Okay, so you may be aware of the influx of Europeans investing in the US real estate market, but did you know that Australians are the number 1 Investor? This little known fact has been grossly overlooked by US real estate agents who are focussing most, if not all of their foreign advertising in the European market.
My partner is Australian and advertises most of his real estate services in Australia, England, Scotland, Ireland and New Zealand. In recent years he has received a massive influx of Australian buyers and investors. Recent statistics indicate that Australians are THE NUMBER ONE investor in the US real estate market. I recently asked his opinion as to why Australians invest so heavily in the US market. Here is his response:
"The volume of Australian commercial real estate investment is predominately in the office and retail sectors, however, Australians are also extremely excited about the residential real estate market in the US and are investing heavily. The major reason for a high level of Australian investment in US Commercial real estate is a direct result of an Australian law that was passed about 10 years ago under the Howard administration (current Prime Minister of Australia). This law mandates that employers submit 9% of their employees’ salaries into Australian superannuation funds. A superannuation fund is similar to an American 401(k) fund with the primary difference being that in Australia it is mandatory unlike the voluntary 401(k) investments in the USA.
Australians have the same passion for real estate ownership and investment as do Americans. In fact, in Australia owning a home is called "The Australian Dream." Hmm, sounds the same as the "American Dream," to me.
The Australians close relationship as well as their close cultural affinity with the USA all add up to make America the obvious choice to invest than other locations around the world. Additionally, the Australian economy is almost at an all-time high. At present the Australian dollar is floating around 93 cents to the US Dollar. I remember in previous years when one Aussie dollar only bought you 50 cents American making the US an expensive place to invest.
The Australians average income runs very close to that of the average American income, yet housing prices and interest rates in the US are very cheap in some US markets compared to that of Sydney or Melbourne, Australia. Australians are also very knowledgeable about the falling real estate prices in the US due to the Sub-Prime loan disasters of recent years. Therefore they are flocking to the US where they can get higher yields than in Australia and are less concerned about pricing and focussed more on yield."