NEWSMAX: Real-estate values in the U.S. that are a third off their peaks along with a weaker dollar are prompting Asians, Europeans, Latin Americans, and other foreigners to go on a property buying spree in America.
International buyers accounted for $82.5 billion, or 8.9 percent, of the total $928 billion spent on residential real estate in the 12 months ended in March, according to a survey released Monday by the National Association of Realtors. It was up 24 percent from $66.4 billion in the previous year period, the survey said. The survey found that 62 percent of international buyers paid in cash, The Wall Street Journal reported.
“There’s this international view that America is on sale,” said Eric Workman, vice president of sales and marketing for Mack Companies, a Chicago-based company that buys foreclosed homes and manages them as rentals for other investors, the Journal said. Around 20 percent of the 102 properties he has sold this year have gone to foreign buyers, he said… (more)
