Foreigner buying US real estate

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071224/real_estate_foreign_buyers.html

"Foreign Buyers Snap Up 2nd Homes in US"

One in five American realtors has sold a home to a foreign investor in the past year, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The National Association of Realtors found that 7.3 percent of the houses sold last year in Florida were sold to foreign buyers. Miami in particular is a magnet for buyers from throughout Latin America and Europe, helping to mitigate the fallout from the area's housing slump.

This article initially leads one to believe that foreign buyers are "snapping up" properties as an indication that the worries are over in the US housing market. At the end, finally:

Hammersmith Group's Valhouli stressed that the fact that international investors are helping to prop up some troubled housing markets only emphasizes the level of stress in residential real estate.

My take is that foreign buyers are simply the last to the party as is typical with a speculative mania. Sure, with the weak dollar and lower overall prices since 2005, US real estate looks attractive to outsiders. However, that will not prevent prices from falling back to fundamentals as the final paragraph states:

"Relying on foreign real estate investors is fundamentally as risky as relying on subprime mortgages," he said, noting that both phenomena distort demand and can conceal the depths of the problem U.S. home buyers and sellers face. "Foreign buyers aren't going to save the U.S. housing market. They're just a temporary fix like a finger in the dike. Fundamentals matter."

Exactly. Fundamentals matter. But how many people read to the last paragraph when the entire article is so optimistic?

One more thing. Is it just me, or is anyone else getting really tired of the phrase "snapping up" as if people are buying houses (or stocks) like children picking up candy?