U.S. Traffic to Canadian Listings Spikes 233% in Single Week: What Greater Vancouver Sellers Should Know Before Celebrating

Royal LePage's internal data reveals a dramatic surge in American interest in Canadian real estate during the first half of 2026. According to the brokerage's June 3 report, U.S.-originated traffic to royallepage.ca spiked 78 percent week-over-week between January 11 and 17 following the fatal ICE shooting of Renée Good in Minneapolis. An even larger surge occurred between April 5 and 11, when traffic jumped 125 percent week-over-week and 233 percent year-over-year as geopolitical tensions escalated surrounding the war in Iran and President Trump warned on Truth Social that "a whole civilization will die tonight." Additional spikes were recorded in late April and mid-May, correlating with periods of intense U.S. political and economic uncertainty.

This pattern mirrors behavior observed during the 2024 U.S. presidential election cycle, according to Royal LePage President Phil Soper, who noted that Americans historically revisit relocation plans during periods of domestic turbulence. However, this time the interest coincides with a significant legal change: Bill C-3, which took effect December 2025, expanded citizenship by descent rights to children born outside Canada to Canadian parents also born abroad. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada received over 12,000 citizenship applications under this provision between mid-December 2025 and January 31, 2026, with Americans filing nearly 2,500 applications in January alone. By March 31, 2026, nearly half of the 4,075 citizenship grants went to Americans tracing Canadian ancestry.