National Association of REALTORS® 2013 Profile of International Home Buying Activity

Purchases of U.S. Real Estate by International Clients for the Twelve Month Period Ending March 2013

Lawrence Yun, Senior Vice President Jed Smith, Managing Director, Quantitative Research

Gay Cororaton, Research Economist June 2013

I. INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY ............................................................................................................ 2

International Sales: $ 68.2 Billion in 12 Months Ending March 2013 ..................................................... 2

Specialized Expertise: Important in International Transactions ............................................................ 6

II. REALTOR® EXPERIENCE IN SERVING INTERNATIONAL CLIENTS.............................................................. 7

Number of International Transactions ................................................................................................... 7

III. THE CHOICE TO BUY AND ISSUES AFFECTING BUYERS ......................................................................... 13

IV. INTERNATIONAL BUYERS: ORIGINS AND PURCHASES ......................................................................... 14

Countries of Origin ................................................................................................................................ 14

Type of Property and Use ..................................................................................................................... 17

Prices and Financing ............................................................................................................................. 19

Destination: Property Location and Type of Area ................................................................................ 22

International Buyers by State ............................................................................................................... 23

Profile of Top 5 Buyers by Country ....................................................................................................... 26

Canada .................................................................................................................................................. 26

China ..................................................................................................................................................... 28

Mexico ................................................................................................................................................... 30

India ...................................................................................................................................................... 32

United Kingdom .................................................................................................................................... 33

V. CONCLUSIONS ....................................................................................................................................... 35

APPENDIX: Methodology for Estimation of International Sales .................................................................. 36

Note on NAR’s Commercial & Global Services Group .......................................................................... 37