By Haya El Nasser, USA TODAY
The collapse in housing prices and a strong Canadian dollar are luring north-of-the-border buyers to Arizona and other states where the weather is warm and the housing cheap.
Canadians surpass Californians this year as top out-of-state buyers of Phoenix-area real estate. The Canadian dollar is gaining, up from an average of 80 cents on the U.S. dollar in 2005 to 97 cents last week. At the same time, home prices in the Phoenix area have dropped about 50% from their peak in early 2007.
"Parity in currency and falling home prices," says Gregory Tsujimoto, senior consultant at John Burns Real Estate Consulting in Irvine, Calif. "Things have really lined up" for Canadian buyers, he says.
Florida, California and Texas remain the top destinations for international homebuyers, but Arizona is gaining.
Canadian homebuyers in Phoenix's Maricopa County made up a larger share than California buyers for eight of the past nine months, according to the Information Market, a Phoenix real estate data firm.
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