Foreign Buying of U.S. Homes Fell 19%. Florida Still Took One in Five of Those Deals.
NAR's new international report shows a smaller, more selective pool: 48% pay cash, Canada and Mexico lead, and Florida remains the number one destination.
Updated Oct 15, 2026: corrected the Amendment 3 detail for newcomers. If it passes, people who are not Florida residents on December 31, 2026 get the larger homestead exemption starting with their fifth year of exemption.
The National Association of REALTORS® released its international buyer report on July 29. Foreign buyers purchased $45.3 billion of U.S. existing homes from April 2025 through March 2026, down 19.1% from $56 billion, across 67,100 homes, down 14% from 78,100. Florida was the top destination at 20% of purchases, ahead of California at 19% and Texas at 12%.
Who is buying
- Canada led with 16% of foreign buyers, about 10,700 homes and $5.2 billion.
- Mexico followed at 14%, about 9,400 homes and $5.0 billion.
- China was 11% of buyers but the largest by dollars at $7.6 billion, averaging roughly $1 million per property.
- India at 9% and the United Kingdom at 4% round out the top five.
“Even a slightly weaker U.S. dollar over the past year, which provides more purchasing power for foreigners, did not induce more activity.”National Association of REALTORS®, Jul 29, 2026
My read
A Miami seller reading the national headline will assume the international buyer is gone. Read the local line instead. Florida captured a fifth of every foreign purchase in the country, Canada and Mexico together are 30% of the pool and both are core Miami feeder markets, and nearly half of these buyers close in cash. The pool got smaller and more selective, not absent. In practice, international buyers are asking harder questions about carrying costs, condo reserves and, for anyone who will not be a Florida resident by December 31, 2026, the four-year wait for the larger homestead exemption if Amendment 3 passes. If your listing is priced and documented for that buyer, you are competing in a thinner field than last year. For Canadian clients, my cross-border toolkit has the FIRPTA and residency-day math; I found no verified change to either in this period.
Currency, FIRPTA withholding, financing versus cash and a guide for each country, in one place.
Open the international toolkit →
