A wind of panic is blowing among Quebec snowbirds stifled by rising housing costs in Florida.
• Also read: The Canadian dollar interests snowbirds more than the arrival of Donald Trump
“Someone who has a house in Florida and decides to rent it for three months, it rents for around US$3,000, US$4,000. [par mois] there, barely three years ago. Today, it’s US$10,000, US$12,000 per month, then condos are often US$5,000, US$6,000 per month,” illustrated former columnist Réjean Tremblay, who used to spend a lot of time in Florida during the winter.
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This pressure, which is justified in particular by the fall in the value of the Canadian dollar, the rise in the cost of insurance and the establishment of a reserve fund in all condo buildings in Florida, is enough to put dreams to rest retirement in the sun for many Quebecers in danger.
“People have been talking to me a lot about the Canadian dollar over the past year. Those who are in the market currently to sell, this is definitely one of the main reasons. […] Their cost of vacations in Florida has really increased in recent years,” explained real estate broker Jacques Drouin to Benoît Dutizac on Qub radio, at 99.5 FM.
-A new regulation, put in place following the collapse of a Miami building in June 2021, which forces owners of buildings of three stories or more to have structural examinations by engineers, adds additional expenses when repairs need to be made.
“We have gone, in fact, in the last 18 months, from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market, it’s not complicated. The inventory has quadrupled,” explained the broker who has lived in Florida for 25 years.
The effect of Trump
Moreover, the return of the Republican billionaire at the head of the United States worries many Quebecers, underlines Jacques Drouin.
“They are afraid that Trump will institute a tax on tourism, a tax on foreigners, a tax of this, a tax of that. But we don’t see that in reality,” he assures.
See the full segment in the video above
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