LITERATURE REVIEW: INTERNATIONAL REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT, PURCHASING BEHAVIOR, AND
Literature is reviewed in relation to the purchasing behavior of individuals with respect to the acquisition of real estate. As a part of this review, literature related to international real estate investment is examined, as are purchasing behavioral models. Cultural socialization models are examined in the context of the formation of values and attitudes that affect purchasing behavior.
International Real Estate Investment
The most significant trend in international real estate investment in the early 1990s involves the increasing acquisition of real property in the United States by non Americans. The great hue and cry with respect to foreign investment in the United States emphasizes the acquisition by foreign buyers of American business enterprises and American real estate (Burritt, 1991, pp. 60 66; Levine, 1989, pp. 117 118; Gilder, 1990, p. 60). In actual fact, however, foreign investment in American financial instruments dwarfs that in the operational ownership of business enterprise and the ownership of real property (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1991, pp. 51 54; Standard & Poor's, 1992, p. 101; Herr, 1989, pp. 22 30). In this context, a differentiation is made between the acquisition of the operating control of a business enterprise and the purchase equity shares (common stock) in such enterprises. In 1990, the last full year for which data are readily available, foreign investment in the operational ownership of American business enterprise totaled $73.1 billion, and foreign investment in the ownership of American real estate totaled $34.6 billion, while that in the capital markets soared to $296 billion two and three quarters times the combined foreign investment in the operational ownership of American business enterprises and foreign ownership of American real estate (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1991, pp. 77 78).
Real e...