News > Blog Article > U.S. Real Estate: Tourist Interest in …
The major U.S. cities have been enjoying healthy tourism rates for a number of years, annually hosting significant amounts of visitors both domestic and international. The big American cities have always been popular, but two in particular have been witnessing record highs in the number of tourists choosing to visit their city, and those numbers don’t show signs of slowing down any time soon.
Popularised in film and television and known worldwide for being one of the most important cities on the planet, New York’s tourism sector is never slow. Tourism rates have been steadily rising since 1991, going from 29.1 million visitors to a staggering 48.8 million visitors in 2010, with a total of US$31.5 billion spent by those visitors. But in 2014 a new record was set: an incredible 56.4 million tourists visited the city.
The increase in tourism has led to a strong development push in New York City, with an extra 22,000 hotel bedrooms estimated to be completed by 2018 in order to cope with the rising influx of visitors.
The story is similar further south in Miami. According to the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, around 14.6 million tourists visited Miami in 2014, contributing upwards of US$23 billion to the Miami economy. While the numbers don’t reach those of New York, 14.6 million still stands as an all-time record for the city of Miami, and this is reflected in the average hotel rate, which jumped 5.8% in 2014 to just over US$185.
In terms of real estate investment, these numbers are significant. Tourism can have a massive knock-on effect on the value of a city’s property, helping to enhance the value of the city as a whole. The increase in visitors to both these cities will result in more rigorous citywide development, aiming to provide more amenities for the tourists who are paying money to be there, amenities which are in turn funded by the money brought in by tourism – the increase in hotel room numbers mentioned above is a good example of this. This boost in construction - new shopping districts, hotels, restaurants, museums etc. - adds value to a city’s existing property because those properties now have access to amenities that were previously unavailable. Miami alone has recently seen an increase in the number of shops, banks, restaurants and cultural sites, including a brand new contemporary art gallery coming in 2017.
On a more basic level, more tourism also means more international interest in the city as a whole – this includes interest in the possibility of finding permanent accommodation. Boosted tourism helps encourage large real estate investment from abroad, which often leads to more development and house price increases, therefore making existing property more valuable. In Miami, for instance, 20,000 new apartments have been built in the last decade as a response to the city’s rising popularity and subsequent prosperity.
With interest in New York and Miami on the rise, now is the time to invest in real estate. Visit the Bricksave website to browse our New York and Miami properties.
by Bricksave CEO, Tom de Lucy
Investing carries risks, including loss of capital and illiquidity. Please read our Risk Warning before investing.
