Colombians have been at the forefront of the list of foreigners looking for real estate and commercial real estate in South Florida for five months, the Miami-based Real Estate Association said Tuesday.
According to data for August of this year, Colombia was the source of 10.2% of all searches made from outside the United States in the portal www.MiamiRealtors.com.
Colombia is followed by Canada (7.3%), Argentina (5.5%), Venezuela (5.4%), Spain (5.3%), Brazil ), India (3.1%), Italy (2.5%) and the United Kingdom (2.5%), said a statement released by the Real Estate Agents Association, which does not report how many of those searches led to purchases .
August was the fifth consecutive month led by Colombia, which has been the number one in 15 of the last 20 months.
Within Colombia, Bogotá, Antioquia and Valle del Cauca are the sites where most searches originate.
Rodrigo Azpúrua, president and CEO of the Riviera Point Development Group, said in the statement that he was not surprised by the fact that Colombians are leading the table given “the financial, legal security and rapid appreciation of real estate offered in the United States”.
According to this real estate developer, the Colombian investor does not necessarily seek to emigrate to the United States, but rather wants to “diversify his portfolio of investments, in order to minimize purchase risks and mitigate the devaluation of the nominal value of the peso against the dollar”.
Alex Zylberglait, a sales agent for commercial properties with Marcus & Millichap in Miami, said that in addition to residential real estate, Colombians see “as a great option to invest in commercial domains in South Florida.”
Zylberglait mentioned that “the rate of return on financed and well-positioned commercial properties can be higher than 15%” and that another factor that is influencing the interest of Colombians is the increasing accessibility to financial credits for foreign investors.
