US interest in Canadian real estate spikes ahead of US election: report

With Americans set to elect a new president on Tuesday, new data shows a spike in interest in Canadian real estate.

Data released Wednesday by Canadian real estate company Royal LePage shows that visits to its website by our neighbors to the south have increased significantly since the U.S. presidential election campaign unofficially began.

According to Royal LePage, U.S. origin sessions on royallepage.ca more than doubled, with an increase of 104 percent week over week (67 percent year over year) during the week of June 16, ahead of the first presidential debate.

The following week, following the debate between President Joe Biden and then-presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, traffic peaked with an additional four percent increase in attendance from the week before, up from 112 percent week after week and 94 percent year after year.

‘Election sports’

Royal LePage CEO Phil Soper said the trends were similar in 2016, before the election of Donald Trump.

“It is not surprising that this incredibly divisive US presidential election has left them, at least emotionally, drawn to the idea of ​​getting away from it all,” he said. “I think that’s probably the biggest message in this surge in American interest in Canadian properties. Call it internet therapy.”

Soper said most of the site’s visitors came from Democratic states, but there was also interest from the Republican-leaning state of South Carolina.

“Canada is the country in the world that most resembles the United States,” he said. “Dreaming of Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver is an American election sport.”

Contested elections

Jennifer Philips, president of the BC Mainland chapter of Democrats Abroad, a partisan volunteer group, said she is not surprised by the interest of some U.S. citizens in moving here amid a contentious election.

“We know LGBTQ rights are coming up this year,” Phillips said. “We know that women’s reproductive rights are under discussion. And you know, in countries like Canada that’s settled law. Right?”

Ryan Neely, a partner at McCrea Immigration Law, said he is receiving calls every day during this year’s election campaign — mostly from people in the Blue States.

“We have seen an increase in what we call cold calls,” he said. “People who just found us on the Internet and say, ‘Listen, we’re interested in Canadian immigration.’”

Despite ambitions to immigrate to Canada, Neely says, the chances of obtaining permanent residency are actually low.

“But there is a core group of people who are committed to it.”

According to him, this group often includes young families, or families who have been struggling with the decision to move for a long time.