Cesidia Cedrone has been absorbing the rays at her Florida apartment each winter since 2011.
“Sunshine all the time. Don’t have to shovel snow. The beach, the sand …” the Ontarian mentioned from her second residence in Hallandale Seaside, midway between Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
Final week, her retirement reverie got here to an finish as Cedrone and her husband signed the closing papers on their residence sale.
“Things changed so drastically. The Canadian dollar is not at par with the U.S. dollar,” she mentioned. “That was behind our major decision to sell.”
Different causes performed a job too — larger insurance coverage charges, taxes and apartment charges.
“For us Canadians, it’s a double whammy,” Cedrone mentioned, pointing to a loonie that trades for roughly 69 American cents, on prime of rising upkeep prices.
“We love this place. But it came to a point now — we are in our 70s — and it’s cheaper for me to come here two months and rent.”
Cedrone isn’t alone. Many snowbirds are scrambling to promote their properties in Florida as a weak loonie and excessive insurance coverage prices drive a Canadian exodus from the sunshine state.
Canadians made up almost one-quarter of overseas sellers in Florida between April 2023 and March 2024 versus 11 per cent in the identical interval a 12 months earlier, in accordance with a Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors report.
Actual property dealer Alexandra DuPont, who sells properties largely to Quebecers in southeast Florida, says she’s juggling twice her typical workload with 30-plus listings.
“I’ve never had this much in a decade. I picked up three new listings on Monday. That’s never happened to me in one day,” she mentioned final week.
Properties used to final in the marketplace for a day or two earlier than being snapped up, mentioned her father and actual property accomplice, Sylvain DuPont.
Florida primarily based actual property dealer Alexandra Dupont says a few of her Canadian purchasers are promoting their properties in Florida as a result of decline of the Canadian greenback.
“Now the minimum in southwest Florida is 90 days, and they’re still not selling. Inventory’s growing by the day,” DuPont mentioned, noting most of his purchasers are Ontarians and Quebecers.
“We feel that the market is going to collapse pretty soon. People are panicking now.”
As for whether or not Donald Trump’s return to the White Home helped drive away owners — the U.S. president has taken an aggressive stance on Canada, threatening across-the-board tariffs and calling its sovereignty into query — Sylvain DuPont echoed the observations of a number of brokers and sellers: “I don’t think it’s about politics; it’s about money, the economy, inflation.”
Residents and actual property brokers say the upper value of dwelling, threat of harm from pure disasters and a rising style for journey to totally different locations every winter account for the flight from Florida.
The Canadian greenback has been hovering under 70 cents US in latest weeks, persevering with a decline that kicked off in early October due to a slower tempo of price cuts by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
“In Canadian dollars, last week I paid $18 for 18 eggs,” Cedrone mentioned.
However departures by Canadians have been choosing up even earlier than that slide.
Insurance coverage premiums have shot up lately due to extra excessive climate, costing Cedrone greater than $16,000 US a 12 months — 10 instances the speed when she first purchased the property.
She additionally paid almost $4,000 US in taxes versus $1,500 US a decade and a half in the past.
In the meantime, property upgrades required by stricter constructing codes meant residents needed to cough up 1000’s extra over the previous couple of years, forcing the couple to remortgage their second residence.
Questions on security in storm-prone areas
Some would favor to roam reasonably than roost.
“Younger couples or people, they want to travel. They’ll spend a winter in Portugal, or they’ll go to Miami, they’ll go to Mexico, or they’ll go to the Dominican Republic,” mentioned Sylvain DuPont, referring to newer retirees.
“Buying a place in Florida is like our grandparents and our parents used to do. The youngsters, they don’t do so anymore,” he mentioned. “They don’t want to be in the same place.”
Particularly in sure locations.
Final fall, hurricanes Helene and Milton tore by Florida, inflicting almost $40 billion US in insured losses. The whole amounted to 63 per cent of all insured losses brought on by extreme storms throughout the globe final 12 months, in accordance with a brand new report from reinsurance dealer Gallagher Re.
These back-to-back cyclones adopted Hurricane Ian in fall 2022. The hurricane’s $113 billion US in damages made it the third-costliest storm within the nation’s historical past. Six Florida insurance coverage carriers folded the next 12 months.
How the identical storm that introduced once-in-a-lifetime snow to the Gulf Coast additionally introduced once-in-a-lifetime hurricane winds to the U.Ok.
Owners in Florida now pay greater than thrice the nationwide common to insure their properties, in accordance with the Insurance coverage Info Institute, making Florida the most expensive residence insurance coverage state within the U.S.
Except for the impact of local weather change on premiums, there’s additionally the query of security and a perpetual sense of precariousness in storm-prone areas.
“I ain’t going nowhere that’s got hurricanes,” mentioned Laurie Lavine, an Arizona-based actual property agent whose clientele consists largely of Canadians.
A former Albertan, Lavine mentioned most purchasers share his sentiments.
Nonetheless, he’s noticed a latest surge in listings from Canadians in his desert state just lately. Once more, expense is the underside line.
“It’s costing them $20,000 a year just to have the property, between utilities and taxes and all the carrying costs of owning a property down here. They’re just not coming down as much as they want to because of the Canadian dollar,” he mentioned.
Lavine mentioned he’ll be dealing with eight listings — all Canadian-owned — within the subsequent few weeks, twice his typical load.
Neither is the departure strictly from stationary properties.
“The RV park that we’re in is normally full of Canadians and Americans from cold weather places,” he mentioned from the Phoenix space. “This year it’s down 30 per cent.”
