WRE NEWS
Fewer Canadians are venturing south in search of American residential properties, according to a new data report from Redfin.
The number of Canadian Redfin.com users searching for homes in the US on Redfin.com was down 26.4% year-over-year in May. The decline took an abrupt drop in February when the White House implemented 25% tariffs on imports from Canada, and by April the decline went further to a 34.2% year-over-year plummet when the Trump administration rolled out its global tariff policy.
Redfin’s data is based on unique Canadian users – specifically, the number of different people who access US home listings on Redfin.com or the Redfin app within a defined period; that user is counted only once for the period. Historically, Canadians have made up the largest portion of international homebuyers in the US, with 13% of foreign buyers coming from Canada.
Heather Mahmood-Corley, a Redfin Premier agent in Phoenix, stated, “Normally I work with about five Canadian buyers each spring, mostly older folks looking for a second home. This year, there were none. I actually helped a Canadian sell their Phoenix home earlier this year. People from Canada are retreating from owning real estate in the US because of political tensions; some of them are worried it will no longer be practical to travel back and forth between the two countries, and some don’t want their money tied up in the US. But also, we’re not seeing as many snowbird buyers in general; I’ve noticed older people are more concerned about their stock portfolios and 401Ks as the economy fluctuates.”