01:28 PM CDT on Sunday, October 16, 2005

Associated Press

Economic and security concerns are driving more citizens from Mexico and Latin America to buy real estate in the United States, particularly in Houston.

While Miami is popular with Latin Americans for its beaches and New York for its designer stores, Houston has become a hot spot because of its affordable real estate market, upscale shops, the famed Texas Medical Center and proximity to their native countries, real estate agents said.

“With Houston being so multicultural, it attracts that clientele, especially with us being so close to the border,” said Christine Garza Rayburn, of Rayburn & Associates Realty in Houston.

Tired of Mexico’s crime and violence, Ana Luisa Sanchez moved from her home just west of Mexico City to west Houston in August. For the past decade, she flew between Mexico and Houston for shopping weekends, staying at a townhome she owned.

Sanchez decided to buy a larger summer home in suburban Houston and ended up enrolling her son in a private school and working to launch a business here.

“I always wanted to start my own business, and Houston seemed like a good place to do it,” said Sanchez, a native of Toluca.“ Mexico is not a country where I can build a business and have it grow.”

Many in Mexico’s upper class are searching for secure investments with that country’s presidential election less than a year away. They fear that if former Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wins, he could enact policies that would threaten their pocketbooks. His economic policies, criticized as populism by rivals, have been a cause of concern among the middle class and business groups.

“They tell you that ‘We want to buy something before the government changes,”’ said Mariana Saldana, president and broker of Uptown Real Estate Group in the Galleria.

Saldana frequently travels to Mexico and has developed strong bonds with her clients, attending their weddings in Mexico and helping them study for their driving tests in the United States.

Last year, she sold three times as many luxury condominiums and homes as in 2003, Saldana said.

Most clients preferred gated communities, Saldana said. Buyers like the security provided by gated communities and high-rises manned by guards.

This year, Saldana expects sales to outpace those of 2004, with some growth generated by concerns about crime and the upcoming election in Mexico.