Foreign buyers dig Gulf Coast

The Gulf Coast residential real estate market scored a big victory in a new study of international home buying activity.

In fact, according to DataQuick and Inman News, the Gulf Coast's three metro areas all make the top 10 list of where foreign buyers purchased homes for most of 2011. DataQuick is a San Diego-based real estate data analysis firm, and Inman News is a real estate news company, based in Alameda, Calif.

The study analyzed homes purchased in 97 major metropolitan areas nationwide from May 2011 through January where a foreign mailing address was on the buyer's property deed.