Foreigners snaffling realty as greenback slumps

Canadian retiree Sheldon Kovensky felt the lure that attracts so many foreign buyers to sunny Florida these days - falling prices for luxurious oceanfront condos that can be bought with weak US dollars.

Kovensky has been scouring south Florida from Miami Beach to Palm Beach in search of a three-bedroom apartment on the sand. Armed with a Canadian dollar that has gained 25 percent against the greenback in the past two years, he is expecting a big bargain.

"We're hoping to get an apartment worth about a million (US dollars) that I can purchase for about 20 percent less," he said by phone from his home in Unionville, Ontario, as he faced digging out from a snowstorm.