Real estate agents see return of foreign buyers

“They want to buy,” said Crowley, an agent with Olshan Realty in New York. “This is not tire kicking.”

Foreign investors love floor-level prices and the limp dollar but also are confident in a long-term recovery of the U.S. economy and the housing market's resurgence. Some want vacation homes, while others are looking for rental income.

Buyers from Canada, India, the Middle East, Mexico, and Venezuela like Houston's neighborhoods and its economy, which benefits from strong oil and health care industries.

“They also like to gravitate to where they have friends or family,” said Bill Gottfried, managing director of Gottfried International Estates.

Foreign investors often pay cash, or offer down payments of 40 percent or more, because financing is difficult to get. Nearly half paid cash in the 12-month period ending in May, the Realtors group reports.

Florida leads the U.S. in the amount of international buyers, accounting for nearly a quarter of foreign purchases. The Sunshine State was followed by three gateway states with warm climates — California, Texas, and Arizona.

Miami home prices are down by half from the peak period of late 2006 due to foreclosure sales and a glut of unsold units. With the dollar hitting a 15-month low this week against the euro, the bargains are enticing. Investors are buying single-family homes or condos for two-thirds the cost three years ago.

Peter Zalewski, a Miami-based real estate agent, said at least seven bulk deals involving foreign condo buyers have taken place in downtown Miami alone, with investors coming from Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Italy, Norway, and Venezuela. Similar deals also have taken place in Florida's heavily-populated Broward County and ritzy Palm Beach County.

Claudia Bacelar, an Esslinger Wooten Maxwell real estate agent, has seen more South Florida inquiries from Brazilian, Canadian and British buyers of second homes, many of whom gravitate to condos with great views in the US$800,000 range. And they pay cash.

Argentina native Marco Bordoni bought a US$860,000 house on a deepwater canal in the Golden Isles neighborhood last month. An importer-exporter of perfumes, he plans to spend half his time in South Florida on business.

Bordoni is spending US$450,000 to remodel the house, which was valued at US$1.2 million four years ago, said his agent, Scott Patterson.

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