Thursday, September 18, 2008

Meet the Nouveaux Neighbors

Canadians Now Biggest Foreign Buyers of U.S. Homes; Baguettes, Pâté at Parties

By June Fletcher

Andre LeBel knew he had come home when he walked into a bar in St. Petersburg, Fla., ordered a Bloody Caesar and the bartender made it without cocking an eyebrow.

The spicy drink -- a blend of vodka, Tabasco, Worcestershire sauce and tomato and clam juices -- is popular in his native Canada, but until recently it was virtually unknown elsewhere. That was before Canadians started to snap up property in the U.S., drawn by the buying power of the newly strong Canadian dollar and the depressed prices of American real estate. The largest proportion of foreign buyers of U.S. homes from May 2007 to May 2008 -- 24% -- were Canadian, double the percentage a year earlier, according to a recent report by the National Association of Realtors.

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