when you Come to think about with average american living in poverty banks laugh at them they cannot even borrow 10 bucks let alone qualify for a mortage so who is buying US property surely not americans right ???
Russian billionaires have been making headlines for snapping up some of the most opulent homes in the United States.
Yuri Milner ‘
overpaid’ by 100% on a $100 million Silicon Valley mansion in 2011.
Dmitry Rybolovlev‘s
daughter b
ought an $88 million penthousein New York City (after spending $100 million on
Donald Trump‘s Palm Beach palace in 200
. This week, an anonymous Russian buyer plunked down $47 million
in Miami’s most expensive sale ever.
But Russians certainly aren’t the only foreigners plowing money into American real estate. “The reason the Russians get so much attention is that they buy the highest ticket trophy properties,” says Jacky Teplitzky, a managing director at
Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate, who peddles property in New York City and South Florida. “But if you go by number of buyers, you have much more activity coming from places like Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela.”
To name a few. Since the housing bust, foreign buyers have flooded the U
.S. housing market, taking advantage of favorable exchange rates, weaker prices and, in some cases, record-low mortgage rates. Foreign nationals accounted for $82.5 billion, or 8.9%, of the $928 billion spent on U.S. residential real estate from April 2011 through March 2012,
according a June survey from the National Association of Realtors. That was up 24% from $66.4 billion the previous year. More than 50% of sales over the past year occurred in just five states: Florida, California, Texas, Arizona and New York.
Chinese are also shopping in the U.S. in growing numbers. Buyers from mainland China and Hong Kong account for over $7 billion in sales annually, or 11% of international sales activity in the year to March, according to NAR, making them the second-largest foreign buyers of U.S. homes. The influx of newly minted millionaires has inspired developers to reserve units on floors with the number ‘eight’ in new condo projects — like Manhattan’s One57 — for Chinese buyers (Chinese consider eight to be a lucky number), and real estate brokers are embarking on overseas marketing trips that have resulted in big-ticket purchases like Beverly Hills’ $34.5 million
Wehba Mansion.
If the Chinese are the second-largest foreign buyers of U.S. homes, who’s No. 1? Our neighbors to the north in Canada. Canadians accounted for 24% of sales to foreigners in the year to March, according to NAR. And it’s not likely to let up:
Realtor.com says Canadians account for the most international search activity on the listing site every month in nearly all of major U.S. metro areas.
Canadians have been a dominant purchasing force in hard-hit Sunbelt states like Arizona and Florida. A relatively weak greenback coupled with low home prices represents an opportunity to scoop up a home that could be used for vacations now and retirement later.
Canadians have also been buying in the Midwest, including Chicago. “Close proximity to Canada makes it an easy place for Canadians to invest money,” says Bob Krawitz of
RE/MAX Signature in Chicago. He says interest runs along all price points, from distressed properties that can be fixed up and rented out to seven-figure mansions along Lakeshore Drive.
Brazilians are getting attention for their buying sprees in markets like Miami and increasingly, New York City, but Argentineans have been just as active. “The foreign buyer story should be as much about Argentineans as Brazilians,” asserts Philip Spiegelman, a principal at
International Sales Group, a marketing and sales organization for real estate developers. “The market in downtown Miami has been principally dominated by Argentineans, then Brazilians, then Venezuelans.”
Increasing numbers of Venezuelans are pouring money into American real estate, seeking a safe haven for their wealth from political and financial uncertainty back home. Teplitzky says many of her South American clients, who also include Colombians and Argentineans, seek out rental units, especially in Miami. “The new landlords in Florida are South Americans and their tenants are Americans,” she adds.
Spiegelman says Europeans, particularly French, have been buying more in southern Florida in recent months as well. “The real attraction here is cheap, cheap, cheap waterfront real estate: these buyers look at this and think it will never be as cheap again.