Foreign buying of US homes falls 14% as Chinese remain top spenders despite state curbs

The drop in foreign homebuyer activity mirrors the decline in international visitors and tourists to the US, says realty group Foreign purchases of US homes fell to their second-lowest level on record between April last year and March, although Chinese buyers remained the largest spenders as they bought higher-priced properties primarily in California, a new report found. Still, China remained No 1 in dollar volume at US$7.6 billion, indicating an average purchase price of roughly US$1 million, according to the report released on Wednesday. High prices and tight inventory outweighed a favourable exchange rate. International buyers bought 67,100 properties, down 14 per cent year on year to the second-lowest level since the association started tracking foreign buyer activity in 2009. The median purchase price was US$465,000. “Foreign buyers from Canada and Mexico – countries that border the US – bought the most housing units. However, Chinese buyers (from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan) spent the most dollars because they bought higher-priced homes, specifically in California,” Yun said.

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