Real Estate Journal Online

Last week, the president of Florida Realtors and Florida governor Rick Scott took a trip up north. The goal: to encourage Canadian companies to do business in Florida, which both parties hope will benefit the state’s troubled real estate market[1]. “Canadians, by far, make up the largest percentage of international buyers and investors in the Sunshine State,” said Patricia Fitzgerald, Florida Realtors president. She added that 36 percent of all international property sales in Florida are to Canadians. Not only did the two meet with corporations interested in relocating to Florida from Canada, Fitzgerald and other Florida Realtors leaders met on an individual basis with Canadians interested in buying vacation and investment properties down south.

Fitzgerald described the trip as a “trade mission,” saying that it offered “a prime opportunity to demonstrate the benefits of doing business – and living – in Florida.” Scott added that many Canadian companies see the state as having a “favorable business climate” and emphasized his own administrations “commitment to cut taxes” as one of the reasons many international buyers invest there [2].

Do you think that other states could benefit from such “trade missions?”

Thank you for reading REJournalOnline!

Let us know what you think about Florida real estate in the space below.