I know you’ve all heard we have so many international buyers coming to Texas. This is an article from Texas A&M University’s Real Estate Research Center explaining the surge in international purchases.

International Homebuyers Add $8.32 Billion to Texas Economy

AUSTIN (Texas Association of Realtors) – According to a new report from the Texas Association of Realtors (TAR), Texas homes purchased by international homebuyers added $8.32 billion to the Texas economy between April 2014 and March 2015.

Homes purchased by international buyers accounted for 4 percent (209,000 sales) of all U.S. home sales and 8 percent ($104 billion) of total U.S. home sales dollar volume. This is a 10.15 percent decrease in international home sales but an 11.4 percent increase in international home sales dollar volume from the same time last year.

Approximately 8 percent (16,720 sales totaling $8.32 billion) of this activity occurred in Texas — a 4 percent decrease from the same time frame last year.

For the first time since TAR has been publishing this report, homebuyers from Latin America (including Mexico) were not a clear majority of international homebuyers in Texas, comprising only 41 percent. Meanwhile, homebuyers from Asia/Oceania (including China) doubled from 18 percent from April 2013 to March 2014 to 31 percent from April 2014 to March 2015.

Texas homebuying activity among European and African buyers was up from 9 percent to 15 percent and 4 percent to 8 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, Texas home sales to Canadian homebuyers decreased slightly from 5 percent to 4 percent.

Naturalized U.S. citizens in Texas continue to be significantly more likely to own a home than their native counterparts. Three in four naturalized U.S. citizens here are homeowners compared with only 63 percent of native citizens in Texas. This trend does not apply nationally, where homeownership rates among naturalized and native U.S. citizens are virtually equal. However, non-U.S. citizens are 11 percent more likely (44.3 percent vs. 33.3 percent) to own a home in Texas versus nationally.

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