International buyers spent $4.8 billion on Texas homes over the past year, purchasing roughly 7,780 properties even as foreign home buying collapsed nationwide. While the rest of the country saw foreign purchases drop 14% to 67,100 units and fall 19.1% in dollar volume to $45.3 billion, Texas's foreign buyer transaction count actually grew 4%, making the state one of the only bright spots in an otherwise shrinking national market.
The figures come from a Texas International Residential Transactions report covered by the San Antonio Express-News, which found that international buyers purchased 7,780 Texas homes between April 2025 and March 2026 at a median price of $375,000. That median is roughly $90,000 below the $465,000 national median for foreign buyers during the same period, according to The Title Report. Nationally, international buyers made up just 1.7% of all existing-home purchases — the second-lowest share recorded since the National Association of Realtors began tracking the data in 2009 — while foreign buyers accounted for a larger 2.3% share of total sales within Texas, per the same national tracking cited by HousingWire.
Where the Buyers Are Coming From
Mexico remains by far the largest source of foreign buyers in Texas, accounting for 35% of the state's international purchasers, the Express-News reports. Texas tied with California as the most popular state nationwide for buyers from Mexico, capturing 29% of all Mexican international home purchases in the country, according to reporting from StreetInsider.
India followed with 14% of Texas's international buyers, ahead of China at 9%, and the United Kingdom and Nigeria each accounted for 5%, per the Express-News breakdown. Texas ranked as the second most popular state nationwide for buyers from both India and China, drawing 17% of all Indian foreign buyers and 10% of all Chinese foreign buyers across the country during the reporting year, the same StreetInsider report notes. Notably, Canada — the top foreign origin country by housing units nationwide with 16% of U.S. purchases — fell out of Texas's top five buyer groups entirely, displaced by the state's surging interest from India, according to Mortgage Professional America.
Affordability and Suburban Appeal
Jennifer Wauhob said relative affordability in Texas is one reason for the state's high international interest, the Express-News reports. The state's overall median home price sat at $333,600 during the period, below the $420,800 median that international buyers paid the prior year, and below the $375,000 median international buyers paid most recently. Nearly 60% of foreign homebuyers sought properties in the suburbs, and 83% purchased detached single-family homes, according to the Express-News.
That suburban appetite lands on top of a Texas housing market already reshaped by a boom in local millennial ownership. Dallas millennial owner households grew 96.9% and Houston's grew 84.2% between 2018 and 2023, intensifying competition for single-family homes in the same suburban corridors international buyers favor, as Hoodline previously reported.
Cash Buyers and Barriers to Entry
Thirty-eight percent of international buyers paid in cash for their Texas purchases, the Express-News reports, and more than half planned to make their newly purchased home their primary residence. That aligns with a broader pattern: 62% of international buyers in Texas were already living in the U.S. as recent immigrants or visa holders rather than non-resident speculative investors, a distinction underscored in Texas REALTORS reporting cited by the Express-News.
Still, buying isn't frictionless. Twenty-seven percent of international buyers identified finding suitable property, cost, or immigration laws as barriers to purchasing a home, according to the report. Nationally, foreign buyers' overall spending decline was tied in part to lower home prices, the Express-News notes, even as Texas's relative affordability continued to draw buyers in.
A New Legal Landscape for Some Buyers
Foreign purchasing activity in Texas is now unfolding under a new legal framework. Effective September 1, 2025, Texas's Senate Bill 17 restricts foreign individuals and entities tied to designated national security risk countries — including China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea — from acquiring real estate in the state, while preserving a homestead exemption for lawful U.S. residents purchasing a primary residence, according to Duane Morris LLP. The law adds a layer of complexity for Chinese buyers, who still made up 9% of Texas's international purchasers during the reporting period despite the new restrictions.
Texas ranked as the third most desirable state for international buyers overall, trailing only Florida and California, the Express-News reports. Statewide, existing home sales reached approximately 336,000 transactions in 2025, a 1.3% year-over-year increase — meaning international purchases grew at roughly three times the pace of the broader market, according to the Texas Real Estate Research Center.
Houston's Slice of the International Market
Metro-level data shows just how concentrated some of this activity is. In the Houston area, foreign buyers spent $1.1 billion across roughly 1,900 home purchases in the 2024–2025 period, led by buyers from Mexico at 29% and Nigeria at 12%, per the Houston Association of REALTORS®. That local hub-city dynamic mirrors the statewide pattern of Mexican buyers leading purchases while smaller but significant shares come from Nigeria, India, and China.
Twelve percent of international homebuyers nationwide purchased property in Texas, the Express-News reports, cementing the state's role as one of the country's primary destinations even as the overall U.S. market for foreign buyers continues to contract. Whether that gap widens further may hinge on how Senate Bill 17's restrictions play out alongside the state's continued draw for buyers from Mexico, India, and beyond.
