International Home Buying Activity in the US

This 15-page report is the most comprehensive research NAR has ever conducted on the characteristics of U.S. home purchases by international clients. The top five countries of origin for foreign buyers over the past year were Mexico, the United Kingdom, Canada, India and China. Most were purchasing vacation homes. For a copy of this full report email me at christa@liveinternationlly.com.



Barriers to purchasing U.S. property.
While foreign buyers in general view U.S. real estate as
a good investment, REALTORS® surveyed expressed concerns about the increasing difficulty
foreigners face in entering the U.S. Many of those concerns relate to visa restrictions and
immigration regulations. One of the largest barriers is the ability for foreigners to be able to stay
in the U.S. over six months at a time. In addition, some lenders are reluctant to finance nonresident aliens with common visitor visas. Another obstacle is that foreign nationals do not have enough U.S. credit. As noted in the survey analysis, a larger percentage of international clients purchase their homes with cash, and so they find it challenging to obtain a loan that is predicated on a good FICO score.