More Foreign Buyers Of U.S. Properties

November 25, 2007

More foreign buyers are actively interested in acquiring properties in the U.S. - commercial and residential properties. With the dollar at historic lows against the euro and other currencies, real estate agents, appraisers and developers say overseas buyers are stepping up their purchases in the U.S.

Some are buying vacation homes in Florida, California and Colorado that would previously have been considered out of reach. Others are gambling that properties purchased now will translate into profitable investments down the road, when both the dollar and the U.S. housing market eventually rebound.

Some brokers are aggressively marketing to such potential customers, translating brochures into Russian, buying ads in Irish newspapers and hitting the road — pitching new condos to prospects in foreign countries. Corcoran Group in New York has started a specialty international diivision, and Engel & Völkers, based in Germany, started opening franchises in the U.S. earlier this year. There are now 12 in Florida and one each in Greenwich (CT) and Southampton (NY). About 40 percent of the company’s U.S. business comes from overseas, according to managing partner Timo Khammash. Foreign businesses bought $11.3 billion of U.S. real estate last year, up 45 percent from a year earlier, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. While those numbers refer mostly to commercial and industrial properties, experts say they suggest increased interest in the residential market, too.

Posted in All Things San Diego, Lending, Local Business, Real Estate, Things of Interest