Buyers from outside of the United States are taking advantage of the overall affordability of real estate in today’s market. The number of foreigners purchasing homes at discounted prices has been rising significantly, according to a report based on statistics from the National Association of Realtors.

Many investors globally are looking for a safe haven for their money in this time of economic uncertainty. While real estate prices have dropped significantly in recent years, international buyers are clearly sensing that the U.S. real estate market is bottoming out and the buying homes will protect their assets long-term. While some of these home buyers have found ways to finance homes at the historically-low interest rates offered by U.S. banks, many are cash investors who move quickly to close transactions.

According to to N.A.R., the top three states in which foreign investors buy U.S. real estate are Florida, California, and Texas. From the article:

“1. Florida: Thirty-one percent of all home purchases in that state are made by foreign buyers, with most coming from Cuba, Haiti, and Colombia.

2. California: 12 percent of all home purchases (most coming from Mexico, the Philippines, China, India, and Vietnam)

3. Texas: 9 percent of all home purchases (most coming from Mexico, India, Vietnam, China, and the Philippines)

4. Arizona: 6 percent of all home purchases (most coming from Mexico, Iraq and India)”

It might surprise some to note that Mexico was the source of the most international investors purchasing homes in the U.S. While much media attention is placed on money coming from China for foreign investments, Chinese buyers were not nearly the largest source of purchases in these southern U.S. states.

Much of this has to do with property location, of course. States in the North have a higher instance of Canadian purchasers, but surprisingly, there are very few Canadian purchases in these four most-popular states. We tend to see a higher rate of Canadian and Chinese buyers in the Northwest with Hong Kong’s strong influence in Vancover, British Columbia and the surrounding areas.

Source: blog.seattlepi.com