Mark Hintz began flying the Canadian flag outside of his Florida home in January, after U.S. president-elect Donald Trump ratcheted up his talk about annexing Canada. The flag must have offended someone in Mr. Hintz’s gated community, because he received an unpleasant letter from his homeowners’ association telling him to take it down in three days or face fines of US$25 a day.

Mr. Hintz, a 56-year-old dual citizen who has lived in the United States with his 78-year-old mother for the past 12 years, was incensed. It affirmed that leaving his prim neighbourhood near Sarasota, Fla., and heading back to the Toronto area was the right move. He feels the U.S. political situation has got untenable in recent years.

“I was born here and I always thought of myself as an American before a Canadian, and that’s kind of flip-flopped in the last few years. I don’t think I can understate just how disappointed and upset we are with what’s unfolded, we just don’t want to be part of it,” said Mr. Hintz, who is angry with the Trump administration’s rhetoric about Canada.

“Sarasota is a real hotbed for the MAGA movement and it’s pretty disconcerting when you see the guys in pickup trucks with big Trump flags,” he said.

Mr. Hintz is part of a wave of Canadians who are selling their homes in Florida. Many live in gated communities or condos like Mr. Hintz’s: pleasant suburban residences with perfect lawns and retirement-aged neighbours who smile and wave while they jog by. But the weakening Canadian dollar has inflicted financial pain, and rhetoric from Mr. Trump about annexing Canada and his trade war has made it clear that it’s time to leave Florida.

In the past two months, some Florida realtors say they’ve been inundated with Canadian sellers who are hoping to offload their properties as quickly as possible. The timing is hardly ideal: Previously competitive real estate markets such as Clearwater, Naples and Sarasota are all facing a glut of properties after the region was hit hard by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton last autumn, which led to an unaffordable spike in insurance and condo fees

Canadians were already turning away from U.S. real estate in the lead-up to the U.S. election last November. Canadians made up nearly one-quarter of foreign sellers in the U.S. from April, 2023, to March, 2024, up from 11 per cent in the same period a year earlier, according to the National Association of Realtors. Data from the association also show that Canadians purchased 36 per cent fewer properties across America in 2024 than in 2022, dropping from 11,000 sales to 7,000.

Alexandra DuPont, broker at DuPont International Realty in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and a dual citizen who specializes in working with Canadians, said she may have worked with 10 Canadian sellers in a busy year before. She’s currently working with about 35.

“I’ve never had a season like this,” said Ms. DuPont.

Ms. DuPont says conversations among her clients have changed from revolving around the dollar to political views in the past few weeks.

“They’re very expressive of their political views. I’ve had clients tell me they feel like they’re being hypocrites if they were to come back to Florida and there’s some sense of shame or guilt about returning,” she said.

Mr. Hintz says his home, which he lives in with his mother, has lost roughly US$100,000 in value in the past couple of years, and they only expect to break even when it sells. It has already been on the market for more than two months.

It’s a bad outcome for a property that represented his mother’s investments and his eventual inheritance, he said. The two of them will have to downsize from their detached three-bedroom home in Florida to a smaller condo in Toronto’s expensive real estate market. Mr. Hintz, who is semi-retired, also said he’ll likely have to return to full-time work because of the move.

The losses aren’t just financial, however.

Gordon and Susan Horne loved their snowbird lifestyle in their gated community in Naples, Fla., and they say it will be hard to give up living near their son and Ms. Horne’s sister nearby. Their upscale community on a sought-after private golf course is lined with palm trees, lush greenery and beautiful homes. Their backyard looks out into green space and a golf cart sits in their garage, ready for the short ride to tee off.

In recent years, the weakening Canadian dollar was the first factor that led them to reconsider living in Florida, which has been their winter home for 11 years. But they say the fabric of their community has changed since Mr. Trump became President, and things have only gotten worse since his re-election.

First, Mr. Horne’s golf group of roughly 12 Americans went from occasionally talking about politics sometimes to talking about Mr. Trump non-stop. He switched to a golf group with mostly Canadians, but he and his wife still feel unwelcome in Florida.

“The atmosphere is very much different than when we first got here. The 51st state thing comes up and they say, ‘Oh we’re just kidding,’ and I say that’s not kidding, that’s being very rude and we’re very upset,” said Ms. Horne, who said they sold their house right after Mr. Trump was inaugurated again in January.

Their sale closes in April, and in the meantime, they have been laying low, trying to spend as little as possible in America before coming home.

“Unless things drastically change, we will never come back here,” said Ms. Horne.

The couple, who live in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., said they sold at a good price because they listed in autumn, before the current oversupply of homes for sale began in winter. But similar condos in their gated community are now struggling to sell, even though a purchase comes with membership in an exclusive golf course that has a five-year waiting list.

Some Floridians are feeling a sense of loss, too. Ryan Nowlin, a realtor with Remax Action First in Clearwater, Fla., said he went from dealing with zero Canadian sellers last year to having roughly eight in the past month. Every single one of his current clients is Canadian except for one.

Some of them are his friends and it’s tough to see them go.

“It’s just kind of sad when you make this relationship, whether it’s a short relationship or not. Everyone’s really nice, and you realize this is it. It’s the last time I will see them,” said Mr. Nowlin.

“If it wasn’t for the politics and the situation that’s going with the dollar and the tariffs, I think they’d be happy sticking around.”

The rise in condo fees is an undeniable factor for Canadians selling. Mr. Nowlin says fees have increased from US$300 to US$500 a month for units in one popular building. That’s more than $700 a month for a condo that most residents only live in for a portion of the year.

One of his friends who sold their condo is Laurie Fisher, a 70-year-old Canadian who has been visiting Florida regularly since he was five years old. In 2005, Mr. Fisher purchased a home in a 55-plus community where he’s spent his winters ever since.

He speaks about the home fondly: Parks and tennis courts are within walking distance, and he’s able to watch the Toronto Blue Jays play their spring training home games in nearby Dunedin, Fla.

Mr. Fisher’s primary motive was financial: Maintaining the condo was costing him and his wife around $20,000 to $25,000 a year after conversion from U.S. dollars. A major expense has been rising condo fees and insurance in the wake of the two recent hurricanes.

But like other Canadians, he says the community in his part of Florida doesn’t feel like it used to.

“The divisiveness is strong locally here. Nobody seems to be happy any more and now there’s just a lot of complaining,” said Mr. Fisher, who said it’ll be hard to leave behind decades of memories and friendships.

“Although I will be sad, deep down my wife and I have made the right decision.”