Foreign Buyers Pull Back From U.S. Homes as Costs Climb

An earlier version of this story appeared in CNBC’s Property Play newsletter with Diana Olick. Property Play tracks emerging and shifting opportunities across the real estate investment landscape, from individual buyers to venture capital firms, private equity funds, family offices, institutional investors and major public companies. Sign up to get future editions delivered directly to your inbox.

International buyers are retreating from the U.S. housing market at a notable pace, even as one corner of the homebuilding industry continues to attract strong interest from overseas purchasers.

Purchases of existing U.S. homes by foreign buyers fell significantly from April 2025 through March 2026, with transaction volume down 14% and total dollar volume sliding 19% compared with the previous 12-month period, according to the National Association of Realtors’ annual report.

Foreign buyers purchased about 67,100 residential properties in the year ending in March, marking the second-lowest total since NAR began tracking international homebuying activity in 2009. The median sale price for those transactions was $465,000.

“The decline in foreign home buyer activity mirrors the decline in international visitors and tourists to the United States,” NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement. “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.