For a while, foreign buyers looking to purchase a home in the United States had their sights set on luxury homes, but as home prices rise and the U.S. dollar has strengthened, many foreign buyers are beginning to focus on less expensive offerings, CNBC reports.
Between April 2015 and March 2016, foreign buyers purchased $102.6 billion of residential property, a 1.3 percent decline in dollar volume from the previous survey. However, the number of properties purchased increased 2.8 percent to 214,885, and while foreign buyers may be focusing on cheaper houses, the value of homes bought by foreigners was typically higher than the median price of all U.S. homes.
Chinese buyers makeup the largest share of foreign buyers with a dollar volume of $27.3 billion exceeding the total of the next four ranked countries combined. With a median price of $542,084, Chinese buyers also bought the most expensive homes. Canadian buyers ranked second for overall dollar volume.
Five U.S. states accounted for half of all foreign buyer purchases, with Florida leading the way at 22 percent, followed by California (15 percent), Texas (10 percent), Arizona (4 percent), and New York (4 percent).
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