Could Foreign Buyers Be Driving Boston Prices?

James Surowiecki’s column for the week was said to be a remarkable one the New Yorker critically pointed out the effect of the global rich on local real estate markets. Surowiecki stated that the current high-priced housing market in America is Vancouver not San Francisco, nor New York, because the market at Canadian real estate is stable and relatively close to the Pacific Rim attracting a lot of Asian investors.

Foreign investors, most especially those making cash transactions can make up a small percentage of the market population, their fat purse can help rescue the whole metro by increasing the prices significantly.

If Vancouver a very small and boring city only can manage to have an average condo price of over $1million, definitely Boston can beat that price. Good news is given the present speed, Boston could wind up in the top ten or 12 most expensive condo markets in the world by the end of the decade,

Some local bidders, real estate agents and specialists say foreign investors, especially Chinese and other Asian buyers with cash, are acquiring high rise properties in Boston and its high-end suburbs in increasing numbers, which is a plus to the housing market’s revival. This a good thing for developers, if the 10,000 approximately luxury condo units presently are to get crowded in the pipeline. Nonetheless if the numbers are good enough to pilot Beantown to Vancouver-like prices, that could influence buyers and sellers all the way out to 128, not minding the South End and the Back Bay real estate.