19  Foreign investors also perceived these countries as attractive locations to invest in real estate, although the impact of their investment on house demand and prices in the countries is unlikely to be widespread. A recent survey of international real estate investors found that Australia, Canada, Sweden and several other countries represent the “most stable and secure” environments for real estate investment.
(See Foreign Investment Survey, Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate, January 2013.) The IMF, in a review of existing – albeit scarce – evidence, concluded that the impact of foreign investors on real estate prices is not pervasive, but is limited to certain urban markets and at higher price ranges.