Foreign buyers pulled back from the U.S. housing market over the past year, buying $45.3 billion worth of existing homes, the second-lowest level on record, according to a new report.
Foreigners bought those homes from April 2025 through March 2026, according to the National Association of Realtors 2026 International Transactions in U.S. Residential Real Estate report. That’s a 19.1% decrease in dollar value and a 14% drop in the number of properties purchased from the previous 12-month period.
International buyers purchased 67,100 properties, the second-lowest level since NAR began tracking foreign buyer activity in 2009. The median purchase price was $465,000, down from last year’s record high of $494,400. It’s the first full-year report covering the period after President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.
The decline in foreign buyer activity mirrors a drop in international visitors and tourists to the United States, NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said. Even a slightly weaker U.S. dollar over the past year, which gives foreign buyers more purchasing power, failed to spur more activity, he noted.
Canada returned as the top country of origin, accounting for 16% of foreign buyer purchases, up from 14% a year ago, followed by Mexico at 14%. China, last year’s leader, fell to third at 11%.
Chinese buyers still spent the most, with a dollar volume of $7.6 billion, reflecting an average purchase price of about $1 million.
Florida remained the top destination, drawing 20% of all foreign buyers, followed by California at 19% and Texas at 12%. New Jersey and Georgia each accounted for 4%.
Most foreign buyers lived in the U.S. Those who resided in the country as recent immigrants or on visas bought 37,600 homes, or 56% of all foreign purchases, worth $21.8 billion. Buyers who lived abroad purchased 29,500 homes, 44% of the total, worth $23.5 billion.
Foreign buyers were also more likely to pay cash. About 48% of foreign buyers paid in cash compared with 28% among all existing-home buyers.
The decline unwinds much of last year’s surge, when foreign buyers pushed purchases up 44% in the first year-over-year increase since 2017.