Some snowbirds want out of Florida. A bad housing market makes it hard to leave
CBC
As the era of bilateral bad blood between Canada and the U.S. drags on, some snowbirds are facing a choice this January: Go south to warmer climes, or boycott a country that has gone from friend to somewhat of a foe.
That decision is more difficult for the hundreds of thousands of Canadians who collectively own an estimated $60 billion worth of property in Florida, the favoured refuge for generations of the winter-weary.
Donna Lockhart, a snowbird from Ennismore, Ont., decided the recent anti-Canadian sentiment was too much to bear and it was time to put her condo near Punta Gorda, Fla., up for sale and get out of U.S. President Donald Trump’s America.
In addition to Trump’s 51st-state talk and ongoing trade war, the dismissive remarks from Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis — he's been hostile to Canada and mocked Ontario Premier Doug Ford last month — made her feel unwelcome in a place she had made her second home.
"I think you get a little more anxious the older you get, and I do not like the direction that the United States is going in. If they don’t want us there, we don’t need to be there," Lockhart said in an interview with CBC News.
But, when the time came to list her home, Lockhart faced a complication: She wasn't the only one trying to leave. The ongoing Canadian exodus has pummelled the real estate market in some parts of the state, and southwest Florida is uniquely susceptible to the snowbird-induced selloff.
"There aren't that many people looking," she said. "Supply is way above demand."
Southwest Florida, which stretches along the Gulf Coast from Naples in the south to the edge of Tampa Bay in the north, is grappling with a host of housing troubles.
A number of hurricanes have ripped through this often sun-drenched part of the state over the last five years, destroying homes, damaging others and pushing up the price of insurance — in some cases by a lot. The average policy price has soared some 40 per cent in three years, according to state regulators.
The COVID-19 boom that juiced prices is over. Home construction is still in full swing despite a drop in would-be homeowners. Add in the stampede of Canadians trying to get out, and it’s just not an ideal time to sell, analysts say.
In Lockhart's neighbourhood nestled along Charlotte Harbour, more than 100 units are on the market. That means nearly 10 per cent of all homes in the picturesque boating community are for sale, well above the average turnover rate. A similar unit to hers in the same building has been listed since last April.
"Southwest Florida is characterized right now by an exceptionally high level of inventory," Joel Berner, a senior economist at Realtor.com who tracks the Florida market, said in an interview.
"Prices are coming down considerably and time on the market is up and what we're seeing there is more supply than we've seen for years," Berner said.
Some of that can be attributed to Canadians stepping back, he said.
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