Real estate without borders

Industry plugs into international trends

The declining value of the U.S. dollar, coupled with declining property values in some major markets, is attracting foreign buyers -- but the weak dollar and nation's credit crunch also pose a threat to the short-term growth in international real estate. In the long run, though, globalization and immigration to the United States are expected to stimulate the housing market.

Some real estate professionals in the United States are working to reach an international audience for U.S. properties, and also to work with U.S. buyers who are searching for homes abroad.

A range of property-search sites, from brokerage company portals to Realtor association sites and third-party platforms, are working to cut down language, currency, cultural and business barriers in gathering and supplying global property information.

In this three-part special report, Inman News explores business trends, marketing methods and technological innovations in international real estate.

Part 1, Global economy to power inernational deals, examines the economic and geographic trends driving the international real estate market for foreign buyers of U.S. properties and for U.S. buyers of foreign properties. Rising energy prices and the nation's credit crunch could hurt the global market in the short term, say experts, though long-term immigration and globalization trends are expected to lift the nation's housing market.

Part 2, Agents, brokers tap international buyers, features interviews with real estate professionals who market properties and services to foreign buyers. Phoenix-based Realtor Jonathan Dalton has developed a specialty in working with Canadian buyers, and Stan Ponte of Coldwell Banker International Previews describes the magnetism of the Manhattan market to buyers from around the planet.

Part 3, Property search goes global, highlights the many Web sites that offer searches of for-sale and rental properties in many countries. WorldProperties.com, which launched in 2002, was created by a consortium of real estate trade groups from dozens of nations, while Properazzi.com is a third-party site that aggregates data for over 4 million properties.

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