Purchases by Chinese, Canadian, and British buyers have collapsed. Foreign buyers matter in some key submarkets.

By Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET.

Home purchases in the US by foreign buyers – both nonresident foreign buyers and foreign buyers who reside in the US – fell again in the 12-month period through March and have collapsed by 76% from the peak in 2017, to just 67,100 homes (red line in the chart). During the peak year through March 2017, foreign buyers had purchased 284,500 homes.

Purchases by foreign buyers who lived in the US plunged by 77% from the peak to 37,600 homes (dotted blue line). Purchases by foreign buyers who lived overseas plunged by 75% from the peak to 29,500 (double green line).

The record low in the annual reports on foreign buyers by the National Association of Realtors, going back to 2009, occurred in 2024.

Foreign buyers are concentrated in a subset of markets in the US, where they can play a substantial role.

Buyers from Canada were #1 with 10,700 home purchases in the 12-month period, though these purchases have collapsed by 84% from 69,100 homes at the peak in the data in 2010. And they were down by 46% from 2019.

Canadians spent an average of $486,000 per home.

The report does not provide data on foreign owners who sold their US homes. But from the sporadic reporting on sometimes desperate sales last year and this year by Canadians who’d had it up to here with the US, one might venture to guess that Canadians turned into net-sellers.

Buyers from Mexico purchased 9,400 homes in the 12-month period through March, down by 69% from the peak of 30,100 homes in 2010 and down from 15,900 homes in 2019. They spent an average of $532,000 per home.

Buyers from China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan purchased 7,400 homes in the 12-month period, largely concentrated in some areas of California.

Purchases have collapsed by 82% from the peak of 40,600 in 2017. Back in 2010, when Canadian and Mexican purchases peaked, Chinese buyers were still climbing the ladder.

But they spent on average $1.03 million per home, given the sky-high home prices in their favored California markets. And so in dollar-terms, at $7.6 billion, they were #1 in the 12-month period.

All major US brokerage firms actively pitch US homes to buyers in China. Compass promotes US homes in China through via its Mandarin website Compass China and Mandarin-speaking agents in the US. Compass acquired Anywhere Advisors, the parent of Coldwell Banker, Century 21, and Sotheby’s, that also pitch US homes in China. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices entered China at the peak in 2017 via a marketing agreement with Juwai.com, to pitch US homes to buyers in China. Back in 2017 and 2018, the sky was still the limit.

Buyers from India purchased 6,000 homes, down by 65% from the peak of 17,300 homes in 2015 and from 9,700 homes in 2019.

They spent an average of $617,000 per home as the buying is concentrated in expensive tech areas of the US.

Buyers from the UK purchased 2,700 homes, spending on average $444,000 per home. Their purchases have collapsed by 90% from the peak of 27,100 homes in 2010.

By market, the biggest three states accounted for about 50% of the foreign purchases: Florida remained #1 with a share of 20% of foreign purchases. California was #2, with a share of 19% of foreign purchases. And Texas was #3 with a share of 12% of foreign purchases.

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