California was the top destination for Chinese nationals looking to purchase homes in the United States this past year, according to a new study by the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Buyers from China became the top foreign investors in the U.S. real estate market, in terms of both volume and dollar value, during the period of April 2024 through March 2025.

The study, published this month, found that five states—Florida, California, Texas, New York, and Arizona—were the most popular destinations of foreign buyers purchasing houses.

California was largely popular among buyers from China, making up 36 percent of existing-home purchases in the United States by Chinese citizens. Maryland and New York were the next two top destinations, both at 9 percent of sales to Chinese buyers.

According to the report, California became the second-most popular destination for foreign buyers, with a 15 percent share, up from 11 percent the year before. This was mainly due to an increase in Chinese buyers, the majority of whom tend to buy in urban and suburban areas rather than rural areas, the report states.

“Home prices in many U.S. metro areas are comparatively inexpensive compared to prices in the central areas of global cities,” the report states.

Houses in California’s Los Angeles and Long Beach metropolitan area average $4,890 per square meter of space. Meanwhile, houses in the San Jose and Santa Clara area may see average prices around $11,440 per square meter.

As for large cities in other countries, London is on the low end, with homes costing around $9,296 per square meter, which is nearly double that of Los Angeles homes. On the high end are cities like Hong Kong, where a house can sell for around $21,150 per square meter of space, costing twice to five times as much as in California metro areas.

Chinese buyers were also the most likely to buy using all cash, as 71 percent of their purchases were in cash. In comparison, buyers from India tended to opt for mortgage financing, as most already resided in the United States and were purchasing a house to use as their primary residence. Chinese and UK buyers were the most likely to buy homes for student use, according to the data.

People from China made up 15 percent of foreign buyers. They spent $13.7 billion on a total of about 11,700 houses in the United States, representing an 82.7 percent increase in spending from the previous year’s $7.5 billion.

This increase in overseas real estate investment comes as China continues to see a slowdown in its own housing market, which began struggling in 2021.

Meanwhile, Canadian buyers spent around $6.2 billion on around 10,900 residences in the U.S. housing market, which is less than half of what Chinese buyers spent, according to the report. The other top foreign homebuyers were those from Mexico, India, and the United Kingdom, who spent between $2 billion and $4.4 billion.

However, foreign buyers accounted for a very small portion of the total existing-home sales, around 1.9 percent, during this time frame. Foreign buyer purchases totaled 1.3 percent in the previous period.

Despite the slight increase in home sales among foreign buyers, the overall housing market remains slow.

“Stubborn and stagnant mortgage rates, raised in efforts to combat inflation, have kept many homeowners locked into their properties and rates, keeping these properties off the market and home sales slower,” NAR stated in the report.

The Epoch Times reached out to researchers from NAR for more details on the findings.

On the national level, land purchases by Chinese nationals have become a security concern for federal officials.

Earlier this month, the Agriculture, Defense, and Homeland Security departments held a joint press conference announcing a plan to ban Chinese ownership of U.S. farmland, citing potential national security risks. The plan seeks to create an online filing system for foreign entities to report to the Department of Agriculture their transactions and holdings in the U.S. agricultural marketplace.

The department also plans to work with Congress to pass laws to prevent foreign adversaries from purchasing or controlling American farmland.