Just How Cheap is That House in Florida for Foreigners?

For those of us here in the states, we see our home prices falling and in many cases, particularly South Florida, plummeting into an abyss (Ok, it isn’t quit that bad, but for some it seems like it). With Existing Home Sales dropping at their fastest rate in decades (many relating it back to the Great Depression) and the continued fallout for the credit implosion, foreigners may find themselves at the right time to buy up Florida vacation or investment properties.

I am going to use my own house as an example for this one as I know exactly how much I paid for it in 2002 and how much it can fetch today, that is a realistic as it gets. This will be a lesson in how currency exchange rates affect your purchasing power as well as how cheap some foreign nationals can grab up nice Florida homes (even at retail prices).

I paid $325,000 for my home back in 2002 and using today’s estimated $600,000 (rounded up slightly) here is the comparison across the globe:

Currency	Price Bought	Price Today	Total Appreciation
US Dollar	325,000	600,000	84.6%
Euro	344,280	403,823	17.3%
British Pound	222,618	290,248	30.4%
Aussie Dollar	568,182	683,216	20.2%
Japanese Yen	40,427,913	65,502,183	62.0%
New Zealand Dollar	664,622	786,061	18.3%
Norwegian Kroner	2,561,072	3,284,072	28.2%
Swiss Franc	506,388	666,297	31.6%
Canadian Dollar	498,161	596,896	19.8%
South African Rand	3,201,970	4,175,365	30.4%

As you can clearly see, in other parts of the world, our home prices have not changed much, such as for Europeans using the euro as their currency. My home in euros only appreciated 17.3%!!!

That chart also gives you an idea of how diminished our own buying power is elsewhere, even after the recent rally in the USD.

So, if you live in another country and are thinking about buying in Florida, this may be the opportunity of a lifetime. The comparison above is "retail" and many homes can even be bought "marked down".

(I will, of course, post about how much US money you could have made if you had taken just $10,000 out of your property and invested it in a foreign currency.)

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