Home purchases in the US by foreign buyers – both nonresident foreign buyers and foreign buyers who reside in the US – fell again in the 12-month period through March and have collapsed by 76% from the peak in 2017, to just 67,100 homes (red line in the chart). During the peak year through March 2017, foreign buyers had purchased 284,500 homes.
Purchases by foreign buyers who lived in the US plunged by 77% from the peak to 37,600 homes (dotted blue line). Purchases by foreign buyers who lived overseas plunged by 75% from the peak to 29,500 (double green line).
The record low in the annual reports on foreign buyers by the National Association of Realtors, going back to 2009, occurred in 2024.
Foreign buyers are concentrated in a subset of markets in the US, where they can play a substantial role.
Buyers from Canada were #1 with 10,700 home purchases in the 12-month period, though these purchases have collapsed by 84% from 69,100 homes at the peak in the data in 2010. And they were down by 46% from 2019.
Canadians spent an average of $486,000 per home.