Non-Resident Home Sellers in the U.S.

Non-resident foreign home sellers in the U.S. market sold a collective $10.5 billion worth of homes in 2015, an increase from the $8.4 billion in 2014, reports the Internal Revenue Service.

Canadians, Germans, Japanese, and residents of the United Kingdom accounted for the greatest share of all non-resident foreigner home sellers in the nation in 2015, at 57 percent; Canadians were the biggest group. According to Zillow's analysis, the average sale price from these sellers were typically in the mid-$300,000s, with the highest being $328,732 (Canadians), and the lowest being $313,345 (U.K. residents).

The average price of real estate sold by non-resident foreigners in 2015 was $402,321 – more than double the value of the median U.S. home that year ($181,400 as of December 2015). The IRS withheld $922.3 million worth of real estate taxes from these transactions. The average price of real estate sold by non-resident foreigners varied widely across groups. The countries with the highest average sale price tend to be small financial havens.

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