Real Estate, Retirement, and Visas
The New York Times is clearly feeling my article Buying the American Dream: Using Immigration Law to Bolster the Housing Market. They just don’t know it yet.
My article talks about proposals to shore up the U.S. housing market by offering visas to retirees who purchase high-end real estate. I discuss the unique economic promise of this idea, which would allow for the virtual export of a non-consumable and non-transportable surplus of housing by admitting non-immigrants into the country to purchase it. I conclude, however, that by tying the concept to a nonimmigrant visa, by limiting its availability to retirees, and by allowing purchased homes to be used as rental properties, the legislation would never have accomplished its objective of improving the U.S. housing market.
Enter the New York Times.
In one recent article (Want a Green Card? Invest in Real Estate), the paper reported on an uptick in EB-5 visas being granted to individuals investing in NYC real estate. The article highlighted the large number of Chinese investors, in particular, looking to invest in NYC hotels, condominiums, office towers and public/private works. For the would-be immigrants, the benefits are clear: immigrant status for themselves and their families. As for the U.S. companies seeking investors:
Developers are eager to access the visa program because it is cheaper than many other financing sources. This is in large part because the participants are focused on securing green cards and are therefore willing to take smaller returns on their investment, typically earning less than 1 percent.
Of course the EB-5 program remains fairly small. Only about 3,000 were approved in 2012. (The USCIS has a great set of statistics and charts here.)
And then there’s this article on retirees leaving the United States (Homeland Beckons Immigrants as Retirement Nears). The NYT reports that foreign-born individuals are leaving the U.S. to spend their retirement years in the countries of origin, citing lower costs of living, family ties, and healthcare costs.
Real estate, retirement, and visas. Sounds familiar!
-KitJ