Investors from abroad are a huge factor in the slow recovery of the U.S. housing market. The National Association of Realtors has published new numbers on Monday, the 20th of June, 2011 stating that in the 12 months between March 2010 and March 2011 international buyers initiated real estate sales for $82 billion. In the same time-frame a year earlier sales initiated by international buyers had a $66 billion price tag on them. Investors are mostly coming from the UK, Germany, Canada and Australia; however, also many investors from Asia develop a taste for American real estate.
International buyers benefit from a huge inventory, prices that are 30-40% lower than in their home country, and they take advantage of a “weak” US$ which takes another 20-25% off. Investors are mostly interested in cities in California, Arizona, Texas, and of course Florida.
10 of the cities that made the “most interesting for foreign investors” list are located in Florida; out of those 10 cities Cape Coral is number 1. Cape Coral comes before cities like Miami and Ft. Lauderdale which might be because of the the pristine beauty of the West coast, the many canals that make Cape Coral the Venice of Florida, and of course the affordable prices for homes in this young and ever growing city.
