Top 23 U.S. hotspots for international buyers

Nearly 40 percent of the 23 most-popular U.S. cities among non-American visitors to Trulia are in Florida, according to a blog the property search site launched today.

The blog, Trulia Insights, will feature data visualizations of housing data on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, the site said. The first such infographic details the U.S. cities to receive the biggest share of traffic on the site among non-American visitors in the first quarter. About 5 percent, or 1.4 million, of the site’s unique visitors during the first quarter were from abroad, Trulia said.

The site attributed the high level of interest among international site visitors to "falling (U.S.) home prices and currency exchange rates in their favor."

The most popular American cities were Los Angeles and New York, which were among the top five most-searched cities for visitors from the United Kingdom, Australia, France, Germany, Brazil, Italy, Russia, the Netherlands, Sweden, China and India.

Nine of the 23 most popular cities were in Florida with Cape Coral, Fort Lauderdale, and Miami taking the lead. That interest may be due to both deep discounts on the state’s real estate and a perception that the state is "friendlier to non-citizens," the site said.

Florida cities were especially popular with folks from Canada, the country with the biggest share of traffic on Trulia from abroad. The United Kingdom had the second-biggest share, while Australia had the third-biggest share.

One mystery in the data findings is that the fifth most-popular U.S. city for Aussies is Detroit. While cultural forces may be at play, "another theory that we’re toying with is that it’s also possible that the folks down under just love picking up homes for $40,000 a pop," Trulia said.

Most popular U.S. cities (based on percent of Trulia’s international traffic in each city):