Jed Smith, the managing director of quantitative research for the National Association of Realtors, told the Globe that Canadians accounted for 11 percent of foreign home buyers in 2007. But that number has swelled to 23 percent of foreign buyers from April 2009 to 2010.
Canadian buyers in Arizona are moving there for the same reasons many are moving out of California for places such as Maricopa County. They are generally "either job seekers, retirees or folks cashing out of their expensive residences in places like Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange County and moving to Phoenix, Scottsdale and Mesa where homes were half the price of where they left."
In Maricopa County, the Globe says Canadian buyers have outnumbered California buyers in seven of the last eight months, while noting Canadians prefer moving to Florida as well, similar to the preferences of other foreign buyers.
Those buyers also make up a significant part of the local population. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, "foreign-born persons" made up 12.8 percent of Arizonans in 2000.
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