Record-low interest rates and high foreign demand aside, Donald Trump may be another factor driving Canadian home prices higher.

In its quarterly housing price survey released early Thursday morning, Royal LePage cited the bombastic billionaire’s rise to the forefront of the Republican nomination race for United States president as a positive for Canada’s brand. Royal LePage CEO Phil Soper credited the “economic miracle that is contemporary Canada” to the country’s ability to attract and retain immigrants.

“While this is not new news, the possibility of a Donald Trump presidency has put renewed global focus on the often stark differences in opportunity and attitude that exist on either side of our huge border,” Soper was quoted as saying in the 12 ^th paragraph of the survey release. “In what started as a media prank, Canada’s attractiveness as a more realistic place to pursue life, liberty and happiness is gaining traction even in America.”

The so-called “pranks” began in earnest last month following Trump’s victories in the primaries of several U.S. states. Rob Calabrese, a radio DJ in Nova Scotia, created the “Cape Breton if Donald Trump Wins” website that jokingly told Americans “if you decide to get the hell out of there, might I suggest moving to Cape Breton Island!”

The joke quickly faded as visits to the Destination Cape Breton website, which features links to local tourism and real estate pages, surpassed 450,000 during the period from Feb 15 ^th to March 4 ^th . The website garnered less than 10,000 views during the same period last year

Royal LePage found the average Canadian home price climbed nearly eight per cent to more than $512,000 in the first quarter; with two-story homes registering a year-over-year increase of more than nine per cent to an average of $629,000. However, the survey warned of “extreme regional disparities” as prices continued to grow dramatically in the hottest markets of Vancouver and Toronto, while markets hit hardest by the mass layoffs from the crash in crude oil prices – Alberta and Newfoundland in particular – experienced broad price declines.

Unlike the situation in the early part of the decade and during the mid-2000s when a booming energy sector led to huge inflows of interprovincial migrants into Alberta, Royal LePage found the trend had reversed; with British Columbia and Ontario becoming the main recipients of families unable to find work in the oil and gas-producing regions. The redistribution of labour is “further reinforcing” those extreme disparities among Canada’s housing markets, Soper said.

He also argued those looking to move to North America from elsewhere have an increased incentive to choose Canada over the United States due to the perception of rising xenophobic sentiment south of the border. The Trump campaign has recently fanned the flames of that sentiment.

Trump has placed significant focus on his anti-immigrant proposals, including a ban on all Muslims even traveling to the United States and the forced removal of all undocumented immigrants in the country. The latter proposal – deporting some 11 million American residents – would amount to the largest forced migration in human history.

Soper said responses like the move-to-Cape-Breton campaign, as well as a widely reported 350 per cent spike in American searches on Google for “how can I move to Canada” in the 24-hour period immediately following Super Tuesday, “reinforces the worldwide strength of brand-Canada as a prosperous and tolerant place to raise a family