Savvy Korean investors who are keen for a bargain are swarming to America and Canada as countrywide price falls make property an increasingly attractive option…
Rich Koreans are amongst those foreign investors who are turning their attentions to the troubled USA property market in order to capitalize on the slump in the world’s biggest property market.
They aren’t alone
Dan Johnson, Managing Director of TheMoveChannel.com, said, “The US is currently a buyers market.
“The weak Dollar and the strengthening Euro is contributing to the growing appeal of the USA to Sterling backed investors.
“In many areas it’s a buyers’ market, with unsold stock and a lack of available credit giving developers double the reasons to do a bargain deal,†he added.
The Korean Ministry of Strategy and Finance’s latest figures reveal that the number of real estate purchases in America by Koreans increased by a whopping 42 per cent between June and July of this year.
Cash rich buyers are eager to snap up bargains and, as they are buying with a long term view, whilst the price rises may take some time to come, this doesn’t worry them.
The number of purchases in Canadian properties has doubled in the same period and when the figures for the last three months are released they are expected to show a similar increase.
Overall some £20 million was spent in the US and Canada by Korean nationals in July alone.
Estate agents are increasingly courting foreigners to buy homes in the USA – hiring agents fluent in other languages, marketing to foreign buyers and in some cases, offering to pay the airfare and hotel bills of foreign shoppers who buy a home.
The agents are keen to win the business of foreign investors and, due to the sinking value of the U.S. dollar relative to other currencies, a home bought by a foreigner comes with a discount averaging 30 per cent, the National Association of Realtors estimates.
While Americans are discouraged by the repossession rates and boarded up neighbourhoods, foreign buyers are much more optimistic and take a longer term view of the health of the US market.
However, come February 2009, Korean buyers who are snapping up American properties may be affected by new regulations.
Currently, if a Korean buyer purchases a property overseas, they don’t have to report it to Korean banks, but, under the new rules, if they buy property within two years of leaving Korea, they will be forced to report the purchase.
This is because, under the new rules, Korean expats will be classed as residents for the first two years after they leave the country.
If they don’t report the buy, they could be fined or even jailed.
Expats who have been away for more than two years and then buy overseas property only need to report the purchase once they return home to Korea.
For more information on American properties and the market in general, please visit http://usa.themovechannel.com/
-ENDS-
Notes to editors:
TheMoveChannel.com is a property website that was founded in 1999 as an online resource for buying, selling and learning about property. It now receives as many as 300,000 visits per month and advertises over 50,000 properties in nearly 90 countries, which are listed by over 500 partner organisations.
For further information as well as images and interview possibilities, please contact:
Dan Johnson
Managing Director
www.themovechannel.com
0207 952 7650
