South Florida is already the nation's epicenter for residential real estate sales to foreign buyers, and experts said that they expect those international sales to be even stronger in 2012.
"You have a unique opportunity for the next few years," Moe Veissi, the president-elect of the National Association of Realtors, told more than 200 people gathered for the 17th Miami International Real Estate Conference at The Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables. "You are at the juxtaposition of the best global real estate market we've ever seen in this country."
In 2007 and 2008, California led the nation in international sales, but Florida pulled ahead in 2009 and has been at the front of the pack ever since, accounting for nearly one-third of international transactions in 2011. Global buyers now account for $82 billion of residential purchases in the United States.
The Greater Miami area has transformed from a market with one of the largest inventory gluts in the nation to one where buyers, especially international buyers, are steadily chipping away at the backlog of unsold homes. The residential inventory for Miami-Dade fell from 25,769 last August to 15,405 this year, according to the Miami Association of Realtors.
"The absorption rate, especially in condos, has gone bananas,'' said Veissi, who heads a South Miami real estate company.
International buyers, especially from South America, see "real value" in South Florida real estate, he said. Veissi expects international transactions will be even stronger in 2012. "This is an excellent time to be an investor or buyer in Southeast Florida,'' he said.
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