US real estate is increasingly becoming international. Foreign buyers and immigration are expected to drive the home sales as well as prices. A growing number of immigrants results in increasing US population, and affects the local real estate activities. Of the 321.4 million residents in the US, 278.1 million are native Americans, while the remaining 43.3 million are foreign born. Immigrants affects rents and real estate prices much more than local labor market. An expected 1 percent rise in a city's population leads to a 1 percent increase in rents, while an unexpected 1 percent rise results in as high as a 3.75 percent growth in rents. In 2012, 40 million immigrants contributed about $3.7 trillion to US real estate market. The majority of foreign buyers are coming from China in recent years. Read more here.