International Real Estate

Recent research by international real estate firm Knight Frank revealed that in some countries real estate is still performing very well (like in Israel), while others like Dubai and Singapore have performed dismally. Here are the highlights of the study:

• Global housing markets continue to struggle in a recessionary environment 
• The rop performing markets over the 12-month period ending in March 2009 were Israel (+10.9%) and Czech Republic (+9.9%)
• The weakest markets were Dubai (-40%) and Singapore (-16.2%)
• The short term economic outlook suggests that the world housing markets will continue weak for the rest of 2009.

Read the full article here....

BUYING FROM A FOREIGN SELLER

DID YOU KNOW - That the BUYER needs to withhold 10% of the purchase price when purchasing a property from a foreign Seller?

Here is an excerpt from the IRS website:

Withholding of Tax on Dispositions of United States Real Property Interests
The disposition of a U.S. real property interest by a foreign person (the transferor) is subject to the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act of 1980 (FIRPTA) income tax withholding. FIRPTA authorized the United States to tax foreign persons on dispositions of U.S. real property interests.

A disposition means "disposition" for any purpose of the Internal Revenue Code. This includes but is not limited to a sale or...