8 Comments

1. 

   Jeffrey R McCracken MD. on July 29, 2011 at 1:30 pm

   As a guy from Vancouver BC. SD real estate is one of a few markets with good deals to be had.
   Just hope your dollar stays low.

   jeff.

2. 

   Jay the Realtor wannabe on July 29, 2011 at 2:18 pm

   Interesting stats…thanks Jim!

3. 

   CV Owner on July 29, 2011 at 3:37 pm

   My parents and brothers and sisters are looking to buy in San Diego multiple investment properties. They are from Australia and made lots of money with real estate there and all own multiple investment properties thanks to the generous negative gearing tax. Also with the AUD conversion rate off the charts, they are jumping at the chance to buy real estate here.

4. 

   Jim the Realtor on July 29, 2011 at 3:52 pm

   Give them my number!

5. 

   Clearfund on July 29, 2011 at 4:10 pm

   Our main clients that we manage real estate equity for are foreign investment firms. Mainly Swiss and Japanese private equity firms and wealthy individuals. They cannot get capital into the US fast enough!!!

   With the yen at a historic high to the dollar, real estate here has dropped 60%+ when viewed through the currency prism.

   As for the stats, our Funds, with foreign investors, won’t ever show up as the entity we buy under is a US LP. Thus there is a shadow ownership well beyond these numbers.

6. 

   bubblenerd on July 29, 2011 at 4:23 pm

   This is what happens when you have trade deficits with the almost every nation on the planet. We’re paying dollars to buy goods, but since the US doesn’t make anything anymore, they are buying assets with dollars. They are repossessing our assets.

7. 

   MarkinSanDiego on July 30, 2011 at 8:28 am

   Here in San Diego, it is often wealthy Mexican families who are buying to escape the violence south of the border. My downtown building fills up with BC license plates every weekend, but the kids stay here during the week to attend school. As much as we all complain about California and its problems and high taxes, it still looks good to many foreigners – perhaps the next wave of buyers will be fleeing Greece.

8. 

   Nick on July 31, 2011 at 6:53 am

   So we are talking 1.54% of buyers of homes $500k and above are foreigners… Look out!! We better start buying! Not surprising that NAR put this article together.