Canadians Buy American Real Estate
by: Brian.Brady on November 08, 2007 20:23:28 Leave a comment »
Canadians are buying American real estate in droves.The rapid descent of the dollar against the loonie (Canadian dollar), combined with the drop in American real estate prices is bringing more and more Canadian investors across our northern border in search of investment riches.
READ: Canadian Investors, American Real Estate: The Currency Play
From today's Globe and Mail:
You may want to make that U.S. vacation a regular thing. While Canadian housing prices are inexhaustibly buoyant, the U.S. market is falling hard. The average resale price tumbled 10 per cent across the country in September, and in balmy Phoenix, third-quarter sales of single-family homes were off 23 per cent. A recent report in the Arizona Republic newspaper said one-third of homes on sale in the Phoenix area are sitting empty, many of them owned by investors who need to sell because they can't find renters. Think about it: You can score yourself a nice vacation property in Arizona and help out an embattled American real estate speculator at the same time.
We're working with two Canadian citizens right now. One is looking for property to own in Scottsdale while the other is seeking a condo along the San Diego coast. Here's the interesting thing- while prices in both markets are down 20%, the rise in the loonie makes that ranch in Scottsdale or that condo in Carlsbad some 30% cheaper to a Canadian investor than it was last year.
Arizona and California are on sale, right now, for Canadian investors but we have the Stanley Cup in Anaheim, and that just isn't for sale.
