International Sales Lift South Florida Real Estate Market- November, 2011

South Florida is already the nation’s epicenter for residential real estate sales to foreign buyers, and experts said Monday that they expect those international sales to be even stronger in 2012.

“You have a unique opportunity for the next few years,” reported Moe Veissi, the president-elect of the National Association of Realtors®, “You are at the juxtaposition of the best global real estate market we’ve ever seen in this country.”

In 2007 and 2008, California led the nation in international sales, but Florida pulled ahead in 2009 and has been at the front of the pack ever since, accounting for nearly one-third of international transactions in 2011. Global buyers now account for $82 billion of residential purchases in the United States.

International buyers, especially from South America, see “real value” in South Florida real estate. Foreign buyers largely pay cash and also purchase higher-priced real estate. Condos continue to be foreign buyers’ residence of choice with condominium sales accounting for more than 70 percent of purchases.

The new survey also indicates that buyers from markets that weren’t a blip on the screen a few years ago are prospecting for South Florida properties. The survey reveals, for example, that buyers from India and China now each account for about 1 percent of international sales in the local market.