JULY
31, 2015
A strong U.S. dollar isn’t just making vacations overseasmore affordable; a brawny
buck puts foreign real estate on sale, too.
Jason Kumpf, real estate expert at USForex,
says their clients are “absolutely” using dollar strength to justify buying
international real estate, particularly in continental Europe and the U.K. Even
Canada is attracting more Americans now that the loonie is at about a 20%
discount to its U.S. counterpart, says Kumpf.
Wei Min Tan, a residential condominium
specialist at Rutenberg Realty’s Castle Avenue, says select buyers will always
want to invest in a top-tier city like London, but a wave of buyers is also
favoring countries with lower costs of living, including Malaysia, Thailand,
and Costa Rica.
“They may see it as a place to retire in the
future. Here [retirement] can cost so much, there it’s a fraction,” Tan says.
