Canadians boost Southwest Florida home sales

Bill Weed
Bill Weed

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.

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“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