The Texas housing market is hot — and not just for local buyers. The 2021 edition of the Texas International Homebuyers Report, recently released by Texas Realtors, shows that the Lone Star State was once again the No. 3 U.S. market for international buyers, despite a pandemic-fueled slowdown of the segment.
"The pandemic had a significant impact on the number of foreign homebuyers over the last year," says Marvin Jolly, chairman of Texas Realtors, in a release. "Even so, Texas remained one of the top destinations for people around the world to purchase a house [in the U.S.]. International homebuyers continue to choose Texas because they recognize the strength of our economy, abundance of investment opportunities, and attractive cost of living."
From April 2020 to March 2021, nearly 10,000 Texas homes were purchased by international buyers, the report shows, representing 9 percent of all international home sales in the U.S. Total Texas home sales to international buyers were valued at $4.9 billion during the time period.
And where did those buyers come from? Forty-two percent of those who bought in Texas were from the Latin America/Caribbean region, and 30 percent were from the Asia/Oceania region, the report says. Texas was also the top destination for international homebuyers from Mexico, with 29 percent of U.S. home purchases from Mexico taking place in the Lone Star State.
Nationwide, international home purchases decreased 31 percent in the most recent time period, compared with April 2019-March 2020, down from 154,000 to 107,000 sales. Like in years past, only Florida and California were hotter markets than Texas.
The Lone Star State also shines in the commercial sphere. According to the National Association of Realtors, Texas tied with California as the No. 2 most popular destination in the U.S. for international commercial real estate transactions in 2020. No. 1 was Florida.
-Arden Ward of CultureMap Houston