International real estate investors and foreign home buyers are targeting Florida more than any other state - which is great news for our local economy.  It's also great news that the fact that real estate buyers are looking to invest in Florida is being noticed and reported in the global media.

Over at Housing Wire, together with Florida's popularity there's coverage of yesterday's news from Credit Suisse, where the internationally respected credit services company out of Switzerland is advising its investors that there should be a "bumpy stabilization" next year here in the United States for residential home sales prices.  

Meaning: the bargain market is getting to be as low as it's gonna go, so if you're interested in buying U.S. residential real estate, you might want to take action in the next year or so.

The bigger news story this week, though, is the new study that has been released by Point2, a Canadian real estate marketing and sales company serving realtors, brokers, and the like.  According to Point2, real estate agents should be taking advantage of a new and growing market: the foreign investor in United States residential property -- and in support of that position, Point2 has issued a free online report compiling its data.

You can read the Canadian real estate services company's report online here (or download the pdf).  

Based upon the data found at its own Point2Homes.com web resource, Point2 reports the following:

Florida properties emerged as the lead attraction for foreigners online, followed by Arizona and Nevada real estate listings. Florida real estate listings captured 33.03 percent of the international traffic recorded to all U.S. states during the quarter. Arizona attracted 15.15 percent and Nevada 8.22 percent....

Las Vegas ranked first (14.53%) on the report’s overall ‘top 20’ cities in the nation category for online properties searched by international visitors. The top 20 list includes eight cities in Florida, four in California and three in Arizona.... 

The Florida Cities That Foreign Buyers Seem to Like the Most for Residential Home Buys

Within the State of Florida, the following are the most popular Florida cities for foreign buyers of residential real estate:

1. Orlando (11.35%)
2. Kissimmee (7.92%)
3. Pompano Beach (6.77%)
4. Miami (6.04%)
5. Davenport (5.32%)
6. St. Petersburg (2.71%)
7. Hollywood (2.43%)
8. Ocala (2.29%)
9. Tampa (2.03%)
10. Miramar (1.92%)

Where are the International Buyers Coming From?  All Over the World.

Also within the report are details about where the foreign interest in Florida real estate is originating.  This being a Canadian source, perhaps its data is scewed toward Canadian sources (we're not statisticians here, with the expertise to analyse the study's parameters), however looking at its tally, Canadians appear to be very interested in buying U.S. residential property.  

Canadians lead in interested international buyers for both Orlando and Miami properties, but they're far from alone.  Britians are also very interested, with the United Kingdom coming in second for Orlando and first for Kissimmee and Davenport.   

Also among the top ten: Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Columbia, Poland, and Israel.  For Miami, the results are:

1. Canada
2. France
3. Argentina
4. Puerto Rico
5. Spain
6. United Kingdom
7. Brazil
8. Mexico
9. Columbia
10. Poland

This is good news for Florida.  It's great news for Miami.  

Final note:  One has to wonder how the VisitUSA Act will impact these numbers when it is passed by Congress.  (Which should be expected, as it is a bipartisan bill moving through the U.S. Senate with support from powerhouses like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and with a correlated bill moving in tandem through the House of Representatives.)