BatchData said investors are a resilient presence in the market because they typically have cash and financing advantages, unlike other client types whose budgets have been squeezed by higher housing costs.
What’s more, despite a turbulent political environment across the US in the first half of the year, foreign investors in the real estate market are remaining largely undeterred, Waltz chief executive officer and founder Yuval Golan told Mortgage Professional America in June.
That’s because US real estate, alongside gold, is a “hard asset” that’s proven especially robust even amid wider economic volatility, he said.
About 80% of foreign investors in US real estate, he said, are “sophisticated” buyers who don’t live in the country. “These are lawyers, entrepreneurs and financiers who, if they were Americans or US-based, would have an 800 or 850 credit score,” he explained.
Investor purchases could be helping paper over the cracks of a sluggish housing market, which has seen activity drop off since 2022 amid rising interest rates and prohibitive mortgage costs.