The countrywide hot housing market exists despite a massive reduction in foreign investment over the course of the pandemic. Loosened travel restrictions may reignite foreign interest in U.S. real estate — pushing home prices even higher in certain markets in the process.
On Monday, the White House announced that it would begin to allow international travelers to come to the U.S. if they could show proof of COVID-19 vaccination and of a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of their departure. Since the pandemic began, travel restrictions have remained in place prohibiting entry to most international travelers from parts of the world with high levels of COVID transmission.
These travel bans haven’t just hurt the hospitality sector — it’s also led to a significant downturn in international investment in U.S. real estate. International buyers only purchased 107,000 residential properties in the U.S. between April 2020 and March 2021, a 31% decrease from the previous year, according to data released in July by the National Association of Realtors. It represented the lowest level of foreign investment in a decade.
“There was a 31% decrease in the number of homes bought by foreign investors over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The downturn was especially prominent among the top buyers of U.S. real-estate. China, Canada and Mexico regularly rank among the five largest buyers of American homes and condos, but the dollar volume of investments from these countries dropped by 50% or more this year.
“We’ve seen in the major markets a tremendous decline in foreign investments primarily due to…