A surplus of 60,000 people migrated into Lee County over the past two years despite the area’s ongoing recovery from Hurricane Ian last September and the fact that half of homes in the area face high flood risk.

According to Redfin, both new listings and closings in the Cape Coral-Fort Myers area have rebounded from last September, when the storm caused a massive slide in market activity.

“Builders in Cape Coral have not stopped — they’re just building like nothing happened,” said Redfin Premier agent Isabel Arias-Squires. “That’s largely because there’s plenty of demand for new homes. Many folks who moved into Florida from the Northeast or the West during the pandemic are leaving, but they’re quickly being replaced by new out-of-staters. Some people just want to be on the water no matter what, and/or they want to move here for family, weather or political reasons. The Cape is not slowing down.”

This trend isn’t only occurring in Florida. Redfin reports that the most flood-prone areas in the country saw a 103% increase in incoming migration over the past two years. Similar migration trends can be seen in areas affected by wildfires, like California, or drought, like Arizona.

Ultimately, the effects of climate change have not yet deterred U.S. homebuyers from moving to their city of choice.

“It’s human nature to focus on current benefits, like waterfront views or a low cost of living, over costs that could rack up in the long run, like property damage or a decrease in property value,” said Redfin Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather. “It’s also human nature to discount risks that are tough to measure, like climate change.”