Sales to International Buyers Down 21 Percent

WASHINGTON, D.C. – (By Dale King, Realty News Report) — International homebuyers who once reveled in the prospect of owning a dwelling in the U.S. as either a permanent residence, vacation spot or just a stopover location are spending more of their time and money in non-American locales – and have been for quite a while, says a report just issued by the National Association of Realtors.

NAR’s “2024 International Transactions in U.S. Residential Real Estate” research piece says international buyers purchased $42 billion worth of U.S. residential properties from April 2023 to March 2024, down 21.2 percent from the prior year. The tally of 54,300 existing homes sold – the smallest number ever recorded since NAR began keeping records in 2009 – slid 36 percent from the year before.

NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun speaks at a press conference.. Photo Credit Ralph Bivins, Realty News Report Copyright 2024

“The strong U.S. dollar makes international travel cheaper for Americans but makes U.S. homes much more expensive for foreigners,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in the report. “Therefore, it’s not surprising to see a pullback in U.S. home sales from foreign buyers.”

The retreat in residential purchasing by folks born outside the U.S. was also fueled by some of the same obstacles encountered by Americans trolling the homes-for-sale marketplace, Yun added. “Historically low housing inventory and escalating prices remain significant factors in constraining home sales for American and international buyers alike.”

While on the subject of escalating prices, the NAR report points out that both the average ($780,300) and median ($475,000) purchase prices for foreign buyers were the highest ever recorded by NAR.

And apparently it didn’t come as a surprise, said Yun. “The increase in prices for foreign purchasers reflects the overall price increase for all U.S. existing homes, which climbed to $392,600.”

In the report, the term international or foreign client refers to two types of purchasers:

Non-resident foreigners: Non-U.S. citizens with permanent residences outside the U.S. They purchased $19.4 billion worth of existing homes, down 35 percent from the 12 months prior and accounting for 46 percent of the dollar volume. International buyers accounted for just 2 percent of the $2.1 trillion in total U.S. existing-home sales during that period.
Resident foreigners: Non-U.S. citizens who are recent immigrants (less than two years at time of transaction) or non-immigrant visa holders who reside for more than six months in the U.S. for professional, educational or other reasons. The group acquired $22.6 billion worth of U.S. existing homes, a 3.4 percent decline from the previous year. Their financial investment represents 54 percent of the total dollar volume of purchases.

At $1.3 million, Chinese buyers notched the highest average purchase price, with 25 percent of them acquiring property in California. In total, 18 percent of international buyers bought real estate worth more than $1 million between April 2023 and March 2024.

Canada again led all countries of origin in the share of foreign buyer purchases of U.S. existing homes at 13 percent, followed by China and Mexico (11 percent each) and India (10 percent).

China was first in U.S. residential sales dollar volume at $7.5 billion, continuing a trend going back to 2013. Canada ($5.9 billion), India ($4.1 billion), Mexico ($2.8 billion) and Colombia ($0.7 billion) rounded out the top five.

For the 16th consecutive year, Florida remained the top destination for foreign buyers, accounting for 20 percent of all international purchases. Texas (13 percent) and California (11 percent) were second and third, respectively, followed by Arizona (5 percent) and Georgia, New Jersey, New York and North Carolina at 4 percent each.

“Fostering economic investment in culturally dynamic communities, businesses, and industries is a top priority for NAR” said Alex Escudero, the Realtor group’s director of global strategy. “Our work provides members and their communities with tools, resources and data to identify and highlight international investment opportunities in U.S. real estate.”

“As the largest economy in the world and a land of immigrants,” he added, “the United States attracts people from across the globe who want to live, work and study here. International clients are an important market niche served by Realtors.”

Since 2009, NAR has conducted an annual survey of its members to measure the volume of U.S. residential real estate transactions with international clients, gather information on the origin, destination and buying preferences of international clients and identify the challenges and opportunities faced by Realtors in serving foreign clients.

The NAR report is based on an online survey conducted from April 4–May 19, 2024. It was sent to 150,000 randomly selected Realtors and to members of state and local associations. A total of 17,060 Realtors responded, with 1,407 of them reporting they have conducted business with international residential foreign buyers.

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