Texas Remains Attractive To Foreign Homebuyers

The number of international buyers who purchase homes in the U.S. is down, but many who do buy are coming to Texas.

By Rhonda FanningOctober 1, 2019 2:39 pm

A new report by Texas Realtors sayd Texas is still a destination for international homebuyers, even though fewer people from abroad are buying homes in America overall.

Ryan Salchert is a reporter for The San Antonio Business Journal. He says the overall drop in foreign buyers may have something to do with the current national scope of immigration.

“With all the national dialogue on immigration right now it seems like these home sales could continue to go down,” Sachlert says. “But with that said, the realtors who are specializing in helping these foreign buyers, it seems like they’re still pretty optimistic.”

Foreign homebuyers spent $ 7.8 billion in Texas between April 2018 and March 2019. This represents a 28% drop in sales from the same period a year earlier. Texas is doing better than the national average, which saw a 31% decline in home sales to international buyers.

Texas is faring better with foreign homebuyers because it has a strong economy and continues to be an affordable place to live, according to Salchert.

“It continues to be a place where companies want to move,” Salchert says. “Jobs continue to be available and to be created, and I believe that’s why Texas represented 10% of all International home buyers last year.”

During the same period, Texas had five cities on the top 50 destinations for international homebuyers, according to Salchert. Houston leads in Texas and is fifth in the nation, followed by Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio and El Paso.

What you’ll hear in this segment:

What is causing the drop in foreign investment in the real estate market

Why Texas is doing better than the national average in sales to foreign homebuyers

Where the majority of foreign homebuyers are coming from, to Texas

How the housing markets in Texas and nationwide are expected to fare going forward

 

Written by Antonio Cueto.