56% of these purchases were by people who legally reside in the US but who are not US citizens. And the remaining 44% were by foreign buyers who live abroad.

Here are the top 5 countries of origin:

• China: 15%; 11,700; $13.7 billion

• Canada: 14%; 10,900; $6.2 billion

• Mexico: 8%; 6,200; $4.4 billion

• India: 6%; 4,700; $2.2 billion

• United Kingdom: 4%; 3,100; $2 billion

And here are the top 5 destinations:

• Florida: 21%

• California: 15%

• Texas: 10%

• New York: 7%

• Arizona: 5%

What is clear is that foreign demand has fallen dramatically since 2017. This is likely due to stronger capital controls on money leaving China, a stronger US dollar, rising home prices, and other factors. It's worth noting that this data is up until March 2025 — so right before "Liberation Day." It'll be interesting to see the effects of the current geopolitical climate on next year's data.

Also interesting is the fact that if you go back to the 2008 financial crisis, Canadians made up almost a quarter of all foreign buyers. Let's call it 2008 to 2013. This is not surprising. Our economy fared better during the crisis and the Canadian and US dollars were near parity. It was an ideal time for Canadians to buy and, those who did, ultimately benefited from USD appreciation.

Foreigners buying homes tends not to be politically popular, especially when people are concerned about housing affordability. So I can't imagine that too many people are fussed by the fall off in demand since 2017. Still, it's a bellwether for global capital flows, confidence in the US economy, and wealth being created — or not be created — abroad.

Charts from the National Association of Realtors; cover photo by Colin Lloyd on Unsplash

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