News / Business
Sunny Isles Beach Broker News: Existing-home sales up 3.1% in July
Foreign investors driving the sales
Existing-home sales rose in July to the highest level in five months, although sales have hovered in a relatively narrow range over the past 11 months, according to the National Association of Realtors ®.
Existing-home sales - including single family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops - increased 3.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.00 million units in July from a downwardly revised level of 4.85 million in June, but are 13.2 percent lower than the 5.76 million-unit pace in July 2007.
Buying into the American Dream
Reason for the existing-home sales rise is that across the globe people are venturing to the United States to take advantage of real estate investment opportunities. In a survey of Realtors® last year, more than eight of 10 respondents said foreign transactions accounted for up to 25 percent of their sales.
In addition, a large portion of their international clientele came from Mexico, the United Kingdom and Canada. Florida is the destination of choice for many international buyers - 26 percent of foreign buyers represented in the survey purchased in the Sunshine State. Sixteen percent bought real estate in California, and 10 percent purchased in Texas.
With today's market conditions, international buyers are recognizing it's a great time to buy, especially in the Sunshine state.
Fueling City Growth
Further, studies show rising fuel costs are driving many people to move to the city, where they can park their cars and rely on public transportation. According to economist Joe Cortright's report, "Driven to the Brink: How the Gas Price Spike Popped the Housing Bubble and Devalued the Suburbs," pump prices have "redrawn the map of urban real estate values."
Families are reevaluating financial priorities and cutting costs wherever they can. Initially, buying a home in the city may have seemed too expensive for some would-be homeowners, but as gas budgets continue to swell with no signs of slowing, it's a move that could prove a worthy investment.
