Foreign interest in U.S., Texas homes waning

​​​​WASHINGTON – U.S. home sales to foreign investors dropped in 2019 for the second year in a row, according to the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) Profile of International Transactions in U.S. Residential Real Estate report. 

Foreign interest in Texas also dropped from April 2018 to March 2019. Purchases in the Lone Star State fell from more than $18 billion in 2017 to around $8 billion this year.

Despite the drop, Texas is still a top destination for foreign buyers, accounting for 10 percent of the total $77.9 billion in nationwide purchases.

Only California and Florida had more sales to offshore buyers than Texas.

In Texas, the largest number of international home buys were by Indian and Mexican buyers.

National home sales volume to foreign buyers fell almost 50 percent from the high point of $150 billion in 2017.

Nonresident foreign buyers accounted for $33.2 billion of U.S. existing-home sales, a 37 percent decline from the prior level of $53 billion. Resident foreign buyers purchased $44.7 billion of residential property, a 34 percent drop.

Foreign buyers were able to buy 183,100 properties at a median price of $280,600. Over 40 percent of the deals were all cash.