It has been revealed by the National Association of Realtors that over a 12 month period ending in March this year, foreigners purchased over $82 billion worth of American property; an increase of 24% against the previous year.

The most dominant group were the Canadians, who covered 23% of all the foreign sales. Second largest group were the Chinese with 9% of sales, then Mexico, India and the UK all came third at 7%.

President of the Realtors Association, Ron Phipps, said in a statement, “In recent years we have seen more and more foreign buyers coming here to take advantage of low prices and plentiful inventory.”

The rise in foreign investment is believed to be the result of falling house prices and the weak dollar, both of which give foreigners a huge discount. Property prices were down 33% in February compared to July 2006.

Around $1.07 trillion was spent on the US property market last year; a total of 8% from foreign investors. Around $41 billion was spent by immigrants to the country.

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