Southwest Florida Resale Values Are Under Pressure From Builders

The short answer: new-build owners are competing with their own builder

If you bought a new home in a community that is still under construction, the builder is probably your biggest competitor when you sell. That is the core warning from Florida agent and YouTuber Ben Grieco, who walked through The Cove at Westport in Port Charlotte in a video published October 10, 2026.

He found five villas listed or under contract within roughly a one-block radius. Several were priced well below what the original owners paid in 2023 or 2024, while the builder sold new, slightly larger villas with impact windows a short distance away. The pattern is not a Southwest Florida-wide collapse. County-wide numbers for September actually show higher prices. But it is a useful case study in how new-construction pricing sets the ceiling for resale.

One note on scope: the video focuses on Port Charlotte, Charlotte County and Sarasota County, and mentions Cape Coral only through a national ranking. It does not analyze Fort Myers or Naples, so those markets are addressed here only with general guidance.

What the Port Charlotte listings show

Grieco compared asking prices with what owners originally paid, using Zillow listing histories. These are asking prices and paper losses, not closed sales, so the final numbers could differ.

A few details matter. The villa that sold next door for $280,000 gives the $290,000 listing an immediate comparable sale, which is why Grieco doubts it will close near its asking price. The updated villa has impact windows, an extended lanai and a wooded view, and Grieco calls it the closest to competitive. It still needed a price cut after a few weeks on the market and showed 26 days on Zillow.

Grieco also pointed out that these figures leave out carrying costs such as mortgage interest, insurance, HOA fees and taxes during the months a home sits listed.

How the builder sets the price ceiling

The mechanism is straightforward. A builder with unsold inventory wants to close homes and has tools a private seller lacks: bulk purchasing, in-house financing, rate buydowns, closing-cost credits and a steady supply of identical product.

Grieco describes the builder's side of the street as asking roughly $285,000 to $307,000 for new villas as they were completed, with the last one at $315,000 for a lake position. He says those homes were selling as fast as they were finished, in at least one case before the lanai was even built. A brand-new, larger villa with impact windows was listed around $294,000, while older resale villas without those windows were asking $250,000 to $289,000.

He also notes that new single-family houses of similar size could be found nearby for around $295,000. For a buyer, that makes a 2023 villa with a fence view hard to justify at a similar price.

Two terms are worth knowing here:

• Rate buydown: the builder pays money upfront so the buyer's mortgage rate is lower for a period or for the life of the loan. Resale sellers can offer concessions but rarely match a builder's financing subsidy.
• Comparable sale ("comp"): a recently closed, similar home that appraisers and buyers use to judge value. A short sale or foreclosure nearby can pull comps down.

For a deeper look at how incentives compare with a straight discount, see our explainer on builder rate buydowns versus a lower price and our look at homebuyers negotiating seller concessions.

Why villas, and why 2023-2024 buyers

Grieco says he does not see this pace of discounting among condos. His theories are informal: villas have attached walls and tight side yards, so they can feel like "apartment living, but you're in a house," and buyers can compare them directly with detached new houses at similar prices. Some lots are narrow enough that air-conditioning units and pool equipment leave little room for lawn crews.

He also notes the timing. Homes bought new in 2023 and 2024 were purchased at the builder's pricing then, and the builder's pricing has since adjusted for 2026 incentives. Owners who try to sell within two years often meet a market where the new price is lower than their cost basis. That does not mean a price drop is permanent, only that early sellers have little time to wait it out.

Grieco adds two cautions that apply beyond this one community:

• Check what a "preserve view" actually means. Land labeled as preserve may or may not be permanently protected, and he says he has seen wooded parcels in Northport rezoned for multi-story apartments. That claim is secondhand ("from what I'm told"), so buyers should verify zoning and conservation status with the county or state.
• Production-builder communities offer limited customization and similar exteriors. He agrees with some critics about the lack of character, but says that style is what buyers are currently choosing.

What the wider data say: prices up, supply down

The Port Charlotte pain looks different against county-level data. Grieco used Stellar MLS single-family figures for September 2026 and said Florida Realtors' report would come later in the month.

Grieco calls the Charlotte median the highest for a September since 2023 and the first September year-over-year increase since 2022. He says the average price of $393,000 is the highest since 2021, though he considers averages less reliable because a few expensive sales can skew them. Sarasota's average rose sharply, which he attributes to million-dollar sales.

Months of supply measures how long current inventory would last at the recent sales pace. Roughly four to six months is generally seen as balanced, with less favoring sellers and more favoring buyers. Charlotte slipped back from a slight sellers market into balance, according to the video, while Venice in Sarasota County had about 2.9 months.

Grieco also showed a WalletHub list of top buyers and sellers markets in which Cape Coral ranked as the No. 2 buyers market and Northport No. 5. He used it to argue that pockets differ widely: "All real estate is local."

For how Florida owners should think about price risk more broadly, see Florida home prices in 2026 and Zillow's yield warning.

Limits and counterpoints

Several things temper the video's message.

• It is one community. The listings come from a single development with an active builder. Resale homes in finished communities or on non-competing streets may behave very differently.
• Asking prices are not closing prices. Some listings will sell for less, others may hold. Only closed sales are final.
• The county data point the other way. Higher median prices, faster sales and falling inventory suggest many sellers are doing fine. Median figures also shift with the mix of homes sold, so a rising median does not prove that each home gained value.
• Closed-sales math. Grieco described Charlotte's closed-sales decline as 10%; his figures of 443 versus 471 work out closer to 6%.
• Disclosure. Grieco says he has sold homes in this community, so he has professional familiarity and possibly a stake in local sentiment.
• Distress listings are small samples. A foreclosure and a short sale can reflect individual financial troubles rather than the whole market. For background on negative equity trends, see underwater mortgages in 2026.

What this means for you

This is general information, not personal financial advice. Local agents, lenders and tax professionals can help with specifics.

If you own a new-build in a community still under construction

• Look up the builder's current prices, floor plans and incentives before you list. Buyers will.
• Compare yourself with closed sales, not asking prices or what you paid.
• Consider whether features such as impact windows, an extended lanai or a better view justify a premium. Grieco's updated villa suggests they help but may not close the whole gap.
• If you do not have to sell, waiting until the builder sells out may reduce competition, though carrying costs and market changes still apply.

If you are buying

• Ask for both new-build and resale quotes. A builder's rate buydown can change the monthly payment more than a headline price cut.
• Look at days on market, price-cut history and nearby short sales or foreclosures. They signal where negotiation room exists.
• Verify preserve, zoning and future-development plans rather than relying on marketing language.
• In Cape Coral, which ranks as a buyers market on the WalletHub list shown, expect more leverage than in tight spots like Venice. For Fort Myers and Naples, check local months of supply rather than assuming either way.

If you are selling a long-held home

Your situation differs from a 2024 buyer. You likely have a lower cost basis and equity cushion, so the builder's pricing still affects your ceiling but is less likely to leave you underwater. Pricing realistically against 2026 comps matters more than anchoring to 2021, when Grieco says homes in Charlotte County sold in a median of six days. He argues that period still skews seller expectations.

What to watch next

• The Florida Realtors September report, due later in October, to confirm the Stellar MLS trends.
• Whether Charlotte County inventory keeps falling or rebuilds as fall and winter buyers arrive.
• Builder incentive changes as the community sells out and the competing phase ends.
• Mortgage rate moves, which shape the value of builder buydowns. Freddie Mac's weekly survey is the standard reference.

Related coverage on builder economics is available in our piece on homebuilder stocks, margins and incentives.