Spike reported in U.S. visitors to Canadian real estate website during election

The U.S. election is days away and some residents may look to Canada if the results don’t go their way.

Data shows a spike of U.S. residents looking at housing listings on the Canadian real estate brokerage website, Royal Le Page.

Visits from U.S. residents “have risen significantly since the U.S. presidential
election unofficially kicked off this summer,” Royal Le Page said in a press release.

In the week of June 16, U.S.-originated sessions to the site more than doubled, with a surge of 104 per cent week over week and 67 per cent year over year. U.S. traffic to the site has been elevated ever since, the release states.

“Consistently ranking as one of the best countries in the world to live in, Canada continues to be a significant destination for international relocation; a fact unlikely to change in the years ahead,” said Phil Soper, president and chief executive officer, Royal LePage.

“Canada’s relative political and social stability, high quality of life, and access to education and universal healthcare, make it a highly attractive country for newcomers from Europe, Asia and around the world. For Americans, the transition is even easier, considering the proximity and lack of a language barrier in most provinces.”

There was an additional four per cent increase in visitors the week of June 24 (94 per cent year over year) at time of the first presidential debate between President Joe Biden and then-presumptive Republican nominee, Donald Trump.

The highest monthly web traffic was recorded in July 2024, with a noticeable single-day spike recorded on July 15, the same day former president Donald Trump officially became the Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election.

This was also just two days after the first attempt on Trump’s life during a rally in Pennsylvania.

The region with the highest number of visitors has consistently been the historically Republican state of South Carolina.

Three Canadian provinces received 70 per cent of all regional pageviews generated by U.S. visitors: Ontario (38 per cent), British Columbia (17 per cent) and Quebec (16 per cent).

This is not the first time Americans’ interest in Canada has been linked to U.S. political events.

In 2017, a similar report found U.S. web traffic to royallepage.ca skyrocketed, jumping a massive 329 per cent the day following the 2016 election, and climbing 210 per cent year over year the week after Donald Trump’s electoral victory.

The U.S. is not among the top 10 countries new Canadians come from. In 2024,  the top countries are India, the Philippines, China, Nigeria, Cameroon, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, Pakistan and France, according to immigration consulting firms.

But it looks like many U.S. citizens dream of a move around election time.

“Nothing like political and economic uncertainty to get people searching for greener grass,” said Soper. “Browsing online listings and moving to another country are two entirely different matters – given the rigorous application process and the federal government’s recent decision to reduce immigration targets, only serious and qualified candidates will actually relocate.”

Lead photo: Mikhail Nilov