Real Estate Agents See Return Of Foreign Buyers

Canadian investor Arthur Wong is buying condos in Las Vegas
and Phoenix like a shopper at Costco: In bulk, with slashed
prices.

Wong, president of Optimus U.S. Real Estate Fund, has bought
60 condos at heavy discounts from developers in financial trouble.
Wong paid about $62,500 each for 18 Las Vegas condos that
once were priced at about $250,000 apiece.

"Th is could be a once-in-a-generation opportunity for real estate
investment," said Wong, whose Calgary, Alberta-based fund has
already invested $5 million cash and will spend millions more in
the U.S. Southwest over the next several months.

While foreign real estate investment in the first six months of 2009
was lower than last year's level, real estate agents from New York
to Las Vegas say purchases have increased rapidly in recent
months.

Foreign investors have long been attracted to U.S. residential real
estate, drawn by the market's stability compared with other countries.
But the dollar's descent in the past six months has made makes
homes even cheaper for foreigners, and prices are showing signs
of stability.

International investors bought 154,000 homes and condos in the
12-month period ending in May, down nearly 10 percent from
170,000 for the same period a year earlier, the National
Association of Realtors reports.

But since June, the dollar has tumbled by 9 to 11 percent against
currencies like the Japanese yen, the European euro and the
Canadian dollar. The Brazilian real has gained 17 percent against
the dollar in the past six months.

Buyers from Brazil, Canada, France and the Netherlands, for
example, have paid mostly cash for second homes ranging from
$6 million to $15.5 million in condo buildings like 40 East 66th
Street, a stone's throw from Central Park and steps from shopping,
restaurants and nightlife.

"(Foreign investors) love to have everything available to them once
they walk out their front door," said Barbara Russo, an agent with
The Corcoran Group Real Estate in Manhattan.