Major International Buyer Groups in U.S. Real Estate

According to the National Association of Realtors, Chinese homebuyers are still the number one international buying group of U.S. residential properties.

From April 2017 to March 2018, Chinese homebuyers accounted for 15 percent of all international buyer home purchases, and the median purchase price was about $493,100, down from $529,900, whereas the overall median foreign buyer price was $292,400, the NAR's data show. The survey results suggest that Chinese homebuyers were not negatively impacted by the diminishing inventory of available homes on the lower-end of the market or rising home prices. The major destination for these buyers was California, with 37 percent of purchases.

Canadian and Mexican buyers tend to purchase at the lower price segment, so they were more affected by the decreasing supply of homes for sale below $250,000. The median purchase price among Canadian buyers was $292,000, while the median purchase price among Mexican buyers was $189,100, which are below the median purchase price among all foreign buyers of $292,400. With U.S. home prices ramping up since 2012, the share of Canadian buyers has declined from 24 percent in 2012 to 12 percent in the latest survey year.

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