In July 2021, The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) held its Real Estate Forecast Summit: Global Update event, spotlighting international home sales trends over the past year. Lawrence Yun, Ph.D., NAR’s chief economist and senior vice president of research, gave a presentation entitled “International Transactions in U.S. Residential Real Estate.” According to the data he presented, the number of foreign homebuyers in the U.S. is at its lowest point since 2011 (when NAR first began estimating foreign buyer purchases). Here are some other highlights:
- We’re seeing an all-time low in foreign buyer purchases of existing homes, with a decrease of 27% by dollar volume and a 33% decrease in raw units.
- Foreign buyers purchased less than 2% of existing homes in the U.S.—the lowest figure over the last decade.
- Canada, Mexico, China, India and the United Kingdom accounted for the top five countries of origin among foreign buyers in the U.S.
- REALTORS® reported that foreign buyers purchased properties in 48 states. The states with the highest percentages of foreign buyers are:
- Florida 21%
- California 16%
- Texas 9%
- Arizona 5%
- New York 4%
- New Jersey 4%
- While total number of sales to foreign buyers are down, foreign buyers typically purchased homes at higher prices than U.S. residents did. The foreign buyer share of $1 million-plus homes is 10%, which is ahead of the 6% national buyer share.
Photo: iStock.com/invincible_bulldog
