More and more foreigners are purchasing real estate in the U.S. due to a six-year drop in housing prices along with rising value of some foreign currencies, according to a survey released Monday.
For the past year ending March 2012, real estate in the U.S. has been sold to international buyers for $82.4 billion, up from $66.4 billion in 2011, according to the National Association of Realtors.
That was up by 24 percent from the $66.4 billion spent in the same period that ended March 2011 and accounted for nearly 8.9 percent of the $928 billion spent on residential real estate during that span.
"Today's advantageous market conditions have drawn more and more foreign buyers to the U.S. in recent years, signaling how desirable and profitable owning property in this country can be," said NAR President Moe Veissi, broker-owner of Veissi & Associates, Inc. in Miami, Fla.”
“Low housing prices, a good inventory condition and increased buying power with today's exchange rates help attract international clients. Foreign buyers also have the advantage of working with a Realtor,” he added.
The survey showed that around 55 percent of all buyers came from five countries: Canada, China, Mexico, India and the United Kingdom. Canadians accounted for nearly one quarter of all foreign sales.
Around half of foreign buyers are recent immigrants or temporary visa holders, while the remainder have permanent residences outside of the U.S. and spend fewer than six months each year in the U.S.
Five states, meanwhile, accounted for foreign buyers around 55 percent of all foreign buyers' sales: Florida, California, Texas, Arizona and New York.
Few markets are benefitting from the influx of foreign money as much as hard-hit Florida, where South Americans, Canadians and Europeans have resuscitated entire luxury developments that were practically abandoned when the housing bubble popped five years ago.