• Asians, Canadians, Europeans and Latin Americans are eager to buy houses in the U.S.
• Buyers from outside the U.S. bought 8.9% of the homes purchased in the U.S. between March 2011 and March 2012, based on purchase prices, according to the National Association of Realtors.
• The international buyers are about evenly split between investors and recent immigrants and visa holders who live in the U.S.

Plowing money into real estate may sound like a risky venture to many Americans. But to growing numbers of foreigners, U.S. housing has never seemed a smarter investment.