Let's Join the Investors

January 25, 2012


I recently read an article that foreign investors have been looking at the U.S. real estate market as a "stable place" to invest. As the European markets teeter on the edge of the euro crisis, these international investors have been turning to the U.S. housing market.


NAR's 2011 Profile of International Home Buying Activity shows foreign households bought $82 billion dollars worth of residential real estate last year, up from $66 billion in 2010.


Real estate is a long term investment. Historically it has been the source of wealth for many investors as well as many folks who purchased homes for the purpose of living in them for a long time. In recent times, home buyers seemed less likely to stay in a property long enough for it to appreciate over time.
What is a long term investment that these foreign buyers are considering? Five years, ten years?


If buying now is such a good deal that these foreign investors are putting their money in residential real estate, it may be a lesson for potential home buyers that now is the time to be serious about buying. (It does begin to look as if buyers are getting that message as we are seeing more folks at open houses and more folks writing offers.)