Only a couple of years ago, the National Association of Realtors expanded its useful annual Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers to include the intended use of homes by homebuyers as homesteads, second homes or vacation homes or investments. Now they're taking the examination of second home or investment home purchases further with the first study of the international homebuyer.

The 2007 NAR Profile of International Home Buying Activity found that an astonishing number of customers for American property are foreigners. Nearly one in five Realtors has sold a home to an international client in the past year. The NAR classifies an international client as "a foreign citizen living abroad who has legally entered the United States to purchase a home."

International clients are one of the uncounted factors in the phenomenal housing boom of 2000 - 2005. In Florida, NAR researchers found that 7.3 percent of home sales were to foreign purchasers, and that 65 percent had brokered at least one home sale to an international client and nearly half (48 percent) said that one in four of their transactions were to foreign clients.

That's not inconceivable considering the plethora of entertainment choices, the good value represented by a falling dollar, and the relatively low-priced real estate compared to other popular destinations in the world. But they're not just investing in Florida -- they're spreading the wealth throughout the U.S. One-quarter of Realtors surveyed said their percentage of clients from foreign countries had increased, and nearly one in three Realtors reported having had at least one international client between April 2006 and April 2007. Forty-nine percent of international clients bought in the sunny south, while 31 percent bought in the west, 11 percent in the midwest and nine percent in the northeast.

Who's doing the buying? The top countries exporting homebuyers to the U.S. were Mexico (13 percent), the United Kingdom (12 percent,) Canada (11 percent,) India (6 percent,) and China (5 percent.) Thirty-three percent were from Europe while Asia accounted for 24 percent and North America (outside the U.S.) accounted for 23 percent. Sixteen percent were Latin Americans.

What did they buy? The NAR says that like domestic buyers, international clients prefer single-family detached homes or townhomes, but they also showed a stronger preference for condominiums and apartments compared to homebuyers in general. Eighty-eight percent of existing homebuyers bought detached homes, while 12 percent purchased multi-family housing (condos, co-ops, attached townhomes, rowhomes, etc.) Seventy-eight percent of international homebuyers purchased detached homes, while 22 percent purchased in the multi-family category.

The median paid by international clients was $299,500, which is greater than the national median of $221,900 paid by all homebuyers in 2006. Coming closest to the international client median was India at $292,000. Chinese buyers paid the most at $335,300, followed by U.K. buyers at $335,300, Canada buyers at $322,700 and Mexican buyers at $227,300.

Forty-seven percent of all international buyers purchased homes exclusively for vacation, while 22 percent were motivated primarily by investment. Nearly a third of foreign buyers cited both vacation and investment as reasons for their purchase. International homeowners spent an average of 4.2 months of the year in their U.S. property in 2006.

Published: July 31, 2007

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Blanche Evans is the award-winning senior editor of Realty Times, the Internet's leading independent real estate news service. She is featured daily on the Realty Times Video Network in the "Realty Viewpoint" segment. Blanche has been named one of the "25 Most Influential People In Real Estate" by REALTOR Magazine, and has been twice recognized as a "notable." In 2005, she was named "Top Reporter Covering the NAR" by Delahaye-Bacon's. Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. To contact Blanche, email her at . For more articles by Blanche, click here.