Lee County presents a yield-versus-liquidity tension: the stated 7.17% gross yield can justify a first-pass screen, yet the visible listing market has loosened and covered employment has contracted. This is a county for investors who can verify unit economics and flood exposure rather than assume broad demand. Buyers relying on quick resale, short marketing time, or an untested rent roll should be cautious; county measures cannot validate a particular neighborhood or asset.
In Zillow’s county 2026-06 data, the $1,765 median asking rent rose 4.4% year over year while the $295,460 median home value increased 0.29%. That divergence supports the reported gross yield, which uses annual market rent before costs. HUD’s $1,136 two-bedroom Fair Market Rent is a payment standard, not an asking-rent estimate, and must not replace measured market rent. The 0.74% effective property-tax rate is a known carrying-cost input. Insurance, repairs, vacancy, debt terms, utilities, and parcel-level taxes are not published; their absence prevents net-yield or cash-flow conclusions.
Realtor.com’s 2026-06 MLS snapshot showed 262 active listings, up 19.36%, with 57 median days on market and 16.75% of listings reduced. These are asking-market supply, marketing-time, and seller-concession signals—not closed-sale prices or stand-alone proof of buyer demand. Tax-return movers showed net inflow and higher average incoming AGI than outgoing AGI, a favorable composition signal with county-level limits. Investor purchase mortgages were 104 of 983 total purchases, or 10.58%; they are meaningful competition but do not establish investor ownership or future buying.
FHFA’s 2025 repeat-transaction HPI increased 6.19%, directionally stronger than Zillow’s differently dated, differently constructed home-value reading; the series cannot be averaged into one appreciation rate. QCEW’s 2025 annual covered workplace employment declined, and Manufacturing is the largest disclosed private supersector, not a description of all county employment or resident labor conditions. Inland flood is the dominant hazard, alongside a modeled 0.12% annual building-value loss ratio. Flood-zone, elevation, claims, insurance quotes, property condition, closed sales, and lease-level operating data are the next checks; without them, resilience, exit pricing, and stabilized net income remain unproven.