Brazilians search the most for property in Miami, new research shows

ONDAY, 13 APRIL 2015

Potential buyers from Brazil are leasing investment interest in the Miami real estate market which leads the United States in international property sales. It again led all foreign countries searching for South Florida real estate on the Miami Association of Realtors website in February 2015. The South American country, which topped all global consumers searching Miamire.com in the same period last year, has regularly ranked among Miami’s top foreign buyers. According to the association the distinction is significant considering Miami has the highest concentration of foreign born residents of any major US city and leads the nation in international real estate sales. In 2014, Brazilians registered 11% of all South Florida international real estate deals. Brazil had the third most property transactions in Miami and Broward Counties among all global consumers, trailing only Venezuela at 16% and Argentina at 12%. Brazilians spend the most on South Florida properties among foreign buyers, paying an average of $495,000. On average, Miami’s international buyers paid $444,000 per purchase, compared to $245,000 state wide. ‘Miami is an international city with world-class amenities, and that’s a big draw for Brazilians,’ said Christopher Zoller, 2015 residential president of the Miami Association of Realtors. ‘Typically, the Brazilians moving to South Florida are upper middle class families who want to enjoy their prosperity earned in Brazil as professionals and entrepreneurs,’ he added. A breakdown of the February figures shows that after Brazil the next most popular nationality searching for property was Colombians, followed by Venezuelans, then Canadians and then Indians. Searches from Argentina, the UK, Russia, the Philippines and Italy completed the top 10. When it comes to domestic searches, the most came from California, followed by Georgia, then Texas, New York, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio and North Carolina. Nationally, Miami is consistently one of the top markets for foreign countries searching for property in the US In February Miami ranked as a top five market for 12 of 20 foreign nations searching for real estate on Realtor.com and Realtor.com International. Miami registered as a top market for real estate consumers in Canada, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, France, Italy, Netherlands, Russian Federation, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and South Africa.