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International buyers have significantly reduced their purchases of U.S. homes in the past year, yet they are paying more for residential real estate than ever before.
From April 2023 to March 2024, foreign buyers purchased $42 billion in U.S. residential properties, marking a 21.2 percent decline from the previous year, according to the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR). The approximately 54,300 existing homes sold to international buyers represent the lowest 12-month total since NAR began tracking such transactions in 2009.
Despite a decrease in the number of properties purchased, the average and median home-purchase prices paid by foreign buyers reached record highs.
The NAR report defines international or foreign homebuyers as non-U.S. citizens with permanent residences outside the U.S. or non-citizens who are recent immigrants or non-immigrant visa holders residing in the U.S. for over six months.
"Homes are priced at points higher than [international buyers] are willing to pay, especially since for a lot of them, it's not their primary residence," Matt Christopherson, the NAR's director of business and consumer research, told The Cincinnati Business Courier." They're also not finding homes available even if they're able and willing to pay."