by SC Reporter Emilie Alfino
City of Sanibel Planning Technician Jackie L’Archevesque presented the 2025 Residential Housing Inventory to the Planning Commission at its July 28, 2026, meeting.
This report updates the inventory of Sanibel’s housing stock contained in the 2010 Residential Land Use Analysis Report. The amount and location of existing and projected residential development in the City of Sanibel have been compiled from City records and Lee County Property Appraiser data.
This inventory of the housing stock includes units used for long-term residential occupancy as well as units used for short-term occupancy, including hotels, motels, and inns.
In 2025, the City of Sanibel’s 7,822 dwelling units represent approximately 1.7 percent of the dwelling units in Lee County, and less than one percent of dwelling units in the southwest Florida region.
Dwelling units on Sanibel have increased consistently since the 1970s, reaching a high of 8,451 in 2020, then declining to 7,822 in 2025.
Forty-eight percent of the residential land use inventory is multi-family residences; 52 percent are single-family residences and duplexes.
In 2025, there were 4,008 single-family units, 230 of which were duplexes. There were 3,110 multi-family units; 352 units in hotels, motels, and inns; 268 timeshares; and 84 manufactured units.
In the past 15 years, 2010-2025, there were 326 new single-family units and duplexes, and 25 new multi-family units. There were 337 single-family units and duplexes demolished, and 426 multi-family units demolished.
In 2025, 3,248 multi-family units are available by permitted use as resort housing. This is nearly 87 percent of all multi-family units, or 42 percent of all dwelling units.
Short-term rentals are units made available for less than four consecutive weeks.
Below Market Rate Housing has 91 dwelling units, 52 in the single-family and duplex category, and 39 in the multi-family category. BMRH units total less than one percent of the total residential inventory.
Over 50 percent of the existing residential development in the City of Sanibel has been constructed since 1975. Approximately 24 percent of the single-family and duplex dwelling units in the existing housing stock were built since 1975.
A total of 1,178 dwelling units are projected still to be added to Sanibel’s residential inventory; 396 units are expected to be located within existing single-family developments, with the remaining 782 units projected to be located on vacant/undeveloped or not fully developed land.
The existing 7,822 housing units on the island represent 87 percent of the approximately 9,000 dwelling units projected to make up the residential inventory at build-out.
This information is general in nature and is best used for its aggregate value. Although the information is detailed, it is not based on a parcel-by-parcel analysis and should not be considered definitive. The Planning Department is continuing to review this data for errors and omissions.
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