Texas claimed second place with 13 percent, followed closely by California at 11 percent and Arizona at 5 percent. The fifth spot was shared by Georgia, New Jersey, New York, and North Carolina, all garnering 4 percent of overall foreign investments.
Teresa Kinney, CEO of the Miami Association of Realtors, was not surprised that Florida once again took the top spot for international real estate purchases. “Florida has always been strong in this area, and, in fact, Miami makes up nearly half of that entire market,” she told The Epoch Times.
Kinney noted that 47 percent of all international home sales in Florida happen in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach region. In addition, one in five of all U.S. global home sales take place in Florida and one in two are in the Miami metropolitan area.
Last year, investors from 52 countries purchased real estate in south Florida, representing about $5.1 billion. Latin American buyers represent the largest group investing in Florida at 35 percent, followed by North American buyers at 27 percent, and Europe and Asia/Oceania tied at 19 percent.
In addition to the obvious attractions—the warm weather and beaches—Kinney mentioned world-class shopping, sports, art shows, and restaurants as other reasons people from all over the world flock to Florida. “Miami has often been voted the most unique international place in the world,” added Kinney. Other distinctions for this cosmopolitan city include “happiest city in the U.S.,” the “third tallest skyscrapers in America,” the “fifth best place to watch sunsets,” and the “sixth best skyline.”
“Bon Appetit Magazine even named us the ‘Best Food City of the Year’ in 2023,” she said.
At the end of June, the Miami Association reported a median single-family home sales price of $657,000 in the Miami-Dade region. Condominiums and townhomes in that same area showed a median sales price of $420,000.
Kinney herself was a transplant from Missouri, moving to the area some 31 years ago. “Miami was my number-one choice,” she recalled. “And just like the weather, the people here are very warm and welcoming.”
While foreign investments over the last year—April 2023 to March 2024—represented 54,300 purchases of $42 billion American properties, the NAR indicates those numbers dropped by 21.2 percent this year. In fact, there was a 36 percent slide from the previous year’s global purchases and the fewest since 2009.
“The strong U.S. dollar makes international travel cheaper for Americans, but makes U.S. homes much more expensive for foreigners,” said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun. “Therefore, it’s not surprising to see a pullback in U.S. home sales from foreign buyers.”
The top five countries for international buyers were Canada, China, Mexico, India, and Columbia. Canadians were the largest group of buyers at 13 percent, but Chinese buyers spent the most at $7.5 billion. The average property investment—$780,30—was the highest ever recorded by the NAR.
Chinese buyers also had the highest average purchase price at $1.3 million, with 25 percent purchasing property in California. In total, 18 percent of international buyers bought properties worth more than $1 million.
International buyers comprised those who were holding visas allowing them to live in the United States and those who lived abroad. “Historically low housing inventory and escalating prices remain significant factors in constraining home sales for American and international buyers alike,” Yun added.
The NAR report also noted that 45 percent of foreign buyers purchased a property for use as a vacation home, a rental, or both, and 76 percent bought a detached single-family home or townhouse. Suburban areas were preferred by 45 percent of foreign buyers.
The NAR indicated that half of all international buyer transactions were all-cash sales, compared to just 28 percent of all existing homebuyers. The NAR report found that non-resident foreign buyers, at 68 percent, were more likely to make an all-cash purchase than resident foreign buyers, at just 36 percent. More than two-thirds of Canadian and Chinese buyers made all-cash purchases, the highest shares among the top global buyer nations.
Overall, home prices in many U.S. metro areas are relatively inexpensive compared to prices in the central areas of other global cities. As of June, Hong Kong lists the highest price per square meter at $18,845, compared to the highest U.S. price per square meter of $10,650 in the San Jose/ Sunnyvale/Santa Clara, California region. Singapore is a close second at $17,610, followed by Zurich at $17,495. This second and third most expensive costs per square meter in the U.S. are California’s Anaheim/Santa Ana/Irvine region at $7,900 and San Francisco/Oakland/Hayward area at $7,520.
Potential global buyers who decided against purchasing properties in the United States overwhelming cited property costs and not being able to find a suitable property as the main reasons why they did not make a purchase. Other reasons included the inability to move funds or obtain financing, condo maintenance fees, property and insurance costs, and immigration laws preventing foreigners from living in the United States continuously year round.