According to the 2005 Profile of International Home Buyers in Florida Survey sponsored by the Florida Associaton of Realtors®, one-third of the international buyers who purchased Florida real estate in 2005 were from South America, Central America and the Caribbean. 

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International buyers are major players in the Florida residential real estate market, accounting for 15 percent of total home sales, according to a new joint study conducted for the Florida Association of Realtors® (FAR) by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). For a long time, anecdotal evidence from Realtors® has suggested that international buyers play a sizable role in Florida home sales, but this study marks the first attempt to quantify the trend. 

Of the 986 Realtors who participated in the 2005 Profile of International Home Buyers in Florida survey, 87 percent reported that they did at least one home sale transaction with international buyers in the previous 12 months (between May 2004 and May 2005). Two thirds -- 66 percent -- of those Realtors who brokered foreign-buyer purchases noted that one to four of all their transactions were with international clients. Altogether, the Realtors surveyed closed 1,844 home sale transactions to non-U.S. buyers. 

Highlights of the survey findings include: