Of course there is one little hitch… You have to be from outside the United States.
I just ran some numbers, and the US Dollar is at it’s lowest level in at least the last five years against both the Euro and the Pound.
For the Euro:
- In January of 2003, the Euro was worth about $1.05.
- As of Friday, it is worth about $1.47
For the Pound:
- In January of 2003, the Pound was worth about $1.60.
- As of Friday, it is worth about $1.99
Let’s put this into some real numbers. We’ll assume that you were thinking of a home here in Atlanta to stay in while traveling for business or pleasure. We’ll showcase a $300,000 home (in 2003):
- In 2003, the home would have cost £187,500.
- Or, it would have been €285,714.
The current value of the home (using averages) would be about $348,654… a gain of 16% over 5 years. But:
- It would only be worth £175,203 (a loss of 7%)
- Or, it would be worth €237179 (a loss of 17%)
However, there are two things to keep in mind. the Atlanta market is different from some of the more popular markets with international buyers. It hasn’t had the dramatic price appreciation of Los Angeles (73% increase), Miami (70%), Las Vegas (71%) or New York City (40%) during the same period.
Atlanta is also one of the best connected cities in the world, with Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (code ATL) having connections just about everywhere in the world. In fact, ATL is one of the busiest airports in the world.
Finally, Atlanta has an incredible list of international businesses that conduct major operations here. Aside from Delta, Coca-Cola and Home Depot; companies like UPS, Newell-Rubbermaid, FedEx, Siemens AG and Philips have major operations here. Atlanta is a logistical and transportation hub for the eastern United States. Another side benefit, it locating an office here, is that lease rates for office and warehouse space are both more plentiful, and cheaper than other eastern cities like Boston and New York City.
The case for the value of future investment.
Atlanta didn’t have the big run up in property values other major US cities experienced. While jobs and population here DID grow… often at rates higher than cites with higher property appreciation, the geographic boundaries (or lack of impediments to growth) allowed housing to keep up and keep prices reasonable. The benefit now is that while many other major US cities are poised to have property values decline, Atlanta should be able to maintain a more stable value going forward.
So, if the exchange rates of the US Dollar v. the Pound and/or the Euro return to historical norms, while the US Dollar value of the real estate remains stable or grows even slightly, the gains may be pretty substantial. Returning to the 2003 exchange rate, without a increase in the US Dollar value of the property would yield:
- a 24% increase in the Pound value (£217,908)
- a 40% increase in the Euro value (€332,051)
Imagine if the real estate market continues to chug along at even a modest increase…
Sources for this post include Forbes Magazine, Yahoo, Yahoo, S&P/Case-Shiller indices for statistics and background information.
If you are interested in other US cities, I call offer referrals to agents anywhere in the US. I have access to an incredible database of high performance agents.
I look forward to helping you with your property needs in the US.
