Which areas of Florida have the largest percentages of international home buyers?
Some states have a relatively small proportion of homes owned by buyers from outside the United States. Florida, however, is a place that draws property buyers from all over the world. This trend is actually on the rise; almost half of all real estate agents surveyed reported an increase in their numbers of international clients in the past five years.
In part, this increase can be traced to the outstanding home values that can now be secured in Florida, where house prices at the moment are far beneath the historic highs they reached at the peak of the US housing boom. Florida homes present international and UK buyers with an additional benefit. They are generally less expensive than comparable houses in the buyers' home countries. This makes ownership of a second or holiday home much more feasible for families across Europe and the UK.
International home purchasing patterns in Florida
Although Florida is a large and very diverse state, it can be divided up into four principal classes of real estate: urban and central city areas, suburban areas, resort areas, and rural zones.
Home buyers from the UK in 2011 showed a decided preference for property located in resort zones, with 38% interested in houses that come complete with amenities such as golf courses, nearby lakes, or easy access to theme parks. 29% of UK buyers favoured urban areas, while 21% bought property in the suburbs of major cities. In contrast, only 12% of UK buyers preferred homes in small towns or rural areas. Buyers from the rest of Western Europe were even less likely to want rural homes, though they are split fairly evenly among the other three categories.
Specific regional patterns
The areas of Florida that have the largest percentages of international homebuyers include both cities with names known the world around, and places whose names are much less familiar. An overwhelmingly popular place for UK and international buyers is Orlando, home to an extensive collection of theme parks including Disney World, Sea World, and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Orlando and the surrounding Kissimmee area are, in fact, the top choice of destination for almost a third of UK homebuyers and 8% of those from other areas in Western Europe.
International buyers from Western Europe outside the UK have a strong preference for South Florida, where cities such as Fort Lauderdale and Miami attract 31% of buyers.
In the southern half of Florida, every county has more than 6% of residents coming from foreign nations. In some cities, the proportion of foreign-born is more than 50%. These include Fountainebleau, Hialeah, Tamiami, Miami, and Kendale Lakes. The city of Pembroke Pines, in contrast, has fewer than 30% of its residents originally hailing from outside of the United States.
Florida residents who settle in the northern half of the state, in contrast, are much more likely to find themselves in an area dominated by people born in the United States, though many of them will be transplants from other parts of the nation.