The ultimate real-estate deal?

Look south

Canadian buyers seeking their dream home are taking advantage of a strong loonie and sliding U.S. home prices to buy south of the border. U.S. real-estate agents say there’s been a noticeable pick-up in Canadian interest in places such as Arizona and California, just as demand from American buyers is drying up. And it’s not just more attractive conditions in the U.S. that are luring snowbirds “” it’s also because Canadian real-estate prices are relentlessly rising.

“We’re experiencing a strong influx of Canadian buyers,” said Brian Culhane, one of the founders of ScottsdaleParadise.com, a real-estate firm in Arizona. “Recently it seems like, as our lending market slowed and Canadian prices have really gone up, particularly in Calgary…where people can’t get a decent house without paying through the nose, this is a decent opportunity,”

He gets about five “solid” Canadian buyer leads a week and that’s well above last year’s level. A national spokesman for Re/Max in the U.S. also said he’s seeing a pickup in Canadian buyers.

Canadian buyers seeking their dream home are taking advantage of a strong loonie and sliding U.S. home prices to buy south of the border.

Double-digit price declines and rising inventories in some neighbourhoods over the past year don’t hurt either. Across the U.S., about 17 per cent of owners say their homes have lost value.

In Canada, meantime, home prices have set records this year. National new house prices are about 8 per cent higher than last year.

“Now is a great time for Canadians to buy their dream vacation properties in the U.S.,” said Sherry Cooper, chief economist at BMO Nesbitt Burns, in a report Friday.

“With our dollar near par and U.S. sellers anxious to deal, top-end properties now seem relatively inexpensive in luxury locations””particularly in comparison to similar quality homes, with less ‘vacation-potential’ in Canada.”

U.S. property taxes and condo fees are also more affordable compared to new luxury condo developments in Toronto, Calgary or Vancouver, she added.

Given Canada’s aging population and growing group of retirees, housing in locations such as Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Kiawah Island, Aspen, Tao, Scottsdale, Las Vegas, Naples, Miami and Palm Beach “has never been cheaper for Canadians (in real exchange-adjusted terms) and the selection has never been better in both new and existing properties.”