US homes find fewer foreign buyers as rising costs and a strong dollar leave market in record slump
Sales of U.S. homes to foreign nationals have fallen to the lowest level in more than a decade, hampered by a strong dollar and many of the hurdles that have kept the housing market in a deep sales slump for over two years
LOS ANGELES — Sales of U.S. homes to Chinese, Canadian and other foreign buyers have fallen to the lowest level in more than a decade, hampered by a strong dollar and more hurdles that have kept the housing market in a deep sales slump for over two years.
Some 54,300 previously occupied U.S. homes were purchased by non-U.S. citizens in the 12 months ended in March, according to a report this week by the National Association of Realtors.
That’s the fewest homes sold to foreign nationals in data going back to 2009. Sales were down about 36% compared to the same period a year earlier.
Those transactions from April 2023 through March of this year totaled $42 billion, a 21.2% decline from the prior-year period, NAR said.
“International buyers face the same difficult market challenges as domestic buyers — lack of inventory, higher mortgage rates, the affordability condition,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “On top of that, for many international buyers the stronger dollar was not in their favor.”
The U.S. housing market has been stuck in a slump since 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. Existing home sales sank to a nearly 30-year low last year as the average rate on a 30-year mortgage surged to a 23-year high of 7.79%, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac.
The average rate has mostly hovered around 7%, limiting home shoppers’ purchasing power. At the same time, the supply of homes for sale, though rising in recent months, remains close to historic lows. That’s
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