Real estate in Texas is going fast as International Buyers are buying up the market! Over $11 billion was added to the Texas economy from March 2013 to March 2014 from international homebuyers, according to Septembers 2014 Texas International Homebuyers Report (TIHBR).

There are typically two types of International Buyers, those with a permanent residence outside of the U.S. that purchases properties in this nation for investments and vacations and those who hold temporary visas. The main reasons for buying in the U.S. are for profit and security. Other reasons "are the American cultural attraction and the Mexicanization of large parts of the U.S." says Sergio Aguayo, a political scientist with the Colegio de Mexico.

Texas is ranking 3rd in the nation for international home sales tailing right behind Florida with 23% of the international market and California with 14%! The TIHBR also uncovered that over 50% of the international homebuyers in Texas are from Latin America or the Caribbean. As reported by Realtor.com, one of the top five searched for cities by Mexican homebuyers is El Paso, Texas. Other cities noted in the search were San Antonio, Houston, Laredo and San Diego.

According to Dan Hatfield, chairman of the Texas Association of Realtors (TAR), "The Texas housing market is not only strong in sales volume, but in its diversity. The demand for Texas homes stretches around the world. International homebuyers increasingly view Texas homes as a good investment, and as our economy has grown, so has the number of international homebuyers in our state.

As a side note: AMPI, Mexico's national real estate association and TAR have signed a cross-border partnership agreement building cooperation and collaboration in the real estate industry in the region.