Foreign buyers are snapping up property in Florida.
The strength of the Canadian dollar, the euro, and other foreign currencies, on top of a slowdown in the U.S. real estate market, is making the United States an enticing place for foreigners to buy property.
In South Florida, real estate practitioners say that buyers are especially coming from continental Europe, Scandinavia, and Canada. Miami Beach’s famous South Beach district is luring Italians, French, and German buyers, while many Russian buyers are flocking to Sunny Isles Beach to the north. And Venezuelan buyers are looking for housing deals in Doral, to the west.
Brigitte Benichay, who is president of Rich Homes in Miami, says her European customers don’t need mortgages. “Eighty percent of the ones I meet want to pay all cash. Business is very strong,” she says.
Source: Reuters News, Jim Loney
