Below is a summary of an article by Tom Kelly published in Inman News on Jauary 23, 2008.
According to the National Association of Realtors, 65 percent of Florida Realtors had at least one international customer, and the trade group's "Profile of International Home Buying Activity" indicated that at least 7 percent of home sales in Florida were to foreign purchasers.
The cash group (28 percent) was much greater than that of the general U.S. home buyer population (8 percent).
- The typical international buyer purchased a single-family home or townhouse.
While the top three state destinations for foreign home buyers in the NAR study were Florida, California and Texas, significant overseas buyers surfaced in all areas of the country. The median price foreign buyers paid for a home was $299,500 in 2006 -- significantly greater than the national median sales price of $221,900. More than 20 percent of international buyers purchased a home that cost between $200,001 and $300,000. Fourteen percent of foreign home buyers paid more than $750,000 for their U.S. property, according to the NAR study.
Buyers from Canada were more likely to have purchased homes priced over $1 million. The median price of homes purchased by Indian buyers -- $292,000 -- was closest to the overall median price paid by all foreign home buyers.
Hi June - For Realtors who are tapping into the market for foreign buyers, there must be compelling reason to convince the foreign buyers that the timing is right and they are not jumping in too early. It is difficult to know whether the market has reach bottom, but there are statistics that can be tracked to watch the market activities and pricing trends.
The local Realtors will be able to know the price support level when house prices stop dropping. The rebound in house prices is not likely to happen too soon as the US economy has to go through a period of re-adjustment to more stringent lending for home loans.
There will be US lenders filling the needs for home financing required by foreign buyers. In Canada, most Canadian Banks are able to consider financing foreigners' home purchases not exceeding 65% loan-to-value.
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