Collier County’s property market values fell by more than 3% over last year.
Completed July 1, the preliminary tax roll submitted to the state shows a smaller decrease than the initial estimates.
Countywide, market values dropped by 3.23% to about $217.7 billion.
The initial estimates — released in June — showed a decline of about 5.8%.
The updated values are based on a full analysis of qualified sales, market conditions, and property characteristics as of Jan. 1. They reflect a more complete and accurate picture of the local real estate market.
Vickie Downs, the county’s property appraiser, declined to comment about this year’s tax roll.
The second estimates are typically different than the first ones.
Updated market values a “good sign”
After seeing the latest estimates, Matt Simmons, managing partner at Maxwell, Hendry & Simmons LLC, a real estate market analyst in Fort Myers, said the data seemed more in line with actual market conditions.
He described the update as a “good sign.”
Countywide, he said, the median home price was also down by about 3.1% over the year. The median is the price at which half of the homes sell for more and half for less.
Next year, Simmons expects the county to return to reporting year-over-year market value increases as it had for more than a decade.
“From March of 2025 to March of 2026, the county experienced negative year-over-year price changes every single month,” Simmons said. “Prices have now increased year-over-year for three consecutive months, with increases ranging from 3.3% to 8.2%. I suspect that we’ll see more year-over-year increases over the rest of this year.”
Taxable values still up countywide
The county’s revised roll shows a 3.35% increase in taxable values countywide — to more than $166.8 billion. That’s up from an original estimate of a 1.56% increase.
Much of the increase in taxable values is attributable to new construction.
While not as significant as last year, new construction added more than $3.23 billion in market value and more than $2.95 billion in taxable value countywide this year.
“We saw the lowest amount of new construction value added in Collier County since 2022. I think that’s a really healthy stat to see though,” Simmons said.
He emphasized that the values added by new construction this year reflect decisions made about building two to four years ago.
“That’s when the market was red hot, so it’s good to see that we aren’t shoving more new homes into our market than what we can support. That often happens in red-hot markets, but it didn’t this time. We would be seeing a lot more countywide new construction in these numbers if overbuilding were taking place,” Simmons said.
He continued: “While we aren’t overbuilding, that’s not to say that we aren’t delivering new homes. In fact, the City of Naples and Marco Island both experienced their highest two years of new construction over the past 10 years, in 2024 and 2025. That’s intentional and mostly spot-lot new building, though, as opposed to large master-planned growth that we’re more likely to see in countywide data. Again, that’s a really good sign about the nature of growth we’re experiencing.”
Updated market value comparisons by city
In the three cities, here’s a look at market value changes over the past year, based on the new estimates:
New construction added more than $5.28 million of market value in Everglades City, while adding more than $290 million on Marco Island and $822 million in Naples.
Taxable values are up by 4.26% in Naples, by 4.39% on Marco Island and by 2.06% in Everglades City.
Last year, Collier County saw a 2.62% increase in market values and an 8.28% increase in taxable values countywide.
In 2024, the county had a less-than-half-a-percent increase in values as the housing market stabilized, following huge spikes.
In 2022, market values rose by more than 40.7% over the year after a buying frenzy, then by another 19.75% in 2023, following Hurricane Ian.
During the Great Recession and afterward, countywide values declined 4.7% in 2008, 11.04% in 2009, 12.2% in 2010 and 5.25% in 2011, before recovering in 2012.
Tax roll essential in determining property taxes
The tax roll is the foundation for funding public services.
The Florida Department of Revenue must approve the tax roll before it becomes certified. Once certified, tax notices can be sent.
The TRIM (Truth in Millage) notices provide information to owners about their property values, exemptions, and proposed tax rates. They’re sent out in August.
Tax rates don’t become final until taxing authorities adopt their final budgets, including the county and cities. Annual property tax bills are mailed by Nov. 1.
Should voters approve a constitutional amendment on the November ballot to reduce property taxes statewide, it will not apply to this year’s taxes.
Any changes to state law would not take effect until Jan. 1, 2027.
This article originally appeared on Marco Eagle: Collier property values drop 3.2%; data suggests market stabilizing
Reporting by Laura Layden, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Marco Eagle
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Laura Layden, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida | USA TODAY Network
