Foreign buyers are pulling back from the Texas housing market, according to new data from Texas Realtors.
Between April 2023 and March 2024, approximately 6,900 buyers from other countries purchased Texas residential properties. This represented a 30% decline from the same period in the previous year.
However, Texas Realtors noted this was not a poor reflection on the Lone Star State, but part of a wider trend. The international market for homes across the U.S. was down during this reporting period – roughly 2.1% of the sales of existing homes in Texas went to foreign buyers compared to 2.8% in the previous year. Texas’ sales represented 3.2% of the total dollar volume of sales, a decline from 3.6%.
Florida led all states in international activity, with 20% of U.S. residential purchases by international buyers. Texas residential sales accounted for 13%, while California had 11%. About 37% of international buyers of Texas houses came from Mexico, followed by India (9%), China (6%), Canada (4%), and the UK (3%).
But while the median sales price for all homes in Texas ($337,500), was slightly lower during this period than the previous year, the median price of homes purchased by international buyers increased from $320,000 to $374,200. But despite the higher median purchase price, the total sales volume of $3.5 billion was down from $4.3 billion.
All-cash deals made up 29% of home sales for buyers who are recent immigrants or who hold non-permanent visas and 66% for foreign buyers who live abroad most of the year.
“Whether a person is from another country, some other part of the US, or is moving within Texas, our state has a lot to offer, from thriving large cities to charming small towns to beaches, forests, and wide-open spaces,” said Jef Conn, chairman of Texas Realtors. “Whatever a homebuyer’s goals, a Texas Realtor can provide the professional expertise and guidance to help achieve them.”
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