The real estate market on Fort Myers Beach one year after Hurricane Ian

If you want to know about the real estate market on Fort Myers Beach after Hurricane Ian, all you have to do is look around.

You can’t go a hundred feet on the beach without tons of for-sale signs catching your eye.

“A lot of properties, vacant lots, where people just have decided that they need to move on,” said Jorge Barrera, a real estate agent on Fort Myers Beach.

But are there so many signs because the real estate market is booming right now, or have they sat idle like this for 12 months?

“You don’t see a lot of cars around right now in these, just typical of this time of year, so that’s why you’re seeing a lot of signs that are staying there for a long time,” Barrera said.

Other real estate agents on the beach said the process is tedious and holding back progress.

They also said that they’ve been inundated with permits since the hurricane but are working through everything as fast as possible.