Foreign buyers are eating U.S. property for dinner lashed with plenty of sauce. Ok, that was a rather weak approach at injecting some excitement into the fact that American real estate agents are pimping out bonuses to overseas buyers.

Extras such as airfare reimbursements and paid hotel bills could well become a reality for you if you are amongst those overseas buyers who have taken advantage of the dwindling economy in America.

Right now we enter a buyers market - if only there are buyers with enough cash flow to play the game. To boost local economy, some real estate agents have taken matters into their own hand and lure buyers from across the pond by giving them the royal treatment.

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Californian property has gained a renewed worldwide dream appeal for overseas investors since the slump of the U.S. dollar has given them more buying power. While local American interest has stalled, mainly due to slumping property prices and the fall of the U.S. dollar, overseas investors are snapping up properties in California as if they were the latest fashion.

This latest trend has prompted many local Californian Realtors to switch advertising tactics and target foreigners instead. Buyers from countries such as Spain, Russia, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Brazil, China, Italy and Mexico have especially been active in acquiring their dream property in California.

The dream of sand, sea and eternal sunshine lures investors to take advantage of the great conversions while the going is good.

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With all the doom and gloom surrounding the property markets, we felt it was about time to take a look at those markets that have remained robust and healthy throughout the current credit crunch. So here are five markets that have consistently performed well, regardless of the ups and downs seen recently.

Manhattan, New York

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The US sub-prime crisis continues to take it’s toll amongst developers and recent announcements from a variety of sources don’t seem to see any let up on the horizon. Some recent announcements this month include:

Toll Brothers Inc.(sic) said that its fiscal first-quarter home-building revenue fell 22% from year-earlier levels to $842.7 million and it doesn’t see any end in sight to housing-market woes. The company said it is still finalizing its first-quarter impairment analysis, but expects pretax write-downs of between $150 million and $300 million. “The housing market remains very weak in most areas. Based on current traffic and deposits, we are not yet seeing much light at the end of the tunnel,” said Robert Toll, the firm’s chairman and CEO. Toll will report full first-quarter results on February 27th.

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Continued delays in the completion of residential property projects in Dubai this year will continue in 2008, while a price correction is most likely in 2009 when supply exceeds demand, according to a new market report. “We believe that the delay in property handovers seen in 2007 will likely continue over the next 12 to 18 months,” investment bank EFG Hermes said in its UAE outlook report for 2008.

EFG are forecasting prices to rise by between 5 and 10% next year but suggest they are likely to peak in the second half of the year when property supply rises. The gap in supply in 2007 was roughly 20,000 residential units worth Dh34 billion said housing finance firm Tamweel. They are also predicting about 50,000 units of supply, with a demand of 54,000 units in 2008, taking the aggregate shortage to 24,000 units.

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Estate Agent vs Analyst

If anyone, either in the U.K or the U.S.A needed an incentive to look overseas for their next property investment, recent reports released in both counties should provide it.

Rightmove, an online U.K estate agent recently released a report that shows UK asking process have dropped for the third month in a row.

In the last month, the average asking price for a house in the UK dropped 0.8 per cent to £230,428, bringing the annual rate of increase down to 3.4 per cent – the lowest since December 2005.

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Price per square foot can be an interesting approach to pricing real estate and we though it would be interesting to compare luxury condominium prices around the world to other types of space for sale. How much space in a luxury condominium would you get for £100,000? These prices are based on Knight Frank’s annual wealth report 2007 and may have changed slightly since then. These are the top ten contenders.

1. London

London currently tops the list. £100,000 buys you 43.5 square feet. Coincidentally, this is exactly the same footprint as the Ford Escape, an American SUV. So you can rest assured you will be able to park the car at this price.

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Along with many British property investors, the Koreans know a bargain when they see one and the US property market is one of them at the moment. According to a report issued by the Korean Ministry of Finance and Economy, Korea’s overseas real estate buying increased in October from a month earlier due to a higher number of purchases in North America. Korean individuals and companies bought $96 million worth of land and houses in foreign countries last month, up from $86 million the preceding month. That brings the total value of the country’s overseas property buying from January to October to $968 million.

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The weak dollar is generating a lot of interest from foreign individuals and companies, interested in investing in the American economy. Particularly in the property sector. “We have had an overwhelming number of Europeans within the last six months asking about the Atlanta real estate market,” said Heather Stanton, an agent at Starate Real Estate Associates in Stockbridge, GA. “With the mortgage industry in the United States becoming so stringent with loaning money, the rental market is really increasing, and thus allowing investors from other countries to buy cheap and lease quickly,” she said.

The British pound increased 34 percent in value against the dollar in the last five years - 10 percent in the past 12 months. The euro has made even bigger gains, rising 47 percent since 2002.

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Record prices are still being achieved in the luxury condominium market all round the world. This is a selection in no particular order. Some have yet to be build and have sold purely on spec.

The Marq, Singapore.

The price of a condo in Singapore crossed the $5,000 per square foot this year when a single unit sold for $31 million. The first phase of the “invitation only” release all sold within a few weeks of release. Condos in The Marq cover an entire floor and include a 15 meter lap pool with every unit. No release date has been set yet for the next phase of the development. The bulk of the purchasers are said to be foreign.

The Time Warner Center, NYC.

In 2003, the Time Warner building in Manhattan broke all existing US records, selling a single condominium for $45 million – unfinished. Time Warner Center is one of the largest, most expensive multi-use developments constructed in New York City. This building houses the world headquarters of a major corporation; 211,00 square feet of additional office space; three jazz performance halls; almost 200 luxury condominiums; a high-end retail mall “The Palladium”; and a 251-room, five star Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Although rumors of an agreed sale of the Pierre’s penthouse at over $50 million may soon dwarf this.

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