Interest in Bermuda real estate is strong from overseas, say realtors looking for a boost in business from a recent change in property laws that will make more homes available to foreign buyers.Rego Sotheby’s International Realty has noticed thousands of people from North America and Europe browsing over properties featured on its website this year.In June, an amendment to land-holding laws that will enable Bermudians to sell to non-Bermudians, immediately doubled the inventory available to overseas buyers.While the change has yet to see results in terms of sales being closed during what is traditionally a quiet time of year for real estate deals, interest is brewing.This week, Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates vice-president Peter Turtzo flew in to visit the Rego Sotheby’s office and explained how he saw what was going on in the Bermuda market.“The recent changes have had a very significant positive impact on the real estate business in Bermuda and because of the new opportunities, more people are able to sell or buy at levels they would not have been able to before,” Mr Turtzo said.“Bermuda has been attracting a lot of interest on our website from overseas. The numbers for the first seven months of this year are well into five digits. The main countries of origin are the east coast of US and Canada, the UK and Germany.”Technology is changing the way people hunt for homes, Mr Turtzo added.“Over 90 percent of home buyers begin their search online,” he said. “Many of them are looking at lifestyle as part of their search, for example boating, or water view.”That kind of search was helping to direct house hunters to Bermuda, even those who might have known nothing about the Island.Online translation tools made the real estate market even more accessible to those from overseas. The Rego Sotheby’s website enables browsers to select from nine different languages for the reading of listings.Technology has improved the availability of information too. “When the consumer sends an e-mail to a real estate agent, we find they know nearly as much about the market as the agent,” Mr Turtzo said.Realtors are hoping that the change in the law, which also increases he minimum annual rental value (ARV) of a property that is eligible to be sold to a foreigner from $153,000 to $177,000, will give the market a badly needed shot in the arm.Buddy Rego, president of Rego Sotheby’s International Realty, said the total number of properties sold declined by about 40 percent between 2009 and 2011.However, single detached homes had held their value well around the $1.1 million to $1.2 million level, since the 2008 global financial crisis. “What has changed is the number being sold,” Mr Rego said. “Those that have been sold have done so at the same level for the past four years. It’s the condo sector where we’ve seen the biggest declines.”Condominiums sold at an average price of $630,000 in 2008, compared to $480,000 this year, Mr Rego said, representing a decline of nearly 24 percent.He added that the imminent general election was causing some Bermudians to hold off buying. Job security issues and tighter lending policies by banks were also having a dampening effect on the market. Some buyers were also not committing to deals because they were waiting for prices to fall further, he said.“People who are having a problem committing are those who are wrongly, in my opinion, waiting for the bottom of the market,” Mr Rego said. “I think we are seeing that the price of Bermuda detached homes is holding very, very firm, while in the condo market, this is a very good time to buy.”Mr Turtzo said Bermuda was an attractive place to live, but foreign buyers would have to weigh up whether the roughly one-third premium they were required to pay would be worth it. Overseas buyers, as well as Permanent Residency Certificate (PRC) holders, have to pay 25 percent of the purchase price for a licence to buy a property (or 18 percent for a condo), plus stamp duty on top of that.Reducing or eliminating the licence fee would significantly stimulate the market, in Mr Rego’s opinion. “There’s a lot of pent-up demand from PRCs,” he said.