Americans swoop on European property bargains as dollar soars and US house ... trends now
Americans are swooping on European property bargains, taking advantage of soaring US house prices and a strong dollar.
Florida interior designer Laetitia Laurent always dreamt of a Parisian bolthole and last summer found the perfect opportunity.
Nestled in the heart of the exclusive Golden Triangle, a stone's throw from the Seine and the Champs-Élysées, she found a one-bedroom apartment for $758,606 (758,000 euros).
'I had been looking for a place for a long time,' Laurent told The Wall Street Journal, explaining that she often visits the French capital for work and vacations there with her husband and three young children.
The strength of the US dollar against the euro was 'a huge factor' in the purchase, hovering at parity when she pulled the trigger in July - around 15 per cent stronger than the same time the year before.
PARIS: An apartment building in the sought-after 8th arrondissement of Paris where Florida interior designer Laetitia Laurent snagged a deal last summer
Florida interior designer Laetitia Laurent estimates she shaved off an extra $100,000 from the time when she first viewed the apartment in early 2022 to when she closed the deal in Paris
LONDON: A one-bedroom apartment in London's Knightsbridge can now be bought for $1.2m (£1m) because the dollar is so strong against the pound
Laurent estimates she shaved off an extra $100,000 from the time when she first viewed the apartment in early 2022 to when she closed the deal.
With the war in Ukraine leaving markets volatile, wealthy Americans are looking to real estate investment in Europe where the euro and the pound have been hit hard by the conflict.
Kate Everett-Allen, head of international residential research at estate agent Knight Frank, said American interest is focused on London, Paris, Provence, Florence and Lisbon.
Except for Lisbon - where prices rose by 11.5 percent in the first quarter of 2022 - the other cities have seen little growth.
London and Paris, which remain robust stalwarts for international buyers, were up by less than 5 percent in the first quarter of 2022.
In Florence, the capital of Tuscany, there was a 1.6 percent decline in the same period.
Everett-Allen told the Journal that US cities were leading the field for growth, with nine of the top 20 cities in its list for booming real estate located in the States.
The top three, Phoenix, Miami and San Diego, have each seen soaring growth of at least a third.
Even Americans with less cash on hand are taking a
