A new study from a real estate trade organization finds that Texas is more than a popular destination for American transplants – it now scores third in the U.S. for foreign home buyers as well.
The National Association of Realtors ranked the Lone Star State behind Florida and California respectively, after roughly 215,000 homes worth a total of $102.6 billion were purchased nationwide over the past year. Though Canadian and Chinese nationals dominate the market generally, Texas exhibits particular popularity among Mexican and Indian investors too.
Among the five most popular states (Arizona and New York included), Texas attracted balanced buyers with respect to nationality. The Realtors report that 36 percent of buyers hailed from Latin American or Caribbean nations, compared to 34% Asian. Only 12 percent of buyers represented European countries. Although Florida displayed similar proportionality, Arizona, California and New York saw far more dominant trends from Asians and Canadians.
Ranking ninth in the group’s top 20 housing markets nationally, the Houston metro area proved to be most popular among Canadian, British, Mexican, Australian and German buyers. The number 16 ranked Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex saw similar popularity among the same nationalities.
The five states alone made up 51 percent of all foreign investments for the year ending in March 2016.
The report notes a disruption in the purchasing trends between resident and non-resident buyers. The latest figures indicate that 59 percent of buyers were resident in the United States, compared to previously even investment patterns.
Noncitizens can generate high sales commissions for real estate agents as well. The median contract price for homes was $277,380. Roughly half of all foreign transactions were cash deals. Overall, Chinese investors claimed $27 billion in real estate.
Detached single-family homes represent 65 percent of all purchase types, compared to 29% being condominiums and townhouses, nationally. Residential land purchases hardly register at two percent of all transactions.
The report, available in full here, was distributed by the National Association of Realtors, a 1.1 million member organization. The trade group notes that it is the largest of its kind in the United States.
Logan Churchwell is the Assistant Editor and a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. You can follow him on Twitter @LCChurchwell.
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