Houses in Orchard Hills in Irvine, California, on Tuesday, May 28, 2024.
Paul Bersebach | Orange County Register | Medianews Group | Getty Images
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Foreign buyers are pulling back sharply from U.S. residential real estate, but one segment of the nation’s homebuilders is still seeing strong international demand.
Sales of U.S. existing homes to foreign buyers from April 2025 through March 2026 dropped 14% in unit volume and 19% in dollar volume compared with the 12 months prior, according to an annual report from the National Association of Realtors.
International buyers closed on roughly 67,100 properties during the 12 months ended in March, which is the second-lowest amount since NAR began tracking this metric in 2009. The median price for foreign sales was $465,000.
“The decline in foreign home buyer activity mirrors the decline in international visitors and tourists to the United States,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the NAR, in a release. “Even a slightly weaker U.S. dollar over the past year, which provides more purchasing power for foreigners, did not induce more activity.”
The Realtors do not include sales of newly built homes in the data, and there are no specific numbers, as these sales are harder to track. Researchers at John Burns Research & Consulting, however, monitors foreign activity through anecdotal commentary and observations in sales offices.
“Although the overall volume of new home sales to international buyers has decreased recently, the luxury segment remains relatively strong,” said Scott Wild, a principal at JBREC. “In the Southern California city of Irvine, for example, the luxury new home market continues to be driven by buyers from outside the county, particularly affluent buyers from China, many of whom are purchasing homes with cash. Irvine homebuilders continue to directly target foreign buyers and market their highest-end communities internationally.”
Of the nation’s big public builders, luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers has the overall strongest brand with foreign buyers, according to Wild.
“Toll Brothers often markets their luxury homes internationally and does an excellent job tailoring model homes to appeal to specific buyer groups from outside the U.S.,” he said, adding that international homebuyers shouldn’t be viewed as a single market, as trends vary substantially between wealthy investors, households seeking to establish residency and highly skilled professionals relocating for work.
“These homebuyer groups are responding to different economic and policy factors,” Wild said.
The biggest drop in buyers has come from highly skilled workers coming to the U.S. on H-1B visas and similar employment-based programs, according to Wild, who noted that these buyers have shown strong new home demand in technology-driven markets, but shifting immigration and visa policies create uncertainty that directly affects their ability and willingness to purchase homes here.
Canadians accounted for the largest share of foreign home purchases in the U.S. last year, at 16% of international sales, up from 14% the year before. Chinese buyers, who previously led in international sales by number of transactions, dropped to third place behind Mexican buyers, but spent the most dollars because they purchased more luxury homes, particularly in California.
“Florida, with its beaches and favorable winter climate, continues to be the top state to draw foreign buyers,” said Yun.
