Even crazy rains can’t dampen Cape Coral’s competitive luxury market.

And because of the Cape’s canals/waterfronts that lead to the Gulf, higher-end properties in these select sites right now are gold. Boutique builders such as PGI Homes have chosen the Cape because of these resources. The city is also growing, says PGI’s Anthony Farhat, CEO of the family firm going back to the 1950s.  PGI (Punta Gorda Isles) Homes has been issued 140 certificates of occupancy on super luxury homes since 2007, with several model centers from Sarasota through Lee County, including Cape Coral, where homes on the owner’s lot can start at about $500,000; PGI Homes has six $1 million-plus homes built or scheduled in the Cape this year.

Farhat says luxury buyers have drifted from Mediterranean-style designs, are instead going for modernist/minimalism architecture, abundant lanai/pool spaces, centralized living, more elegant lines. “There’s a huge shift to lighter, more airy designs,” he says.

For more information, visit pgihomes.com.