constitutional 10% assessment-increase cap covers non-homestead property, and the state's Save Our Homes cap applies only to homestead property, not apartment buildings.

Investment and commercial parcels carry no homestead exemption, so buyers underwrite the post-sale appraisal rather than the seller's current bill. Statewide, Florida charges a documentary stamp tax of $0.70 per $100 of consideration on deed transfers under Fla. Stat. 201.02, due at closing in every county, including Lee County.

What this means if you sell in Lee County

When you sell commercial property in Lee County, FL, you sell into a market where renters hold 25.7% of households and 21.2% of units sit in 5+ unit buildings. The 10.3% rental vacancy rate gives buyers room to test your rent roll against local comps, especially against Fort Myers' tighter, renter-heavy supply. A Bonita Springs building in a 16.4% vacancy market draws different underwriting than a Cape Coral complex near 7.1%.

Florida law also shapes the deal. Rent control is off the table almost everywhere: Fla. Stat. 125.0103 preempts local price-control ordinances except through a narrow voter-approved housing-emergency process. Security deposits carry no statutory cap, but landlords must return them or send a claim notice within 15 to 30 days of move-out under Fla. Stat. 83.49.

As a multifamily buyer in Lee County, we review 5+ unit buildings from Fort Myers to Bonita Springs as they stand today. Send a current rent roll, a T-12 and the latest tax statement, and we will price the building on those numbers.