Chinese buyers, flush with cash, are swooping in on California homes

Data suggests that these homes are mostly viewed as investment opportunities

Aug 4, 2025

https://www.sfgate.com/california/article/moneyed-international-buyers-california-housing-20798140.php

For years, the state of California has struggled to build enough homes to keep up with persistent demand, leading to sky-high prices that have forced families to retreat from the coast and settle further inland.

Now, according to new data, international buyers — many of whom don’t reside in the U.S. at all — are setting their sights on California’s already-limited housing stock and paying for it in cash.

According to a 2025 report from the National Association of Realtors, which tracked data from April of 2024 to March of this year, 15% of all foreign buyers who purchased a residential property in the U.S. bought in California. Fifty-seven percent of buyers who purchased property in California were from Asia/Oceania, followed by Latin America at 18%, the report said.

“It was the top destination among Chinese buyers and the second top destination among Mexican, Indian, and U.K. buyers,” the report said. Overall, during the April 2024-March 2025 period, buyers who live abroad or recently immigrated to the U.S. “made up a slightly larger share of stagnant U.S. existing-home sales,” increasing the number of international purchases for the first time since 2017. The report doesn’t say what portion of all home sales in California were to foreign buyers.

“Chinese buyers are drawn to California due to its proximity to China, business opportunities from moving to the world’s fourth largest economy, and stronger cultural ties to the population in certain markets,” Matt Christopherson, a business and consumer research director at the National Association of Realtors, told SFGATE. “Additionally, low affordability in California brings strong rental demand, presenting an opportunity for those investment buyers purchasing residential rentals.”

Chinese buyers, flush with cash, are swooping in on California homes

Data suggests that these homes are mostly viewed as investment opportunities

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