In Brazil, the fund focuses on affordable housing.

Paladin Realty Latin America Investors IV has put $60 million into a joint venture in Brazil to develop 2,400 affordable homes. Properties in Qatar for sale

According to a press release, the joint venture with Constructora Altana, a residential real estate company, will initially concentrate on metropolitan So Paulo, Brazil, where it will build homes with a total sales value of about $250 million.

According to Randall Loker, managing director of Paladin Realty, the A-PIMA II platform currently has one project approved in the So Paulo metro area and hopes to "continue building homes for the growing low and middle class segments of Brazil's population."

"As a result of the country's attractive demographics, increasing growth, and growing access to mortgages, we continue to see the demand for new affordable housing in Brazil, especially in So Paulo," Mr. Loker said.

In 2009, Paladin Realty collaborated with Altana on another A-PIMA platform, which included "eight low-income projects and one lower/middle-income project totaling 3,171 units and over $250 million in revenue," according to the firm.

Mr. Loker said, "What's new about this second JV with Altana is that we'll be building more outside of the MCMV [Minha Casa Minha Vida] market, with about half of our projects catering to the lower-middle class population with homes priced between R$250k and R$400k."

My House My Life, or Minha Casa Minha Vida, is a federally subsidized loan program that assists low- and middle-income families in purchasing houses.

Paladin Realty Partners manages the LatAm IV campaign, which has a $400 million fundraising target. Mr. Loker added that the fund secured a $100 million commitment from the US government's OPIC earlier this month, which will help it scale up to its estimated total size.

Paladin, based in Los Angeles, has invested 50% to 60% of the fund's capital in Brazil, with similar ambitions for the future. Colombia, Peru, and Mexico are the fund's other top markets, with investments in Chile, Uruguay, and Costa Rica as well, according to Mr. Loker.

Mr. Loker was unable to provide an estimated timeline for the fund's $400 million target. LatAm IV, on the other hand, held a $75 million first close in February and made the first investment in March.

 

In the United States, foreign home purchases are on the decline.

According to the National Association of Realtors' new survey, the number of homes purchased by foreign buyers fell 17.3 percent last year as global economies weakened and shoppers concentrated on low-cost properties.

Total revenues to foreign clients were $68.2 billion in the 12 months ended in March, down from $82.5 billion the previous year.

The NAR attributed the decline to a number of factors, including currency weakness in Europe, Brazil, India, and Mexico.

According to the survey, "economic slowdowns in a number of major international economies tend to have been a major explanation for a decline in sales." "In the case of foreign residents, economic uncertainty in the United States could have hindered purchasing activity."

Despite the lower number, the sum was the second highest in recent years, according to NAR.

At that time, foreign buyers made up about 6.3 percent of all existing home sales in the United States. People with permanent residences outside the United States made up 51% of the transactions, with the remainder made by new immigrants or tourists on temporary visas.

Florida drew the most foreign customers, accounting for 23% of all sales, followed by California (17%), Arizona, and Texas, each accounting for 9% of all sales.

Canadians were the most frequent home buyers in the United States, accounting for 23% of all sales in the NAR's annual survey. China, which accounted for just 5% of foreign transactions in 2007, came in second with 12% of international sales, led by Mexico (8%), India (5%), and the United Kingdom (4%). (5 percent).

According to NAR, about 54% of foreign transactions were under $250,000. However, Chinese buyers were involved in the upper end of the market, purchasing homes for $425,000 on average, followed by India ($ 300,000), the United Kingdom ($ 250,000), Canada ($ 183,000), and Mexico ($ 156,250). Approximately 63 percent of registered transactions were entirely cash-based.

Around 42% of registered foreign buyers said they planned to use the homes as their primary residence, while 20% said they planned to use it as a vacation home.

Around 27% of realtors who replied to the survey said they dealt with foreign clients in the previous year, which is unchanged from 2012 but down from a peak of 32% in 2007.