Once booming Florida town collapses as it's crowned 'worst housing market in America'

A once booming town in Florida has collapsed in what has been crowned as the ‘worst housing market in America’.

Cape Coral was once considered to be a piece of paradise with a lot of houses being snapped up without even one viewing half a decade ago.

This mean that house prices skyrocketed, with the average cost to buy a home in the area reaching around $419,000.

However, things have taken a dramatic shift with house prices falling by 11% in just two years.

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, realtor José Echevarria said: “Cape Coral is the worst housing market in America right now, I don’t think we’re at the bottom yet.”

Echevarria described an open house he had recently hosted in the area for a home that was purchased three years prior with plans to turn the property into an Airbnb rental.

Cape Coral was a sought-after location not too long ago (OCTAVIO JONES/AFP via Getty Images)

However, while the asking price was originally $675,000, it has seen been cut to $500,000, which is a whopping $100,000 below what the seller paid for it.

Echevarria continued: “We’re cutting the price further tomorrow.”

Shockingly, there are now around 12,000 homes in the local area that are currently for sale but it looks like sellers are struggling to find interested buyers.

Part of the issue is the climate as hurricanes have rained down on the Floridian west coast every year since 2022.

As a result, a lot of homes have faced floods which has seen their insurance costs rise.

Keith Brochu originally moved to Cape Coral from New Jersey but is now looking to sell up and move further inland.

The increase in floods in Florida in recent years have seen insurance costs skyrocket (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

'This is paradise but there's no work'

He said: “The property tax and the flood insurance are going to go up so high in the next five years that it’s not worth staying here.”

Local resident Sherri Sprinkle moved to the area in 2022 but was laid off from her job just last year.

She claimed that ‘there is no job opportunity’, adding: “The cost of living down here doesn’t match the wages. This is paradise, but there’s no work. Everyone’s begging for work.”

But this isn’t the first time that Cape Coral has suffered a severe housing market crash.

Back in 2008, the area saw property owners going bankrupt after renters moved out with short notice.

One resident impacted by this was Sean Dean who told WSJ that he couldn’t ‘get rid’ of his homes.