Responsible for $53.3 billion in residential purchases during April 2022 to March 2023, foreign buyers purchased 84,600 existing homes throughout the country. In that time frame, Florida led as the top destination with 23% of transactions, according to a recent International Transactions report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
Florida was followed by California and Texas, both with 12% of transactions. North Carolina and Arizona also ranked as top destinations, each with 4% of transactions. Compared with 89% of all existing-home buyers, 76% of foreign buyers purchased a detached single-family home or townhome, and 50% purchased a property for use as a vacation home, rental, or both.
Of those purchases, 42% paid all cash, compared with 26% among all existing-home buyers, and 45% of foreign buyers purchased in a suburban area. The foreign buyer median purchase price for April 2022 to March 2023 was $396,400, compared with $384,200 for all U.S. existing homes sold.
While 51% reside in the U.S. as recent immigrants of less than two years at the time of the transaction or non-immigrant visa holders, buyers from China and Mexico led the buyer pool at 13% and 11%, respectively. China was responsible for $13.6 billion in transactions and Mexico at $4.2 billion.
Additional top origination locations for foreign buyers outlined by the report include Canada at 10% with $6.6 billion in purchases; India at 7% with $3.4 billion in purchases; and Colombia at 3% with $0.9 billion. In Florida, 46% of the 23% buyer share were from Latin America, while 24% were from Canada.
The report was based on an online national market survey during April 3 to May 8, in which a total of 7,425 Realtors responded and 951 reported an international residential foreign buyer. Information about the characteristics of international clients is based on the most recent closed transactions of the respondents during the 12-month period of April 2022 to March 2023.
