Real Estate Despite erratic dollar exchange fluctuations and recent spiking of home prices internationally, Canadians remain leaders among foreign purchasers of U.S. real estate. And, as Canadian snowbirds who spend long periods of time in their southern neighbourhoods have seen, even Covid’s drastic travel restrictions haven’t succeeded in eliminating their determination to enjoy their time in the sun. According to a survey by the U.S. National Association of Realtors (NAR) taken in the 12 months ending in March 2023, Canadians paid US$6.6 billion for 8,500 single-family homes, condos or townhouses in the U.S. Roughly half of these were for snowbirds and other vacationers; the other half were for non-immigrant Canadian visa holders who are allowed to reside for longer than six months per year for professional, educational or other reasons. Approximately one-third of that amount (US$2.1 billion) was spent in Florida – the top-rated state for foreign home sales. More on Florida later. For survey purposes, snowbirds and other long-term vacationers are known as Type A visa holders; professionals/educators, etc. are Type B visa holders. In 2017, Canadians spent US$19.0 billion for 33,800 Type A and Type B purchases in the U.S. at a median price of $288,600. During the depth of the Covid effect (2021), that shrunk to 8,800 homes valued at a total of US$4.2 billion. Since then, we have seen a levelling of the market (back to $6.6 billion volume in 2023), which U.S. realty experts consider “encouraging” in the face of inflationary home pricing, shortage of available properties in the market, competition from domestic home seekers and ruinous interest rates. Even in a Tough Market, Canadians Lead Top Foreign Buyers of U.S. Real Estate by Milan Korcok 28 | www.snowbirds.org
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