Urban Real Estate's managing broker and CAR president, Matt Farrell, recently spoke with FinancialPost.com regarding an interesting trend the housing market is experiencing through foreign investors: the arrival of Canadians.
According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), Canadians account for 24 percent of sales to foreigners. Similarly, Realtor.com says Canadians account for the most international search activity on the website every month in nearly all major U.S metropolitan areas.
Matt Farrell went on to include, "The Chicago market continues to see steady increases in median price. Available inventory remains low, and the percentage of sales has increased year over year. Sellers are finding it an attractive time to enter the market; quality inventory that is priced correctly is selling quickly, often attracting multiple offers. Buyers in the market are quite active, still able to capitalize on historically low interest rates, and finding newer and better inventory being introduced. Prepared buyers who have their “ducks in a row” and are able to move quickly are winning over the casual buyer that is losing out in multiple offer situations."
One of Urban's own brokers, Steve Easton, is a Canadian ex-pat who now calls Chicago 'home'. Steve remarks, "… as a Canadian who has made a home in Chicago, the city offers impressive architecture, affordable real estate, with a promising outlook as an investment. Chicago is a very friendly city with hundreds of amazing restaurants, a robust nightlife, and a really easy flight back to Toronto. The only downside, it’s hard to find good poutine and impossible to get a large double double from Timmies!"