Agents around the country are seeing renewed activity by international buyers, the Associated Press reports. The weak dollar and the perception of the U.S. as a depressed but relatively secure market are fueling the trend, which agents have been reporting anecdotally for several months.
"They want to buy," Cynthia Crowley, an agent with Olshan Realty in New York, told the Associated Press. "This is not tire kicking."
The reports are a sharp contrast to the National Association of Realtors survey of international buying activity released two months ago, which showed a drop in activity. The number of agents who dealt with an international client slid from 26 percent in 2008 to 23 percent in 2009, the survey found.
But the survey covered May of 2008 to May 2009, including a period when property activity around the world basically stopped.
The new report offers no numbers, but it details purchasing activity in Miami, New York and Arizona, top markets for international business. A similar story a few weeks ago chronicled activity in New York, where agents report Russian buyers have returned after a hiatus.
Comments
Couple weeks ago, I participate in a Thanksgiving Pot Luck with my broker and associates in our office and my broker and I had an "after meal" conversation about an article that I found in this site about the next new wave of buyers coming from the chinese Dragon. The following day I received a call from Beijing, a man who is about retiring from one of the 50 top chinese state-foreign investors company wants to purchase a single home in Fort Lauderdale. He requested also beside my Real Estate services, an attorney to hold in a trust account the transfer of funds for the purchase in USA. I am amazed that this type of customer even from China knows alrready very well what they want and how to deal with it. Today, after two weeks of the first contact over the phone, his funds have cleared and I am waiting for him to land in town and start to show him the properties he have selected alrready to view. After all, I can say that the "next giant wave of chinese buyers" is definetely a fact.
Angel Calzadilla
Prudential Florida Realty
6175 Bayview Dr.
Fort Lauderdale, FL. 33308
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