FROM THE DESK OF THE CEO: Grateful for HGAR
As we enter a new era, HGAR remains steadfast in its commitment to serve and support you—through advocacy, professional development, and programs that empower your business.
Foreign buyers invested more than $516 million in New York real estate between April 2022-March 2023, showing the strength of our market. HGAR's Global Business Council is there to help you be a part of it.
As we navigate a changing landscape in the real estate industry, it’s important to recognize and leverage opportunity. Throughout my Realtor association management career, I have witnessed the power of global business positively impact thousands of Realtors in the U.S. and worldwide.
For example, in Southeast Florida, following the market downturn in 2008, foreign buyers helped the local market recover faster and stronger than any expert predicted, generating vast business opportunities and valuable relationships for the real estate industry and strengthening the economic development efforts in the region.
Yet, despite the significant economic impact, the concept of global real estate business is sometimes difficult to grasp. What is the value of global as an association service? How can Realtors successfully expand their global business and activities?
Global business can take different forms depending on the market area, the individual, the global economy and other factors. Generally, global business involves transactions with foreigners and with recent immigrants. Global real estate is closely tied to economic development, tourism and commercial real estate. Chances are that many Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors members are already involved in some aspect of doing business globally. However, you may not be aware of the resources available to expand your global business and better serve your foreign clients.
National, state and local associations help support their members by offering global education, resources and tools to better serve foreign buyers and sellers.
Even though residential foreign investment in the U.S. has declined following the pandemic, from April 2022 through March 2023, the dollar volume of purchases by foreign buyers was $53.3 billion, according to the National Association of Realtors’ Profile of International Transactions in U.S. Residential Real Estate 2023. New York ranked fifth (tied with Ohio) as a major destination for foreign investment and buyers.
According to HGAR’s International Oversampling of NAR’s report, foreign buyer dollar volume in the HGAR market area was $516 million from April 2022 through March 2023. The top international purchasers in our region were from China (24%), India (6%) and Albania (6%).
Given the diversity of the area HGAR members serve, the association has made great strides in the last few years to position its members to better serve global clients, as it increasingly generates global business opportunities.
This year HGAR was again recognized as a Platinum Global Business Council by the National Association of Realtors for its work to support members in the global arena. Here is a sampling of some of the highlights of HGAR’s global efforts in 2023:
Global Summit & Portugal Inbound Trade Mission—the 17th Annual Global Summit that took place in October brought together multiple U.S. Realtor associations, foreign delegates and local members to learn more about doing business with foreign buyers, securing inbound/outbound referral business, using proper protocols and etiquette, and more. More than 200 attendees also took part in property tours and multiple networking opportunities, while the Portuguese delegates toured Westchester County and New York City and learned about HGAR’s entire operations and market area.
Connecting Members—HGAR is NAR’s Ambassador Association to Portugal. Along with other global partners, HGAR creates programming for members to learn from and interact with members of foreign associations to generate inbound and outbound referral business opportunities. Through our extensive relationships, HGAR can connect members interested in doing business internationally with representatives in markets worldwide. We also connect members with global or multicultural organizations, such as the Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA), the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP), National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB), FIABCI, other global councils throughout the country, and more!
Education & Resources—HGAR promotes NAR designation courses throughout the year, including the Certified International Property Specialist (CIPS) and the Resort and Second-Home Property Specialist designations and the At Home with Diversity (AHWD) certification. We partner with organizations to bring members information that informs their global business decisions and equip you with valuable tools to identify markets to target, tools/resources to use with prospects and clients, as well as critical global economic and background information.
I encourage you to seek more information on global services and to leverage the opportunities HGAR offers. For more information on joining our Global Council, receiving our global communications and more, please visit HGAR.com.
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