A rising tide of migrants from out of state over the past three years brought new construction, new families and new economic vigor to Southwest Florida.
It’s part of a national trend toward increased mobility that’s bringing new residents to hard hit states such as Florida that lost population during the recession, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
In the Fort Myers-Cape Coral area, 32,784 people moved here in 2012 from out of state — while only 17,745 moved to a different state: all told, a net in-flow of 235 people per 10,000 residents.
Three years earlier, only 20,399 people moved in while 14,456 moved out; a net in-flow of 102 per 10,000.
Naples-Marco Island showed an even sharper trend: 10,878 moved in during 2012 while 6,610 moved out for a net 130 per 10,000. In 2009, 7,092 moved in and 6,586 moved out: a net of only 16 per 10,000.
The most direct effect showed up in the real estate market with an increase in sales of homes to people who planned to live there.
In the depths of the hard times that followed the implosion of the housing market at the end of 2005, few people were coming here to live, said Brett Ellis, head of The Ellis Team with Re/Max Realty Group in Fort Myers.
“From a period of 2009 to 2011, the only buyers we had were investors or Northerners buying second homes,” he said — people who weren’t ready to change residency at least until they retired.
That changed two years ago, Ellis said, and “In the last year or so we’ve had an uptick in people who are looking for employment” or coming here to accept a job.
As families arrive, they bring more children into the school system: In the past three years, Lee County has averaged bringing in about 8,000 new students, the majority of them from other counties and states.
“There isn’t any hard data, but anecdotally some families are moving down because they have retired parents and they need that support with younger families,” said Marc Mora, Lee schools’ planning, growth and school capacity director.
That translates to a lot new money, too. Per student funding this year is at $7,049.
Strong as they are, the migration numbers locally don’t compare to the heyday of the economic boom.
“It’s still much slower,” said Rick Burris, principal planner for Lee County. “Last year, we grew by just over 5,000 people.”
Compare that to 2001 to 2007, when the county grew by an average of 25,000 people each year, Burris said.
One sign of the new residents shows up in the people who get real estate licenses here, said Brad Larson of Fort Myers-based Larson Educational Services, which regularly holds classes for would-be agents.
“Only 25 percent know where it is they’re going to work before they start their real estate class,” he said, while “75 percent will not know up front. Everywhere else it’s the complete inverse.”
Bob Knight, vice president and co-owner of Cape Coral-based Paul Homes, said new arrivals are good for business. “There really is a tremendous amount of economic impact when someone moves here.”
He pointed to a study presented Friday by National Association of Home Builders chief economist David Crowe to a group of businessmen and government officials.
To create jobs in the home-building industry, Crowe told the group, “Somebody moves into the community. You don’t create vacancies, you just create places for somebody to live.”
“The increase in population is going to add more diversity in our population, especially when they’re coming from different areas,” said Burris, the principal planner. “We’ll add to the workforce, but also add demand for goods and services, which lead to an increased need for a larger workforce. You just hope that the demand is greater than what they’re bringing with them.”
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