The real estate market in São Paulo recorded a continuous growth in the last 20 years. If we consider the total of 10,434 units launched in 1992 and 54,059 in 2012, we see that the growth was 418% in the period. This shows that the housing market during these 20 years, has always grown and matured so. The factors that helped in this process were the stabilization of the inflation that reached 1158% in 1992, to the current 5.84% in 2012, besides the system of housing finance was largely facilitated through government policies, helping the less wealthy class to purchase its own house.
In the market place, we noticed an equilibrium between supply and demand where almost 100% of what was produced was eventually sold over the years.
In relation to foreign investment in the Brazilian real estate market in 2012, it is estimated nearly R$ 10 billion (around U$ 5 billion) came from abroad, with the vast majority coming from investors in the United States and Europe. The expectation is that this year the scenario will repeat and even grow compared with the past year.

Source: Article of “O Estadão” of june 14th, 2013