Strong Dollar Curbs International Buyers of US Homes

Housing

Published: July 13, 2015 12:05 pm

Last Updated: April 28, 2020 5:36 am

In the first four months of 2014, 2.5% of all homes sold in the United States were sold to foreign buyers. In the same period in 2015, that percentage dropped to 2.0%, down by nearly a fifth. Total U.S. home sales rose by 9% year over year for the same period.

According to a report in June from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), three-quarters of real estate agents reported that foreign exchange rates have a moderate to very significant effect on their foreign buyers.

Five countries account for 51% of all home purchases by foreign buyers: Canada, China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan), Mexico, India and the United Kingdom. And just four states account for half of all international sales: Florida, California, Texas and Arizona. More than 55% of international sales are all cash. According to the NAR report, unit sales of homes to foreigners declined by 10% in the 12 months between April 2014 and March 2015.

Eurozone countries experienced the largest currency decline compared with the dollar, down 23% in the four-month period from January through April 2015, compared with the same period in 2014. Sales to eurozone buyers dropped 32%. The Australian dollar fell 16% year over year and U.S. home sales to Australian buyers fell 24%. The British pound lost 10% compared with the greenback and purchases by U.K. buyers fell by 29%.

In each of the past three years, Chinese buyers have dominated the international sales numbers. Chinese buyers purchase homes valued at an estimated $12.8 billion in 2013, $22.0 billion in 2014 and a projected $28.6 billion in 2015. The Hong Kong dollar actually has appreciated against the U.S. dollar, and the Chinese yuan had changed little until equity prices began to collapse last month.

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Hardest hit by the strong dollar are Canadians, who have seen the loony depreciate by 12% and who have cut their home buying in the United States by 34%. Almost half of sales to Canadians were located in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Palm Beach area, where home prices have risen as much as 8% year over year, according to CoreLogic. Coupled with a depreciating currency, the cost of house in south Florida jumped from 20% to 25% between the first four months of 2014 and the same period this year.

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