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South Florida

Florida a foreign buyer haven

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Overseas buyers made Florida their first choice by a wide margin, as the state accounted for 25.4 percent of U.S. purchases by foreigners between May 2007 and May 2008. The data comes from the 2008 National Association of Realtors Profile of International Home Buying Activity, which named California second with 8.9 percent and Arizona third with 8.7 percent. But global economic woes are having an impact — the report found 26 percent of 4,000 Realtors surveyed nationwide had at least one foreign client during the survey period, down from 32 percent the previous year. In Florida, 35.5 percent of Realtors surveyed said international business has increased in the past five years, while 52.6 percent said it has remained about the same, and 11.8 percent said it has decreased.