Mexican Dream is alive and well
Sure the American mortgage market may be all but flatlining, but that's actually given the housing market south of the border a healthy boost. Dan Grech explains.
A sale sign hangs outside a residence in Mexico City. (Susana Gonzalez/Getty Images)
More on Housing - Real Estate, International, Canada, Mexico
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Doug Krizner: We've been talking a lot about the mortgage meltdown in the U.S., but this dark cloud has a silver lining — at least south of the border. Mortgage loans to U.S. Baby Boomers retiring in Mexico is expected to double next year. From the Americas Desk at WLRN, Marketplace's Dan Grech has more.
Dan Grech: Time was, if you wanted to buy a home in Mexico, you had to pay cash.
Then two years ago GE began to offer a product called The Mexican Dream. It was a 30-year mortgage, in dollars, at a competitive interest rate.
Even as the U.S. credit market tanks, GE expects loans to hit $95 million dollars next year.
Ilyce Glink: There's been a tremendous realization that you can get a lot of value for your dollar down south.
That's syndicated real estate columnist Ilyce Glink, publisher of ThinkGlink.com. She says U.S. mortgage troubles aren't likely to infect Mexican beachfront communities.
Glink: People who can afford to buy in Latin America typically aren't the people who have a lot of credit trouble. So you're not seeing people who are stretched to the limit, who are buying with nothing down, who are concerned about refinancing.
As the American market plummets, more U.S. lenders are expected to join GE in search of profits abroad.
I'm Dan Grech for Marketplace.
