KXAN-TV (Austin, TX)
Texas is the 2nd most desired housing market for foreign buyers, but that money has decreased nationally over the last year, according to a new report from the National Association of Realtors®. NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said that foreign investment is slowing down due to “tight inventory” in the U.S., but that it opens up more space for domestic buyers.
“If it was the case that foreigners were a much heavier presence, I think that would have raised a tremendous amount of frustration among domestic buyers,” Yun said. “If it were 15 years ago when we had an abundance of inventory and we wanted a buyers to pick up those properties, but we are in a different environment with limited inventory.”
The NAR’s report said that the group started tracking these numbers in 2009 and that the past year saw the lowest number of homes bought by foreign entities.
“A stronger dollar makes US property more expensive [for foreign buyers],” Yun said. “Places like Texas or Florida, where we have seen some legislation introduced specifically targeting some countries like China.”
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