Total sales volume to international clients is estimated at $82.5 Billion for the 12 months ending March 2012, up by 24 percent from the previous 12-month period of $66.4 Billion, based on information in the 2012 Profile of International Home Buying Activity.[1]

• International sales are divided evenly between foreign clients who have permanent residences outside the U.S. (Type A) and recent immigrants (less than two years) or temporary visa holders residing for more than six months in the U.S. for professional, educational, or other reasons (Type B).
• International clients continue to be attracted to the US residential property market  for a variety of reasons: as a place to live for recent immigrants, temporary workers, and students relocating to the US;  as an investment or  portfolio diversification asset; for vacation purposes; and for stability and security reasons.
• Moreover, the inexpensive US home prices coupled with favorable exchange rates in some countries such as China, Canada, and Brazil appear to have encouraged buyers although the weaker euro likely discouraged potential homebuyers from countries using the euro.

What Does This Mean to Realtors®?

International clients have specific interests and needs.  Information on addressing this market is available at http://www.realtor.org/global.

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[1] International transactions for the 12 months ending March 2011 had been estimated at $ 82 Billion. As a result of the re-benchmarking  of total existing home sales using the 2010 Census data, the estimate for 2011 was revised to $ 66.4 Billion.