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John and Felicia Magliula are self-acknowledged adventurers, but now that they have two young daughters, they’re settling down. Just not in New Jersey where they grew up.

“We decided we wanted to move to the Caribbean and St. Croix rose to the top when we started our research because of its diversity, its culture and vibrant agricultural community,” said Ms. Magliula, 32. “Wherever we invest and live, we want to become part of the community.”

The couple purchased a hilltop estate in St. Croix, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands, for $1.4 million early in 2022. The 4-acre property has seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms and a guest cottage that the couple refurbished for short-term rentals.

“We’ve lived in numerous places and traveled a lot, then we started investing in rental property in Denver about six years ago,” said Mr. Magliula, 38. “We have property managers in Colorado and New Mexico, so we can manage them from anywhere.”

The Magliulas aren’t alone in their interest in living and investing abroad. In fact, 92% of high-net-worth Americans actively looked at real estate overseas in 2022, according to survey data from Coldwell Banker Global Luxury’s 2022 Trend Report, and 67% of those surveyed already own residential property outside the U.S. Data from Wealth-X included in the report shows that the number of high-net-worth-individuals who purchased a home overseas in 2022 is estimated to be 14% higher than in 2021 and 29% higher than in 2019.

“We saw renewed interest among wealthy investors in international buying in 2022 in part because of built-up demand after not traveling for years,” said Michael Altneu, vice president of global luxury for Coldwell Banker Realty in Los Angeles. “Plus U.S. economic conditions were more challenging in 2022, so investors looked for strength abroad and wanted to expand their borders.”

Surging prices for homes in the U.S. and the rising cost of living in 2022 also encouraged more affluent buyers to look for opportunities overseas, according to the Coldwell Banker survey.

Social media, meanwhile, has helped make moving overseas less intimidating, said Kelly Cutchin, country manager USA for Moneycorp Americas in Orlando, Florida

“We all started to see our neighbors with homes in Portugal or Paris, which made it seem more obtainable for ourselves,” Ms. Cutchin said. “TV shows like ‘Emily in Paris’ and ‘Below Deck Mediterranean’ and ‘House Hunters International’ also gave everyone insight into how it’s possible to live overseas.”

Younger people today have more wealth than earlier generations because of inheritances and self-made fortunes, and they’re focused on diversifying their portfolios with international real estate, Ms. Cutchin said.

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“We started noticing more high-net-worth individuals looking overseas as early as 2017, especially younger people who want to move overseas and investors,” said Lief Simon, co-owner of Live and Invest Overseas with his wife, Kathleen Petticord, who split their time between Paris and Panama. “Many of the investors are looking for a vacation home that pays for itself through rental income.”

While the pandemic and its forced lifestyle changes encouraged many people to think about where and how they want to live, Mr. Simon said that some people were looking for “a place where they could bug out if the world fell apart even before Covid.”

The pandemic brought out in full force the idea that life is short, leading more people to want to embrace the idea of “what else can I do?” Ms. Petticord said.

 

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