Foreign buyers still active?

[daedalus]

Question for the people in the industry.  A few years ago the amount of purchases from FCBs was notable and often mentioned.  I do not see it mentioned at all anymore.  Is the buying activity today much more concentrated in "domestic" buyers?  If so, is it because of China's crackdown on allowing money to leave the country?  Or are there other reasons?  Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[Kenkoko]

Not someone in the industry. But I think the overall stat tells a compelling story regarding FCBs.

According to the NAR, foreign investments lifted home prices in select U.S. markets, have declined in the last three years. Foreign inflows had been steadily increasing from $66 billion in 2009-2010 to $153 billion in 2016-2017, but have since dropped to $74 billion last year (2019-2020)

Chinese investments in U.S. housing have followed that pattern, falling from nearly $32 billion in 2016-2017 to $11.5 billion (2019-2020)

It's evident in the recent Irvine home prices. It's up but less than many other SoCal cities on a % basis.

I think it's fair to say that if we had 2016 level of FCBs buying in Irvine, we'd see a bigger pop in Irvine home prices.