A new report from the National Association of Realtors has just been released, and it shows that overseas buyers purchased $92.2 billion of United States real estate last year. But which overseas buyer grabbed the most? That would be the Chinese, who are the biggest foreign buyers of U.S. real estate, scooping up 72 percent of the purchased amount over the 12 month period. That equates to $22 billion.
This big surge in the buying of U.S. real estate was driven by the rich Chinese who were looking for safe and secure places for their families and fortunes. During the 12 months that the report focused on, a yearly period that just ended this past March, overseas buyers of U.S. real estate were up 35 percent, with the rich Chinese leading the way. Even though these foreign purchases only make up 7 percent of the total home sales that occurred nationally over this yearly period in the United States, the real estate locations that were bought were primarily high-end, more expensive homes in states like Florida, California, Texas, and Arizona.
“Foreign purchasers are interested in U.S. real estate for a variety of reasons: as a place to live for those relocating in the U.S., for a job or for children going to college, for investment and portfolio diversification, and for vacation purposes,” according to the National Association of Realtors report.
Canada was second with $13.8 billion in deals. Tied for third place, $8 billion behind Canada, were the United Kingdom and India, who each spent $5.8 billion.
Chinese buyers spent the most on individual properties. The average price that Chinese buyers paid paid was $590,826, and more than half of their purchases were in California, Washington and New York.
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