Real estate in the Valley of the Sun, and Arizona generally, continues to attract investment from Canadians. “Phoenix is a destination of choice — one of the top three Sunbelt states for Canadians to visit or retire to,” says Alain Forget, director of sales and business development for RBC Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Canada, which provides U.S. banking solutions to RBC consumer clients with a cross-border lifestyle, including snowbirds, expats, students, businesses and more. Forget notes he has seen “an increasing demand for our U.S. mortgages.”
Pointing out that the currency exchange — currently 32 to 34 percent — effectively increases a property’s purchase price, he explains RBC Bank helps by providing a U.S. mortgage. “We can go up to 80 percent loan to value for a [Canadian’s] second home.”
Four to five years ago, Forget relates, it was a “perfect storm” for Canadians to buy, with the Canadian dollar at par with the U.S. dollar. But even today, property in Phoenix still comes in at a lower price point than its equivalent in Canada. “They can get more real estate [in Phoenix] even with the weakened Canadian dollar,” he says. Another plus for the Phoenix real estate market, he notes, is the good selection in a wide range of price points.
