I sell real estate in the Los Angeles area.  I found this article very interesting.  As we struggle with the mortgage crises here within the United States, there is a huge amount of foreign investors coming in.  I am always saying these days - it is not the 'real estate' market that is the problem, that is housing or the amount of persons wanting to buy.  It is the lending market that  is making things so difficult for people to  get  loans.  Subsequently, there is a tremendous interest from foreign investors because of this and the weak dollar. 

AMERICANS' LOVE AFFAIR with real estate may be cooling, but thanks to falling home prices and the weak dollar, attention is heating up from another group of suitors: foreign investors.
Foreign buyers have long looked to certain U.S. markets — say, high-end properties in cosmopolitan Manhattan or sexy South Beach Miami — as investment opportunities. These days, however, real estate professionals report increased international interest in a much larger range of properties — from $60,000 single-family homes in South Florida's inland neighborhoods to $1 million waterfront villas located just miles from the Canadian border in Washington State.
...
Despite all the hoopla, though, foreign buyers alone will hardly help the U.S. crawl out of the current housing mess, says Mike Inselmann, president of national housing consultancy Metrostudy. Unsold inventory in some areas is so abundant that it cannot be absorbed, even with increased interest from our neighbors north of the border or overseas. "I wouldn't say it's the elegant solution to the housing inventory problem, but I do think it'll play a minor role," he says. "Maybe bigger in some markets than others."

According to Michonski, foreigners can at least bring to the U.S. market what it's been lacking most in the past months: "They'll provide a psychological support of confidence," he says.


Look who's buying now: a snapshot of foreign buyers of U.S. real estate.
1. Where they come from:
Mexico: 13%
United Kingdom: 12%
Canada: 11%
India: 6%
China: 5%
2. What they buy:
Single-family homes: 78%
Condos or apartments: 22%
3. Where they buy:
Florida: 26%
California: 16%
Texas: 10%
Arizona: 6%
New York: 4%
4. How much they spend:
Median purchase price: $299,500 (National median purchase price for 2006: $221,900.)
28% of foreign buyers purchased homes under $200,000
48% spent $200,001 - $500,000
18%: $500,001 - $1 million
7% spent over $1 million
5. How they pay:
Take a mortgage: 69%
Pay cash: 28% (In the overall market, only 8% of home purchases are cash-only.)

Source: National Association of Realtors

           _[]__________
    ¸...¸ /  /   _     /\___
,·´º  o` /__/___/_\___//___/\
``)¨(´´  |  | [1] | | [1] || [1] ||l±±±±
¸,.-·²°´   ¸,.-·~·~·-.,¸   `°²·-. :º°

http://westsidehomefinders.com/home.asp