They quoted one guy. What did he say? “Dollars have to flow somewhere. All currencies have to flow somewhere to be invested – why not in the safest economy and environment and that could be the United States?” he said, adding that big cities have been doing especially well. Who's he? a real estate broker. [So whose money is going there?](http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=GBPUSD%3DX+Interactive#{"range":"3mo","allowChartStacking":true}) [Anyone?](http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=EURUSD%3DX+Interactive#{"range":"3mo","allowChartStacking":true}) [Anyone?](http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=JPYUSD%3DX+Interactive#{"range":"3mo","allowChartStacking":true}) [Bueller?](http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=CNHUSD%3DX+Interactive#{"range":"1d","allowChartStacking":true}) I'm not sure what kind of moronic newspaper quotes one expert who offers to agree with them about the fact that currency is likely to flow from depreciated markets to inflated markets as a hedge against depreciation.Most experts agree the US is likely to see increased demand.
Steinberg agreed that the uncertainty in the UK could benefit the real estate in the US.
So, let me ask you, you know once again this stuff being more than a bit above me. If the real estate market in England gets shaken up over this and the market here in The States is in relatively solid shape, wouldn't investing here be a safe bet? I've heard that foreign firms like investing in American real estate, I think mostly commercial stuff like malls and office buildings and such. Does this kind of stuff affect residential markets, like houses and apartment complexes? And for the last, maybe really stupid question, why are we comparing foreign currencies to the American Dollar in this scenario?
So let's look at some rates. Two months ago, May 2, one euro was worth $1.15. One pound was worth $1.47. One hundred yen was worth 93 cents. Today, July 2, one euro is worth $1.11. One pound is worth $1.32. One hundred yen is worth 97 cents. Okay, doesn't look like much. But let's say you're investing 500,000 euros in American real estate. in May, that was $575,000. Today it's $566,000. You're facing a stiff headwind on currency swings alone. Never mind that the pound is tanking. Which, if you're Japanese, means japanese investors have a real incentive to dump more money in the British markets, not less - the collapse of the pound has driven up the yen, but far more against the pound than the dollar. Here's the real problem, though - all these deals are done through banks, and the cost of those banks doing business overseas has increased. Their currency buys less. If you're a British manufacturer you're liking this: your goods are cheaper worldwide. But if you're looking to invest abroad, you're now investing even more uphill. Safe bet? Sure. But every investor on the planet lives by "buy low, sell high." British real estate is heading low. American real estate is already in a bubble (too high for common sense), largely propped up by artificially low interest rates (or, more simply, low cost of money). The UK has basically said "we'll pump all the money we can into the system to make this work" (or, more simply, "let's make money even cheaper") which looks a lot like inflation which devalues your currency further which makes the deal even further uphill. The reductio ad absurdum on that is Zimbabwean dollars, but when Argentina and Mexico had their currency crises, shit got legit dicey for a few years. Like, defend your casita against looters dicey. Never mind the fact that there are certain limits to foreign real estate transactions in the United States. Houses under $500k? Swamped by REITS (Real Estate Investment Trust - basically a real estate mutual fund) and foreign money. Houses over $500k? Bought by Americans with mortgages. The thing the brexiters wanted was for the pound to be "more competitive" (devalued) against foreign currencies. The thing the brexiters accomplished was for the pound to be at its lowest value in 30 years ("more competitive"). But a "more competitive" currency is not what you want to buy real estate with. This is why Americans love to retire to, like, Columbia and shit. Because you can buy twenty acres and a staff of 30 for ten grand a year. Mark my words. Idjits will buy British real estate because it'll be cheaper a year from now which means they think it'll be a deal without understanding how hopelessly overvalued it was to begin with. And then they'll sell it to other idjits because that's greater fool theory in a nutshell and in the end, we'll all wonder who the hell is letting the economists run the world but the one thing that won't happen is foreign investors going "Hey, American real estate is even more expensive now than it was last week; let's buy some."