Texas home sales from international buyers added $18.66 billion to the Texas economy from April 2016 through March 2017, according to the Texas International Home Buyers Report released today by the Texas Association of Realtors.
Texas ranked second among U.S. states for international home sales volume.
“This surge in international home sales activity underscores the growing reputation Texas has as a global destination for owning a home or investment property,” said Vicki Fullerton, chairman of the Realtor group. “The state’s low unemployment, diverse industry base and world class higher education institutions are just some of the reasons why international residents seek to attend college, raise a family or do business in Texas.”
There were 34,135 international home sales in Texas between April 2016 and March 2017, a 59% increase from the same time frame last year and 12% of the 284,455 international home sales nationwide. Second only to Florida, Texas joined California, New Jersey and Arizona as the most popular states for international home buyers. The sales dollar volume of $18.66 billion from foreign home sales in Texas during this time frame is almost double from last year’s report.
In recent years, the ratio of Texas home buyers from Latin America (including Mexico) compared to the rest of the world has narrowed. From April 2016 to March 2017, home buyers from Latin America and Asia/Oceania (including China and India) each constituted approximately 40% of international home buying activity in Texas.
Texas had the highest volume of home buyers from Mexico of any state from April 2016 to March 2017, with nearly half (43%) of Mexican home buyers who purchased a home in the U.S. choosing Texas. 11% of international home buyers were from China.
