For years, international buyers have looked to buy properties in markets like Miami, Aspen and Palm Springs when searching for the perfect place for their “holiday.”
According to new data from Trulia (TRLA), international house hunters are shifting their focus away from traditional vacation areas to dense, urban areas.
“Foreign interest in U.S. real estate remains highly concentrated in mostly urban neighborhoods, particularly in Miami, Los Angeles, and New York, and is increasingly shifting toward high-density urban areas and away from vacation spots,” said Trulia’s chief economist Jed Kolko.
Trulia analyzed the site’s searches from January through May and found that 4% of the searches came from outside the U.S. That’s slightly down from 4.2% during the same time period last year. Canada (18.5%), United Kingdom (10.6%), and Germany (5.5%) remain the top three countries outside the U.S. for home searches on the site.
Trulia found that international searches are tending to focus more on urban areas as opposed to areas that are traditionally thought of as vacation areas.
“In general, these two types of places tend to get more foreign interest than the U.S. overall does: foreign searches accounted for 4.0% of searches for U.S. homes overall, 4.7% of searches in vacation areas, and 9.4% of searches in the densest urban neighborhoods,” Kolko said.
But the number of searches that are focused on what Trulia calls “dense urban neighborhoods” is rising. The chart below shows which areas international home hunters are searching for on the site. The share of searches for the dense urban neighborhoods is on the rise, while the searches for vacation areas are declining.
Click the image for a larger view.
Specifically, prospective buyers in Brazil, Australia, France, Italy and Russia are searching for urban areas with greater frequency. France leads the way with 29% of its searches looking at dense urban neighborhoods. Australia is second on the list at 27%, followed by Russia (27%), Italy (26%), Brazil (25%), Netherlands (24%) and the United Kingdom (22%).
The neighborhoods that foreign buyers are searching for are, unsurprisingly, mainly in Los Angeles, New York City, and Miami. In Bel Air and Beverly Hills, foreign buyers make up at least 40% of the searches. Three neighborhoods in New York City make the top 10 neighborhoods with the highest foreign search share.
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Neighborhoods with the Highest Foreign Search Share |
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|
# |
Zip code |
Neighborhood |
U.S. Metro |
Foreign share of searches |
|
1 |
90077 |
Bel Air |
Los Angeles, CA |
45% |
|
2 |
90210 |
Beverly Hills |
Los Angeles, CA |
40% |
|
3 |
90069 |
West Hollywood / Sunset Blvd |
Los Angeles, CA |
36% |
|
4 |
10013 |
Tribeca / Little Italy |
New York, NY-NJ |
35% |
|
5 |
10007 |
World Trade Center / City Hall |
New York, NY-NJ |
34% |
|
6 |
90265 |
Malibu |
Los Angeles, CA |
33% |
|
7 |
91302 |
Calabasas |
Los Angeles, CA |
32% |
|
8 |
10065 |
Lenox Hill / East 60’s |
New York, NY-NJ |
31% |
|
9 |
90049 |
Brentwood |
Los Angeles, CA |
31% |
|
10 |
90046 |
West Hollywood / Laurel Cyn |
Los Angeles, CA |
30% |
In fact, six of the top 20 are New York City neighborhoods and each of those neighborhoods have a higher percentage of foreign searches than Key Biscayne, in Miami, which is the most searched for vacation area.
|
Vacation Areas with the Highest Foreign Search Share |
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|
# |
Zip code |
Neighborhood or town |
U.S. Metro |
Foreign share of searches |
|
1 |
33149 |
Key Biscayne |
Miami, FL |
27% |
|
2 |
33140 |
Miami Beach / Mid-Beach |
Miami, FL |
26% |
|
3 |
34747 |
Celebration / Four Corners |
Orlando, FL |
22% |
|
4 |
33896 |
Davenport |
Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL |
21% |
|
5 |
33019 |
Hollywood Beach |
Fort Lauderdale, FL |
19% |
|
6 |
33897 |
Davenport |
Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL |
19% |
|
7 |
92210 |
Indian Wells |
Riverside-San Bernardino, CA |
18% |
|
8 |
33062 |
Pompano Beach |
Fort Lauderdale, FL |
17% |
|
9 |
81611 |
Aspen |
west of Denver, CO |
16% |
|
10 |
92264 |
Palm Springs |
Riverside-San Bernardino, CA |
15% |
