Foreign purchases of U.S. residential real estate surged to the highest level ever in terms of number of homes sold and dollar volume.
Foreign buyers closed on $153 billion worth of U.S. residential properties between April 2016 and March 2017, a 49 percent jump from the period a year earlier, according to the National Association of Realtors. That surpasses the previous high, set in 2015.
The jump follows a year-earlier retreat and comes as a surprise, given the current strength of the U.S. dollar against most foreign currencies, which makes U.S. housing even more expensive. Apparently, the value of a financial safe-haven is outweighing the rising costs.
Foreign sales accounted for 10 percent of all existing home sales by dollar volume and 5 percent by number of properties. In total, foreign buyers purchased 284,455 homes, up 32 percent from the previous year.
Half of all foreign sales were in just three states: Florida, California and Texas.
Chinese buyers led the pack for the fourth straight year, followed by buyers from Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico and India. Russian buyers made up barely 1 percent of the purchases.
Read full article here:
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/18/foreigners-snap-up-record-number-of-us-homes.html
What happened to Canada….Eh?
Trump’s new budget for HUD is likely gonna have an effect on new construction for “affordable housing” in a lot of ways. There will be less of it, while more people with less money pour into Cali. I’m thinking maybe a Mad Max style of living out in the hot desert scrub areas will take hold.
Meanwhile, rents are a bit parabolic at the moment.
I could be wrong, but I think we may have lost our national identity when we weren’t looking. I don’t expect to see it back in my lifetime. National identity might be a good thing. Who knows?
All I know is, when I see some kid in a stroller at Costco, looking up at me with a satisfied little smile, as if someone told him there’s a surprise party’s gonna be thrown for him… I just can’t help but feel sorry for the little guy.
Canadian buyers = Chinese buyers. Wait until closings start getting recorded at Pacific Gate and check out the names for example. There’s a reason why Bosa got a custom address of 888 W. E St. It’s so lucky and everything!