Foreigners are buying real estate in the United States at a record pace

Фото: Depositphotos

Foreign nationals and recent immigrants invested a record $153 billion in U.S. home purchases over 12 months, despite currency exchange rates and political uncertainty. This is stated in a study by the US National Association of Realtors (NAR) for the period from January 1 to March 31, 2017.

The increase compared with the previous period amounted to 49%. In total, foreigners bought 284,5 thousand property items in the US (an increase of 32%). In dollar terms, their purchases increased to 10% of the total secondary housing market from 8% a year earlier.

“Political and economic uncertainty at home and abroad has not stopped foreigners from increasing home purchases exponentially,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun.

For the fourth year in a row, the Chinese were the main home buyers in the United States among foreigners, setting a new record at $ 31,7 billion. In addition, Canada’s real estate demand increased significantly: during the 12 months that ended March, they bought houses US record-breaking $ 19 billion against $ 8,9 billion a year earlier, when sales to Canadians fell by more than 20%.

According to Yun, Canadians are choosing expensive real estate in the United States, which, however, is cheaper than comparable objects in Canada, where prices have risen to an extreme level in recent months. The top 5 also includes the British, who spent on housing in the US $ 9,5 billion, Mexicans ($ 9,3 billion) and Indians ($ 7,8 billion).

On average, foreigners paid $ 302,3 thousand for a house or apartment in the United States, which is 9% more than last year. At the same time, the average price on the American housing market as a whole was $ 235,8 thousand. The difference between these amounts is partly due to the fact that foreign buyers tend to buy housing in large, expensive metropolitan areas.

About 10% of foreign buyers purchased housing worth more than $1 million. The most popular states among foreigners remain Florida (22% of transactions), California and Texas (12% each). Moreover, while Canadians prefer Florida, the Chinese most often choose California, and Mexicans prefer Texas.

Lawrence Yun believes that “even the strengthening of the US dollar against many currencies and the constant rise in housing prices do not stop foreigners from considering the United States a safe place to live, work and invest.”

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