A National Association of Realtors (NAR) report shows that Texas’ housing market is attracting as much attention as California’s from foreign investors and homebuyers.
The Lone Star State had the second-largest share of home purchases by people from other countries in the most recent data from a survey with real estate agents.
Texas tied with California with 12% of purchases from foreign buyers from April 2022 through March 2023. Florida (23%) had the highest share.
Foreign buyers made up about 1.8% of all home sales during the time period covered by the report, according to Realtor.com.
Texas was popular with Mexican buyers with lower home prices than other parts of the country, Realtor.com said. The Realtors’ organization said the number of foreign buyers in the state grew from 7,800 in 2022 to 9,900 in 2023, according to The Dallas Morning News.
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) estimated that 4,059 homes in Texas were purchases that originated from Mexico, the newspaper said.
“Their proximity allows for easier visits and viewing of properties among Mexican buyers, who view U.S. real estate as a strong investment,” NAR report author Matt Christopherson told the newspaper.
The research analyst also noted the soaring value of the peso compared to the dollar was a large driver of Mexican purchases.
Security is also an issue in Mexico, a local Realtor told the DMN.
“I have a couple of families here with family members that have been kidnapped over there,” Sandra Rubio, an agent with Compass’ Southlake office, told the DMN. “They are trying to get that security for the rest of the family.”
California was the top destination for Chinese and Indian buyers. Two years ago, international buyers made up 16% of the state’s existing home sales, Realtor.com reported in 2021.
“We have observed a significant decline in foreign buyers in the California real estate market post-pandemic,” Cara Ameer, an agent with Coldwell Banker licensed in California and Florida, told Realtor.com. “It has been a largely nonexistent buyer audience.”
