Vacant homes line the streets in some Cape Coral neighborhoods

CAPE CORAL, Fla. —

A recent report from LendingTree says nearly 15 million homes in the U.S. are vacant.

No state has more than Florida. More than 1.5 million vacant homes are in the Sunshine State alone.

Another recent study zooms in on the Gulf Coast. It says the Cape Coral-Fort Myers market has the highest housing vacancy rate in the country among the Top 75 metro areas, with nearly 40% of homes here sitting empty.

AN ‘IGUANA HOME’ IN SOUTHEAST CAPE CORAL

On Wellington Court in southeast Cape Coral, a home at the end of the street has become known as the "iguana home."

Videos captured by neighbors show the lizards swarming the property. Some photos from last year even show them inside the home.

"Disastrous," neighbor Judie Gruber described. "Has to be torn down."

People who live in the area say the homeowner left after Hurricane Ian damaged the house, and that no one has lived there since.

That is, except for the lizards, which make their way onto other properties, too.

"They always leave a nice, big pile," Gruber said, laughing.

EMBERS PARKWAY: ONE MILE, TEN UNFINISHED HOMES

Miles away, off Southwest Embers Terrace in Cape Coral, sits another seemingly abandoned home — one that was never actually finished.

"That's not just sitting there for six to eight months," Paul Robert, who owns property in the area, said. "It's been years for that."

Google Street View helps illustrate how long it has sat unfinished. An image from February of 2022 reveals it was under construction then, and city records show permits to build were first pulled in 2019.

"Who knows what could be living in there," Robert said. "Rats or what have you. Animals living inside the places."

Kristin Eimont lives across from another unfinished home in the area – a shell of one – that she said has sat like that for months.

"What's not to say there aren't kids that go in there and try and play and get hurt," she said. "There’s two houses, down at the end here, that haven't been touched since before we even moved here."

In fact, in a one-mile stretch of Embers Parkway, Gulf Coast News counted 10 unfinished homes. Only some look like work is happening right now.

CAPE REALTOR EXPLAINS DIFFERENT TYPES OF VACANT HOMES

"One of the telltale signs — it's kind of funny and obvious, but — if there's no porta-potty," Andrew Darda explained. "Nobody's been there in a while, and they're not coming back."

Darda is a realtor for the Darda Group in Cape Coral.

"That construction site looks like the grass is waist-high, and then you see another one and another one," Darda described. "Let's call them something. They're ghost homes."

They first came up with the term in 2008, when the housing market crashed.

While Cape Coral did have among the highest foreclosure rates in the country in 2025, at 0.53%, it’s still nowhere close to the 2008 levels, which were at an astounding 12%.

Instead, Darda said most vacant homes now can be put in 3 groups: hurricane-damaged homes, unfinished homes and also seasonal or vacation homes, which do count as vacant.

"They're paying their taxes. Some of them have mortgages, some of them don't. When they do come down, they're eating at our restaurants, they're shopping at our stores," Darda said of seasonal homes. "Just because they're empty doesn't mean they're not enhancing our area."

WHAT CAN THE CITY DO ABOUT THE VACANT HOMES?

For the homes that are an eyesore, Gulf Coast News reached out to the city of Cape Coral to see what can be done about them.

"Homes that may appear ‘abandoned’ are not owned or maintained by the city," a spokesperson wrote in part in an email to Gulf Coast News. "(The) owner is responsible for maintaining the property."

"The city’s role is limited to enforcing applicable codes when there is a verified violation," a spokesperson added.

"They can't physically force a builder to stick a shovel in the ground and finish that house," Darda said. "They can't force somebody with a hurricane-damaged property to demolish it or rebuild it."

But why are there so many vacant homes in Cape Coral?

Darda believes the "correction" in the market — home prices going down after a surge upward — is partly to blame.

"It's taking years for these homes to be built. But meanwhile, the values of them are going down," Darda said. "So a lot of these builders or investors are just kind of tabling them."

COURT RECORDS REVEAL BUILDER IN FINANCIAL TROUBLE

In some cases, builders have even hit legal or financial trouble.

Gulf Coast News found the property on Southwest Embers Terrace is owned by a company, LSS Homes I LLC, which owns several properties in Cape Coral, including several other unfinished homes.

Court records in Lee County show a foreclosure filing against the company back in 2025. The owner is accused of failing to make payments dating back to 2024 and is accused of owing more than $800,000 across five properties, according to the lawsuit.

The case is still working through the court.

Gulf Coast News reached out to LSS Homes I LLC, which is based on Florida's east coast, and spoke with someone who said he would relay our message to the owner. We have not yet heard back.

Whatever the cause of a vacant home, those who live near them say they are left paying the price.

"It's hard to sell because now you've got that next to you," Eimont said. "So what do you do? You're stuck."

As for the iguana home on Wellington Court, a spokesperson for the city said in an email, "The property is owned by a Trust. The City has been in communication with the owner, and any concerns brought to their attention have been addressed promptly."

Gulf Coast News still spotted iguanas roaming the property when our crew stopped by.

A spokesperson for the city also wrote, "If any property abandoned or not presents with a safety or code compliance issue, neighbors or concerned residents are encouraged to contact Cape Coral’s Code Compliance Division by emailing 311@capecoral.gov, calling 311, or reporting it on the 311 Cape Coral app."

DOWNLOAD the free Gulf Coast News app for your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.