Canadians were the top foreign buyers of property in the U.S. in the past year, according to a new industry report.
The report was compiled by the Chicago-based National Association of Realtors (NAR), whose membership includes 1.5 million real estate professionals.
Meanwhile, only 4 percent of Americans looked to buy in Canada, preferring homes in Mexico (16 percent), Costa Rica (8 percent), Italy (6 percent), and Colombia (5 percent).
Canadians made up 10 percent of the foreign buyer market in the United States in 2018, and 11 percent in 2019, the report said. That number rose to 12 percent in 2020 but dropped to 8 percent in 2021.
The report said 2024 recorded the highest number of Canadians buying property in the United States since 2015, when the number was 14 percent.
Canadians spent a total of US$5.9 billion on property purchases south of the border, coming behind Chinese buyers, who spent $7.5 billion. About half of foreign home purchases in the United States were paid in cash, the report says.
Most of the home purchases Canadians made were in Arizona at 60 percent, followed by Florida at 27 percent.
Nearly half of foreign buyer purchases made in the United States are by those looking for a vacation home or rental (45 percent), the NAR report said.
NAR also said that Canadians were most likely to buy property in a resort area, with 37 percent of homes purchased by Canadians falling in a resort setting. Thirty-four percent of Canadians buy property in urban centres, compared with 16 percent who buy in rural settings, and 13 percent who purchase in suburban areas.
Chinese buyers outspend Canadians when it comes to buying U.S. homes. The average purchase price for Chinese homebuyers was $1.3 million, while the average purchase price for Canadians was $834,000, the report said.
Overall, the average price of a home that foreign buyers pay was $780,300, NAR said, which amounts to a 21.9 percent year-over-year increase.
The number of foreign buyers in the U.S. decreased overall to 54,300, which is the lowest level since 2009, according to the report.
Foreign buyers represented 1.3 percent of existing home sales in the United States, which is a 1.8 percent drop from the previous year measured. The amount that foreign buyers are paying for properties also saw a slight drop from 2.3 percent in the prior period to 2 percent in the 2024 report period.
The NAR report is based on an online survey of realtors and members of state and local associations. It was conducted between April 4 and May 19, 2024.
