Harley Clark, a retiree from Ontario, hesitated for two years before selling his Naples, Fla., condo. Home association fees as well as maintenance costs had climbed for a while, including a recently proposed one-time charge of US$10,000 for revamping a common area.
But it wasn’t enough to make him sell.
“I was happy down there … it was just such a nice environment to be in,” Mr. Clark said. “But over the years it got worse and worse and worse.”
A heated political climate, a weak loonie and soaring property values finally pushed him to sell this winter, netting roughly 30 per cent more than the purchase price five years ago. (Mr. Clark bought the condo after similar gains selling a Florida house he bought in 2009.)
He’s already leveraged the extra cash and freedom to travel to Portugal and Mexico, where a meal that set him back $60 would’ve cost the equivalent of $100 in Florida. He’s off to Barbados next.
With the loonie tanking to 69 US cents and threatening to drop further with Donald Trump’s tariff threats, as well as Canada’s uncertain political future, many snowbirds are hurrying to sell their U.S. properties.
People like Mr. Clark who bought in Florida and Arizona 10 to 15 years ago – when the loonie was on par with the U.S. dollar – often stand to make a handsome profit. But some experts caution that acting in haste, before the dust settles, may lose out on bigger gains in the near future or regret handing off a useful asset when political tensions ease.
In Arizona, Miles Zimbaluk, the chief executive officer of Canada to USA Inc., which provides a range of cross-border services, from buying homes to tax planning, says some snowbirds looking to sell their Arizona properties can often expect to make more than triple what they paid.
“Those people who did buy, say, in the 2010-to-2012 range, right after the mortgage meltdown, when real estate prices were significantly cheaper, their values tripled or quadrupled in many cases,” Mr. Zimbaluk said. “Now they’re taking that money back to Canada at 68 or 69 cents. There’s some big profitability.”
Heather Dodok, a real estate broker licensed in both Florida and Ontario, says she’s personally seen property values in the Sunshine State surge 50 per cent in the past five years on sales she’s been involved in. A Florida home valued at US$144,464 a decade ago would be worth US$381,922 in 2023, a 164-per-cent jump, according to Architecture Lab. Prices climbed 142 per cent in Arizona over the same period.
Such spikes are coupled with the fact that a US$100,000 property sale comes to about $144,000 in Canadian dollars at the current exchange rate.
So it can make sense for some snowbirds to sell. But Ms. Dodok is also seeing homeowners moving too quickly out of a sense of urgency.
“Many Canadian sellers have to sell because of affordability issues with the rising insurance, condo fees, property taxes and general inflation of the cost to vacation in Florida,” she said.
She has seen condo fees alone hover around US$1,500 a month and monthly taxes of about US$600 on a two-bedroom unit. A 2024 Redfin study found that homeowners association fees, which cover repairs and maintenance of community facilities, among other things, were up more than 15 per cent year-over-year in Tampa, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale.
The rush to sell can lead to losses, too. One of Ms. Dodok’s clients in West Palm Beach let go of a 2,100-square-foot luxury unit for about US$200,000 less than the selling price of similar units in the same building because they didn’t want to wait.
The seller had inherited the unit and could not afford the carrying costs of US$2,000 a month in condo fees and an assessment for US$120,000. “[They] also had to wait for an all-cash buyer because banks are not financing condos that are affected by assessments and major repairs,” she said in an e-mail.
It’s also a buyer’s market in many parts of Florida, and if more snowbirds start putting their properties up for sale, it may exacerbate this. Even though many snowbirds turn a profit, a lot of properties are selling for less than the asking price, Ms. Dodok said.
Mark Singer, another Florida realtor, said the state has been a buyer’s market for a while owing to higher interest rates. But supply is getting heated in the condo market. “Condos have taken the worst hit due to higher insurance costs and new structural requirements for high-rise buildings,” he said.
For businesses, there remain many unknowns in terms of tariffs. And corporations may affect what prices look like for property owners.
Steven Fernandez, a senior business development director at HSP Group who specializes in international operations for companies expanding globally and between the U.S. and Canada, said potential tariffs could lead to higher costs for developers importing building materials.
“So when they’re making renovations or new builds, it could be a little bit more expensive – if Lowe’s has to pay more, I’ll pay more,” he said.
Some snowbirds may regret selling off valuable Florida property when political tensions eventually dissipate. Canadians who want to return to Florida at some point may find it nowhere nearly as feasible.
“If you look at U.S. property values over time and especially in places like Florida, the warmer climates … I think there’s always going to be a demand,” he said.
Carson Hamill, a cross-border associate portfolio manager at Raymond James Canada, said some clients are renting out their places longer or starting Airbnb businesses to offset costs and turn a profit in U.S. dollars.
Rents have remained strong in Florida, with a two-bedroom unit going for about US$2,500 a month, according to Ms. Dodok. “At that rate, Canadian owners can carry most of the cost if they intend to keep the unit, if it’s mortgage-free.”
Florida has remained a top destination for Americans from other states as well. According to census data, the Sunshine State saw its population grow by 467,347 residents from 2023 to 2024. And a U-Haul report found that the number of Americans who moved to Florida in 2023 was second only to the number who went to Texas.
