Florida, and Miami in particular, was among the most popular markets for foreign buyers of U.S. homes.
Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesForeign purchases of U.S. homes dropped to the lowest level since 2013, a boost for domestic buyers at a time when inventory has been tight.
Foreigners bought $74 billion in U.S. residential real estate in the year ended in March, down 5% from the prior year and the third straight year of declines, according to a report released Thursday by the National Association of Realtors.
Chinese government control over foreign purchases, slowing global growth and a stronger dollar all contributed to the reduced foreign investment in U.S. housing, NAR said. The dollar reversed course this summer and recently hit a two-year low against a basket of other currencies, which could make U.S. homes less expensive to overseas buyers.
The report doesn’t include the effect of the pandemic, which caused home sales to plummet this spring before recovering in June, NAR said. Brokers and economists say foreign purchases likely continued to fall this spring and summer due to limited travel, uncertainty about school reopenings and increased immigration restrictions.
Competition for U.S. homes is strong, as low mortgage rates have boosted demand and the supply of homes for sale has remained low. In the week ended July 25, the inventory of homes for sale was 26% below year-earlier levels, according to Zillow Group Inc.
“Foreigners stepping away is not hurting the domestic market currently,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “It helps the domestic buyers have a better chance.”
Purchases by foreign buyers made up 3% of existing-home sales in the year ended in March. Foreign buyers tend to concentrate in high-end markets in coastal cities like New York, Miami and Los Angeles, and they can have an outsize effect on prices in those markets. The median purchase price for foreign buyers in the year ended in March was $314,600, NAR said, compared with $274,600 for all U.S. sales of previously owned homes.
Foreign residential real-estate purchases climbed steadily between 2011 and 2017, peaking at $153 billion in the year ended March 2017. About 60% of foreign buyers in the past year were recent immigrants or foreigners who live in the U.S., while others bought U.S. homes as investment properties or vacation homes, according to NAR.
The largest drop in the year ended in March was among buyers from China, who purchased just $11.5 billion worth of U.S. homes during that time period, a 14.7% decline.
The most popular destination for foreign buyers was Florida, followed by California and Texas.
In Austin, Texas, properties have been in high demand in recent years from India-based investors, who tend to pay all cash, said Jillian Rose of Kuper Sotheby’s International Realty. During the pandemic, those investors have paused their buying due to travel restrictions and concerns about the virus, she said.
“It’s not just uncertainty in the U.S., I think it’s uncertainty in the world is causing them to wait,” she said.
Write to Nicole Friedman at nicole.friedman@wsj.com
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