US realty turns hot property; Indians snapping up big housing deals

[OhioChick]

23 May, 2011, 12.33AM IST

NEW DELHI: India-born American realtor Jaswant Lalwani hasn't been this busy since the housing crisis in the US in 2008. "I have closed 10 deals with Indian buyers in the last three months. And I am working on another 30," he says. The Manhattan-based realtor deals with all kinds of buyers, but of late, he has got more business from Indian clients. ( Latest news on NRIs )

Rohit Prakash, based in Austin, Texas , has for long been doing brisk business helping Americans and foreigners buy and sell property in the capital of one of America's biggest states.

Recently, he set up American Full House to cater to Indians looking to buy homes in locations that have seen a huge price drop. An Indian buyer who contacted him sometime ago is close to doing two deals in a suburb of Los Angeles at $82,000 and $85,000 each for a three-bedroom condominium. At the peak of the housing boom, these properties were selling at close to $250,000.

Flush with cash and keen to diversify their portfolio, Indians are busy snapping up property in the US. Buyers include rich families whose children are either working or studying there, and rich individuals in India looking for good returns. "These individuals have a minimum net worth of $1 million and are looking for properties in the $1-10 million price range," says Lalwani of Corcoran Real Estate.

More: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/nri/nri-real-estate/us-realty-turns-hot-property-indians-snapping-up-big-housing-deals/articleshow/8518260.cms

[madrchsod]

1. saudis in the 70`s, japaneses in the 80`s,then the chinese,now the indians

[lumberjack_jeff]

2. The downside of a trade imbalance.

Instead of making stuff, we sell real estate to one another with money borrowed from asia.