Foreclosure filings in the US rose 48% on the previous year in May, providing further evidence of a deepening housing market slump.

“While the U.S. housing market is still searching for its bottom, the situation is much livelier just south of the border.” says Sara Nunnally in Taipan Daily. “Mexico’s housing sector is seeing a strong resurgence.”

Most of this recovery - for it is a recovery, and we’ll talk about that in just a minute - is in vacation or recreational properties. And despite the cooling investments in the U.S. housing market, Mexico is seeing investment growth.

In 2005, foreign investment in Mexico was $17.6 billion. In 2006, that number was around $20 billion, with resort and vacation property investment holding more than 25% of total investment. In fact, in the first half of 2006, 500 acres of new resort property on the Pacific Coast was snapped up for $125 million.

The market for vacation and recreational properties in Mexico is booming, with $5.3 billion of foreign investment flowing into these properties just last year. Most of the activity is centered on new markets such as Puerto Peñasco and San Felipe in Baja
California, but we’re also seeing new growth in well-known areas like Puerto Vallarta and Los Cabos.

For example, one gentleman in Los Cabos has well over $100 million in property sales to his credit: condos, villas, homes, home sites and commercial resort properties…

Many buyers are coming from America. Twenty-five percent of U.S. citizens living abroad are living in Mexico. That’s about 1 million Americans - quite nearly an invasion.

Folks in Southern California can retire just over the border to Baja California and buy a comparable home for 20% less than U.S. market prices. An estimated 78.2 million people are on the edge of retirement, and a 20% savings on a retirement home with great views sounds pretty tempting.

With billions of dollars in foreign investment being pumped into Mexico’s economy, there’s been a full-blown real estate revival that extends to low-income, affordable housing.

The market for vacation and recreational properties in Mexico is booming, with
$5.3 billion of foreign investment flowing into these properties just last year.
Real estate, especially in the residential arena, may be among the country’s hottest sectors.

With the scorching hot resort and vacation industry in Mexico, you may be tempted to buy your own retirement home down there. The country has made it a lot easier, and less risky, to do so.

Investors are now protected by U.S. title insurance, bonded escrow accounts, extensive title searches, and Fideicomisos, which is a renewable Mexican property trust established specifically to protect foreign investors.

You have all the rights of a property owner in the U.S. or Canada, including the right to enjoy the property, to sell, rent, or to improve the property, whatever you want to do.

If you’re a real-estate investor, Mexico is a great emerging-market for you to consider.