U.S. online searches for Canadian properties spike amid Trump presidency: report

Hinzugefügt: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]A growing number of Americans are searching for properties here in Canada.

[00:00:03]The new report from Royal Laage says US searches on the company's website have risen significantly throughout the first half of 2026. Joining me to discuss is the vice president of communications at Royal Laage, Analise Kouglari. Good morning. Nice to see you.

[00:00:19]>> Good morning. Thank you for having me.

[00:00:20]So, the report says at one point US traffic to your website rose 78% week overw week uh 65% yearoveryear to what do you attribute that?

[00:00:32]>> Uh well, it's really interesting. We've actually been able to pinpoint um from one week to the next sort of where political events in the US have um correlated with those spikes. So, just to give you sort of an indication of what those numbers mean, um on an average week, we'll see anywhere from 10 to 15,000 US visitors to royal page.ca.

[00:00:54]And since the beginning of this year, um we've seen trends where um week after week, we're seeing over 20 or 30,000 uh visitors. And just a couple of weeks ago, we reached close to 80,000. Um so, we can pinpoint those uh spikes to specific events. For example, the death of Renee Good. Um and then again when President Trump um posted on social media that he was essentially launching a war on Iran and and threatened to oblit obliterate an entire population.

[00:01:22]Um these are sort of points in history where we're able to see massive spikes um when you sort of plot out those points on a graph.

[00:01:29]>> Interesting. So where are people looking? Can you break it down region by region? Are some provinces or cities more popular than others?

[00:01:38]>> Yeah, it it's actually a trend we're seeing right across the country. Um and very recently we um surveyed our own Royal Laage agents. So uh realtors that are working on the ground with clients um right across the nation and a full 30% of them have actually told us that they've seen a significant increase in interest from American buyers um over the last year. This doesn't necessarily mean that all of them are going to translate into purchases, but it certainly does give us an indication of um where they're at and and sort of how they're feeling about the current situation. And we're not talking just cottages here or farms. We're talking residential homes, condos.

[00:02:16]>> Absolutely.

[00:02:17]>> So, can you tell if these visits to the website are translating into actual sales? Annie, >> it it's such a good question. Um, certainly buying a home is not the first step in the immigration process and we know that our government has um materially decreased the number of um entrance that are coming into the country over the last couple of years.

[00:02:38]Um, but Statscan has reported a significant increase in Americans um, applying for citizenship since the start of 2026 after they um, uh, expanded the eligibility of citizenship by descent.

[00:02:50]They've seen a a real in a real increase in interest from Americans looking to become Canadian. Um, and we know that our country has always been appealing to them. We have um, you know, a healthcare system and an and an education system that is um, you know, very attractive.

[00:03:05]We speak the same language.

[00:03:06]Geographically, it's very close. So, I think we're a country that seems very accessible to Americans. Um, likely this searching for properties is um an indication of how they're feeling. It's an emotional reaction to what's going on in their own country. Uh, chances are a small percentage of them will will actually translate into home sales. Um, but nonetheless, it really does it really does give us um an idea of how they're feeling right now.

[00:03:31]>> Yeah. A window into their their mindset.

[00:03:33]Uh, thank you so much for sharing this data with us today. It's really interesting.