Weak loonie has ‘panicking’ snowbirds looking to sell Florida homes

globalnews.ca:

Cesidia Cedrone has been soaking up the rays at her Florida condo every winter since 2011.

“Sunshine all the time. Don’t have to shovel snow. The beach, the sand…” the Ontarian said from her second home in Hallandale Beach, halfway between Miami and Fort Lauderdale.

Last week, her retirement reverie came to an end as Cedrone and her husband signed the closing papers on their home sale.

“Things changed so drastically. The Canadian dollar is not at par with the U.S. dollar,” she said. “That was behind our major decision to sell.”

Other reasons played a role too — higher insurance rates, taxes and condo fees.

“For us Canadians, it’s a double whammy,” Cedrone said, pointing to a loonie that trades for roughly 69 American cents, on top of rising maintenance costs.

“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 is not alone. Many snowbirds are scrambling to sell their homes in Florida as a weak loonie and high insurance costs drive a Canadian exodus from the sunshine state.

Canadians made up nearly one-quarter of foreign sellers in Florida between April 2023 and March 2024 versus 11 per cent in the same period a year earlier, according to a National Realtors Association report.

Real estate broker 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 said last week.

Properties used to last on the market for a day or two before being snapped up, said her father and real estate partner, Sylvain DuPont.

“Now the minimum in