Transcription
Another Florida report. They always seem to be in the spotlight these days, along with Vermont. But every time the media reports on them, they leave out one key factor: international tourists. It's almost like the US media wants to keep their citizens in the dark.
Today, I have a report sent by one of our viewers covering multiple restaurant closures in Florida. And I'll also share an update from our favorite Florida TikTok creator. Before we jump in, today's backdrop comes from Nick, who sent this video from Victoria. I think I've been here a long time ago when I was in elementary school. It looks familiar. So, thanks again, Nick, for sending this in.
And speaking of that, I've been getting a ton of emails lately from viewers sending their photos. Honestly, I get more emails to my "Guard the Leaf" email than I do with my work and personal combined. So, if I haven't replied to you, I just want to say thank you, and it's very much appreciated.
All right, before we get into the restaurant closures, I want to go back 4 months to see how the Florida situation was being reported back then. Well, two for sale signs south of the border now in what is increasingly becoming a trend amid growing political tensions and economic uncertainty. Some Canadian snowbirds are packing up and saying goodbye to their US homes for good. CTV's Caitlyn Wilson joins us live now with more on this. Caitlyn, Patricia Mike Dunlop and his wife are longtime snowbirds and among a growing number of Canadians choosing to leave the United States behind. And they aren't alone. Real estate agents say they're also seeing an uptick in listings as Canadians look for new places to spend the winter. Right about right there. Right here. Yeah.
This Canadian flag isn't just a symbol of home for Mike Dunlop and his wife. It's a message to the one they leave behind. They don't understand the visceral impact, the punch in the stomach, um, Canadians feel. Now, as a reminder, this is a report from CTV from about 4 months ago. When I watched it, I also looked through the comments, and I have to say, I was pretty disgusted by the MAGA replies I saw on there. I'll leave a link in the description below so you can read them yourself, but I will show some of the comments at the end of this report. But reading them really opened my eyes to what a lot of Floridians actually think about us here in Canada. And yeah, it is a bit of a gut punch.
For years, these snowbirds escaped the winter at their Florida home in Cape Canaveral. But with a weakening Canadian dollar and President Donald Trump's escalating trade war, they're packing up for good. "We didn't think things would get any worse." "There are some people who say, 'We're very sorry and we apologize.'" And at the other extreme, there are a small number, but too many who say, "You deserve what you're getting." So, they decided to list their townhouse 3 weeks ago, and they aren't alone. This Florida realtor says she's juggling twice her typical workload, especially in 2025. "A lot of Canadians are selling. This is definitely the busiest I've ever been. I've never had this many listings. Typically on the high season, I would have maybe 10 to 12 clients, which means like listings. Uh, right now, I'm definitely up in my 30-some."
The Dunlops are among an estimated 1 million Canadians who flock south for the winter, fueling the US housing market, with Canadians topping the list of foreign buyers in 2024, snapping up 13% of homes, mostly in Arizona and Florida, according to the National Association of Realtors. An estimated 1 million Canadians head south as snowbirds, own property, and pump money into the US economy. But I really wonder how many of those Canadians have actually stopped going. How many have sold their properties? And how many of them will never set foot in the US again? Yet Trump still claims he doesn't need anything from Canada. Right. I think right now the biggest question is what's going to happen next season. Snowbird adviser says while many Canadians still traveled south and stayed for the winter, a perfect storm of politics, economics, and new rules requiring Canadians to register if they stay in the US for more than 30 days could have lasting impacts. "What we're seeing on our side is there is still strong interest in snowbirds looking to go to the US next winter, but there's also strong interest in snowbirds looking at alternate destinations."
As for the Dunlops, they're just happy to be home after saying goodbye to their American friends. "It was very sad because those people weren't saying goodbye to snowbirds who'll be back next year. They were saying goodbye because we probably won't see them again in our lives." And DuPont says there is a surplus of inventory at the moment, meaning homes in Florida are taking much longer to sell, averaging four to 5 months.
Now, the comments you're seeing right now, I came across in the CTV report, and it looks like they're all from Florida residents. Do these comments look welcoming? Do they even sound a little appreciative that Canadian snowbirds help feed their economy? Yeah, not at all. And it just shows how short-sighted the MAGA supporters really are. It makes me have almost zero sympathy for what's happening in their state right now. Now, keep that surplus statement in mind because I have a clip coming up that shows what's happening today in August 2025.
So, bringing it back to present day, let's take a look at Florida's FFO moment and how it's hitting the restaurant industry. Turning now to the impact of inflation, many business owners are dealing with rising costs and some are being forced to close as a result. One restaurant in Miami is now shutting its doors after serving its community for 20 years. Local 10's Bridget Matter is live in Miami with reaction coming from that business. And Bridget, what did they have to say? Sella. Well, we spoke to several business owners today and they say inflation, overhead costs are up for them, making things harder. The corner that I'm standing in right now, there's three restaurants. One is closed, another is closing, and the one behind me says they are slow this summer. Zero mention at all about lack of tourists. It's only being blamed on inflation and rising costs. But I guess at this point, we shouldn't really be surprised.
Scorching temperatures and hurricane season thin out crowds in South Florida for summer, but many restaurants are feeling the heat. Andyama Brick Oven Pizza, serving pies for 25 years. "Why don't you try the first one and then you can do a little side of hot honey." Yeah. Sits at 5600 Biscayne Boulevard, housed in a historic building from the 1950s. Customers are coming in for a final slice. "We'll see you in about 25 minutes. Thank you. Bye." Andyammo in their last days of business. Owners Sasha and Daniel Soya say it's bittersweet. "And we have people who come, 'Oh, I heard you guys were closing. I I drove all the way down from Dania or from Delray or wherever.'" The brother-sister duo know the restaurant business well. Their father Mark Soya was a pioneer in the Miami restaurant scape. The family says times have changed. "I'm excited for if we do something in the future. You know, um, a lot of people ask if we would sell and then, you know, the recipes or anything. We would never." Several factors went into their decision. Overhead and inflation played a part. And says they're doing things week by week. They'll likely close at the end of September.
Right across the street, it's Flora Plant Kitchen. Their owners say this summer is slower than last. Flora Plant Kitchen is a plant-based concept with a Latin twist. It opened in Miami's Mimo neighborhood in 2023. "It's been really tough this summer. Like uh sales are decreased probably like 40% of of the regular uh sales that we had back in April or May." So you're telling me that this one street alone with all these restaurants closing, the lack of tourists has nothing to do with the loss of revenue? Come on. Wouldn't thousands of tourists visiting your state have made a difference in how many customers walked into your restaurant? This is exactly the domino effect I've been talking about for a while, and we're starting to see more pieces fall, even if the store owners and the US media doesn't recognize it. Owner Sebastian ooa says they've stopped serving dinner in summer to help with costs and survive the slow months but think things will pick up soon. Their neighbors Chica closed down after 6 years in business. The iconic Asteria Deletro in North Bay Village said goodbye after 40 years. Their space is occupied already by a new restaurant in Miami Beach. Lucky Cap by Gordon Ramsay announced on social media they're taking a seasonal pause after 20 years. The Miami Beach Italian spot Sardinia shut down too. Insinata off Biscayne Boulevard, open for less than a year, posted to Instagram they're closing forever. Ayama's owners have a final message to their customers. "Just make sure you go support like your favorite local Miami restaurants because it's really important." Ayamo Pizza's owners said that they did look elsewhere to potentially open up another restaurant. They say that in the future they will consider that, but it will be a much smaller concept.
Okay, I honestly lost track of how many restaurants they said closed down, but I can bet that if tourists were still coming, things wouldn't be in this bad of a position. Then again, you can probably assume that some of these restaurant owners voted for the situation that they're stuck in now. And if you're wondering whether the hotels and tourists are actually gone, well, Greg the Uber driver will show you later in his video. But before that, I want to touch again on Florida's housing situation. I'm only showing you a short clip from this Florida YouTuber. Most of his video deflects a key part in the real reason as well, but the part I share does show how serious the Florida housing crisis really is.
"Folks, today I'm going to take you through a home building site in Florida so you can see just how crazy this Florida housing market downturn is getting. These builders continue to build homes in Florida as home prices are collapsing. This has the potential to be as bad as 2008-2009 if these trends continue. So right now I'm in a LAR home building community and you can see there's just dozens and dozens of homes that are about to be completed and these builders are doing big price cuts. There's some houses here in this community that are as cheap now as $250,000. And it's amazing how these builders just keep building into this downturn because across the state of Florida, home values are now down 3 and a half percent over the last year. But here in this area where I am, uh, in Manatee County, they're down by 6% in the last year. And they're just going to keep dropping, folks. These home prices in Florida, a lot of people think this is some type of mini correction that's just going to solve itself in a couple months or a couple quarters. No, no, that's not that's not what's happening. You"
Well, credit where it's due. At least this guy's not trying to hide that there's a serious problem in Florida. And it could be just as bad, if not worse, than what happened in 2008. You could see here these builders, they're just going to deliver even more homes, even more supply into this downturn, which is going to push prices down even more. And this is a mistake I see a lot of people, uh, in Florida, uh, say. I see it in the comment sections to my videos. They say, "Nick, there's no downturn. I see the builders building everywhere. That means there's a boom." That was true a couple years ago. Everyone, when a lot of people were moving to Florida, but now the inbound migration to Florida has dropped by 80%. So there's 80% fewer people moving to Florida today in 2025 compared to 3 years ago at the peak of the pandemic. And so when you see these builders building now, all it's going to mean is just even more unsold homes on the market, even more inventory on the market to push prices down into the future. And of course, one of the main reasons why people have stopped moving to Florida is because it became too expensive. The prices boomed about 50 or 60% over 3 years during the pandemic. And so now what you're seeing is these brand new homes from these builders, you know, as cheap as $250,000 on the townhome. Some of these um
Okay, I'm going to stop here because from this point on, he just keeps talking about the economy, rising costs, materials, and so on. We don't really need to hear that. But if you do want to watch the full video, the link will be in my description. The reason why I wanted to show this clip is because it's another domino falling, and that domino was started by Donald Trump. Sure, their HOA fees are high. Hurricanes and insurance costs are brutal as well. I'm not disputing any of that. But the lack of tourism and the loss of foreign investment plays a huge role as well, and that's something Florida never acknowledges. So, my final words on this topic is simple. Good luck to you guys.
Now, let's move on to Greg the Uber driver's video where he shows us what a Florida hotel actually looks like at the end of August. "Florida, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I'm outside the Embassy Suites Hotel, a 361-room hotel here in Fort Lauderdale on the 17th Street Causeway. I'm going to test our boycott right now and see what the impact looks like inside the hotel. I've not been through here doing this since the last boycott two years ago. We're going to walk through. We're going to see how empty or full the hotel is. The reports are hotels are way, way, way off. It's in August. It's slower, but it shouldn't be empty. It's 361 rooms. Let's walk through and see what we see. Here we go. I'm walking from the outside to the inside, and we'll see what we see once we get in. That one." [Music] [Music] [Music] "I'll be honest, if it weren't for the few people at the front desk and the handful sitting at the tables, I would have assumed that this hotel was closed." [Music] "That's not good. That. Yeah. Yeah." [Music] "Wow. Even the restaurant and bar at this hotel is dead. Imagine how many Canadians and international tourists would normally be there filling the seats, ordering food and drinks, and booking the rooms upstairs. I'm actually honestly curious to see how many rooms are even occupied right now."
So, what's my takeaway from this Florida video? They're starting to feel the pain, and the next domino is falling. But once again, they're deflecting the real reasons why. This last clip from Greg is a real eye-opener. The empty hotel room showed two things. First, domestic tourism isn't enough to replace international visitors. And second, the average American citizen these days can't even afford to go on vacation because they're too worried about paying their groceries. It also highlights the outside revenue that the US is missing and how deep the impact really goes. So, no matter what you hear from US media or even our Canadian outlets, yeah, I'm looking at UCV, the on-the-ground evidence is always going to tell the real story.
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