Canadians are helping revive Southwest Florida’s moribund housing market, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
“They are buying property all over the place,” realtor Bill Weed, who works out of Michael Saunders & Co.’s Lakewood Ranch office, told the newspaper. “And most Canadians are paying in cash.” Canadians purchased $2.1 billion worth of residential real estate in Florida in 2010, accounting for 8 percent of all home purchases and 36 percent of all foreign-buyer deals, according to a study prepared for the Consulate General of Canada in Miami cited by the Herald-Tribune.
Canadians are purchasing more Florida real estate than any other group of overseas buyers, as The Real Deal as previously reported.
“When Canadians look at Florida, they are seeing bargains,” Jack Albin, chief investment officer with BMO Private Bank, told the Herald-Tribune. “The median-priced home in Florida is nearly half of a home in Canada,” he said.
Canadians accounted for 18 percent of all home buyers in the Sarasota-Manatee region of South Florida in 2010, according to the consulate’s report. [Serasota Herald-Tribune] –Emily Schmall