China’s buyers are snapping up abodes in Marco Rubio’s Florida home base, splurging US$6.1 billion on US real estate to top US list for 10th year
- Investments by buyers from China - including Hong Kong and Taiwan - rose 27 per cent in the 12 months ended March, more than any other nationality
- Florida and California were the two favourite states for Chinese buyers of US real estate, according to the US National Association of Realtors (NAR)
The Chinese topped the list of overseas buyers of US homes for the 10th consecutive year, according to the US National Association of Realtors (NAR).
The NAR, which groups together buyers from the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, said investors spent US$6.1 billion on property purchases in the 12 months ended March, an increase of 27 per from a year ago. Six out of 10 Chinese investors settled their purchases in cash.
Overall, foreign investors bought US$59 billion of residential units, up 8.5 per cent from the previous year and snapping three consecutive years of declines, according to the NAR, which represents 1.5 million members in the residential and commercial real estate industries. International buyers accounted for 2.6 per cent of the US$2.3 trillion property market during the period.
Foreigners acquired 98,600 existing homes, accounting for 1.6 per cent of the total 6.12 million units sold in the period. It was, however, the lowest purchase by overseas buyers since NAR began tracking data in 2009.
“For the second year in a row, restrictions and general caution tied to international travel during the pandemic slowed home buying by wealthier foreign buyers,” said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun.
