International Buyers of U.S. Homes real estate encountered the same obstacles Domestic buyers –Right now high price Supply is tight – but they are also under pressure from a stronger dollar, which makes these properties more expensive for them. As a result, international buyers have left.
According to a new report from the National Association of Realtors, they purchased 54,300 existing homes from April of last year to March of this year, down 36% from the previous year. This is the lowest level of international investment since NAR began tracking it in 2009.
U.S. dollar transaction volume also fell 21% from the previous year to $42 billion.
That’s because both the average purchase price ($780,300) and the median purchase price ($475,000) for foreign buyers were the highest ever in NAR.
The largest buyers in terms of volume are from Canada, China, Mexico and India. These buyers purchased the most properties in Florida, Texas, California and Arizona. According to the National Association of Realtors, Chinese buyers spent the most, purchasing higher-priced homes.
The report only counts existing home sales, and there is strong demand for new development space from foreign buyers, which is not reflected in the data.
“A stronger dollar makes international travel cheaper for Americans, but U.S. homes become more expensive for foreigners,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “As a result, foreign buyers of U.S. homes It’s no surprise that sales are down.”
But foreign buyers face additional hurdles.
“We don’t have a credit score, we have a weird name, we have a different passport,” said Yuval Golan, CEO of Waltz, a new company that aims to facilitate the purchase of U.S. residential real estate by foreigners. “Then we need to wire funds across two countries, which takes time. We also need to deal with additional foreign currency exchanges, and a lot of the title is unknown to us, such as title companies, mortgage brokers and lenders who may not know our credit and Income History.
Golan said Waltz offers foreign investors a simpler, remote experience in buying U.S. real estate within 30 days.
“We insure them in their home country, we help them set up an LLC. Within seconds, we open a U.S. FDIC-insured bank account for them, we collect payments locally, and we’re able to Seconds,” Golan added.
Waltz also acts as a mortgage lender, albeit at higher-than-market rates.
According to NAR data, international buyers currently account for only 1.3% of total U.S. home sales each year. Half of the sales to international buyers are cash transactions, while accounting for 28% of total existing home sales.
More supply is entering the U.S. market, but it remains at historically low levels, and Prices remain high.
And then there’s the upcoming presidential election. In times of political uncertainty, international buyers tend to pull back. Sales to foreign buyers are unlikely to improve in the coming year unless several factors, including the economy and politics, improve.
