An Alarming Amount of US Land Is Being Bought By Foreigners

Forget about the double-dip in housing prices and the fact that our homes are now worth what they were back in 2002. Or maybe for those reasons exactly, foreign buyers are snatching up U.S. real estate. In fact, they bought nearly 8% of homes sold in the 12 months ending in March 2011, according to the National Association of Realtors. That may not sound like much, but is in fact worth $82 billion of the U.S. real estate market. Why do foreigners buy U.S. properties? How much do they spend? How do they finance those purchases? Click to enlarge.