Euro, low airfares boost investments

Foreign buyers like business climate in SW Florida

By Dick Hogan

Published on March 20, 2005

Juergen Gerlach has high hopes for Delicious Things, the restaurant he and a partner hope to open this summer in Fort Myers — but the plummeting value of the dollar isn't the main reason they're relocating here from Europe.

The euro has risen about 10 percent against the dollar in the last year and more than 50 percent in the past three years. Meanwhile, the British pound is up about 35 percent from three years ago and about 5 percent in the past year.

That's contributed to a wave of foreign investment in the United States recently, but Gerlach, a German national, said that for him it's more a matter of the exuberant Southwest Florida business climate compared to how things are in Germany.

"I see the difference between Europe and Florida, it's a big difference," he said. "In Germany, restaurants are dead. The people don't want to eat, it's too expensive. In Florida, most of the people go to dinner, to lunch, to eat well at restaurants."

Gerlach and business partner Roberto Molinari have tentatively decided on a location along U.S. 41 in Fort Myers and will specialize in southern Italian cuisine. Molinari is from Naples, Italy, and has worked throughout Europe.

Their real estate agent, Michael Schneider-Christians of Century 21 Sunbelt Realty in Cape Coral, said their story is typical of the recent history of Europeans looking at Southwest Florida property — continued interest but no spike because of the dollar's plummet.

"I haven't seen any increase from the Germans in the last couple of months," he said. "The market's really hot and everybody's buying but nobody has really approached me and said, 'The time is right to do something' " because of the dollar.

That's partly because prices here have risen so rapidly in recent years that they dwarf any advantage from the dollar, Schneider-Christians said. "A house that was $150,000 five years ago is $500,000, and even if you save with the exchange rate, it's still much, much more."

Most Europeans don't talk specifically about a possible real estate bubble here, he said, but "they are somewhat sophisticated. Someone who goes to a foreign country and buys a house for $500,000, they are not ordinary people. They know there's a certain risk of a correction."

OUTSIDE THIS REGION

Elsewhere, some Europeans say the dollar's weakness is a factor in buying property in the United States.

Pam Gilhooly and her sister Valerie King, both of Edinburgh, Scotland, spent many holidays in Florida and often dreamed of buying a place here. Their wish came true last year when the weakening dollar enabled them to pool their savings to buy a four-bedroom, 31/2-bath home in Orlando for $214,000.

"We thought it was a fantastic time to buy," Gilhooly, a lab technician, said. A similar property back home would have cost about $950,000, she said. "The currency definitely helped."

The weakness of the dollar has suddenly made the cachet of owning a second home in the United States possible for many Europeans — and they are snapping up houses and condos across Florida, as well as New York and other locations such as Chicago and Colorado's ski resorts.

No one keeps statistics on foreign buying of U.S. residential real estate, but brokers and housing experts say foreigners have stepped up their purchases. Liz Agnello, director of broker services at the Ginn Co., of Orlando, said a broker in England recently referred 14 people to her, all of whom were interested in the company's new condos at the Reunion Resort & Club of Orlando, which range from $500,000 to $800,000. "You don't normally get 14 foreigners at one time," she said. "It's not an uptick. It's a surge."

Foreigners have always bought U.S. real estate, particularly when the dollar is weak. But the current buying spree has more steam in most areas, thanks to the impact of a single European currency and cheaper airfares, experts say.

The creation of the euro in 1999 is driving European bargain hunters to the United States because they can no longer take advantage of weak currencies of countries within the continent to get deals on homes, said Jeremy Siegel, professor of finance at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Another key difference is cheaper airfares. Deregulation of the airline industry fueled competition and led to cheaper flights, making the United States more accessible for overseas travelers, said Stuart Gabriel, a professor of finance and economics at the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business.

FOREIGN INVESTMENT

Despite the bargain prices, some foreign buyers may not spend much time at these second homes. Gilhooly and King plan to vacation at their

Florida home three times a year for about two weeks each visit. They'll rent it the rest of the time. Airfares may be cheaper than in previous years, but not throughout the year: fares can cost over $1,000 round-trip at peak times.

Some foreign buyers aren't content with snagging just one home. Jan Martin, a broker and director at SunSense International Property Ltd. in Kettering, in the United Kingdom, said in the past few months, a number of her customers have purchased multiple properties in the United States.

One of them, Mike Pethick, a 43-year-old former owner of a leisure-wear clothing line whose primary residence is in Swindon, England, bought four condos in Miami as investments early last year. As the U.S. dollar got weaker, Pethick couldn't resist buying another condo in September. "It made a hell of a difference. It was a lot cheaper to buy then. In fact, if I had some spare cash, I would definitely buy now," said Pethick, who plans to sell the condos.

Alvina Labsvirs Smith and her husband, who live in Warwickshire, England, were planning to buy one home to take advantage of the weak dollar but ended up buying two in the Orlando area last year. "You get a lot more for your money than you do in England," said Smith, a teacher. "Property prices are very high there." The currency exchange made the $219,000 and $367,000 homes a bargain compared to the United Kingdom, she said. They plan to vacation several times a year in one house and rent it the rest of the time; they will rent the other home.