11
Journal
AMERICANS
INCREASINGLY
LOOKING AT
VACATION HOMES IN
MEXICO, CANADA
Fortune favors the bold, and in July 2022,
search patterns saw a major shift in what
destinations homeseekers were considering, but
despite that, the top five destinations remained
the same: Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica, Puerto
Rico, and Belize.
Point2, the news and research division of
Yardi Systems Inc., revealed in a new report
authored by Andra Hopulele that starting in
the second half of 2020, and especially in 2021,
Americans jumped at the opportunity to escape
virus-ridden urban areas and moved to the
suburbs and beyond. Searches for homes abroad
were especially prevalent.
Homeseekers used terms like "homes for
sale in Puerto Rico," and "condos for sale" to
search for homes, but moreover, the explosion in
searches really stood out compared to 2015 and
2018, the first two years that Point2 analysts
began following Americans' interest in buying
vacation homes abroad.
So what has changed over the last 12
months? Keyword analysis shows that Mexico
retained its first-place position as America's
favorite destination-of-choice for vacation homes,
as searches for this destination increased by 60%.
Canada came in second, but keyword
analysis revealed that searches for this location
dropped by 13%.
"Although we're not talking huge numbers
(as real estate-related searches went from 680
to 1,810 per month), Haiti claimed the most
significant spike in interest from American
homebuyers: Certainly, an 166% increase is
nothing to sneeze at, "Point2 wrote in their
analysis. "Two more countries followed in its
footsteps: Chile and Aruba saw their numbers of
searches double in just one year. ey stood out
due to their net numbers, as well: Both countries
had more than 3,000 monthly searches in 2021.
en, after 2022 increases of 130% and 116%,
respectively, they had close to 7,000 and 8,000
monthly searches from the U.S. alone."
