Phoenix rates among top markets for foreign investors

PHOENIX — Phoenix has moved into the top 10 markets that are being targeted by foreign investors.

Jones Lang LaSalle Capital Markets Research, a London-based research company, said cross-border buyers pumped more than $300 million into the Valley economy from April through June of 2012.

Economist Rick Merritt with Elliott D. Pollack and Company said Canadian investors are the main source.

“There may be some commercial and industrial investments going on, but for the most part, it is in the residential markets,” he said.

“This is where these people want to park their money for a while. We have a lot of underpriced homes right now and it is certainly an attractive place for people from colder climates, that’s for sure.”

Merritt said the foreign investment money won’t dry up for some time.

“Still a couple of years off, when housing isn’t a bargain anymore,” he said. “I think we’ll see a shift and the market will go back to where it was in the early 2000s.”