California top destination for Indian residential property buyers in US: Survey

California was the top destination for residential property purchases by Indians, who made up 7% of foreigners buying homes in the US, a study showed.

Indians bought 5,900 homes in property deals valued at $3.4 billion in the year to March 2023, the study released by the US National Association of Realtors this month said.

California was followed by Pennsylvania, Texas, and Alaska, the study showed. Illinois and North Carolina were the other states where Indians bought residential real estate.

Florida was the top destination for overseas buyers, the study said, with almost half of these buyers coming from Latin America and about a quarter from Canada

The research showed that foreign buyers often pay in cash due to tight competition and differing currency exchange rates. However, only 15% of Indian buyers paid in cash as most of them (88%) live in the US and can get a mortgage.

The survey also showed that Indians were the most likely to purchase a home for residential purposes, at 65%, with three-fourths of Indians buying a property in a suburban area.

Half of all foreign buyers bought the property for use as a vacation home, rental property, or both.

Indians mostly bought detached single family homes in the US, making up 61% of their purchases. They also bought townhouses (16%), other types of properties (13%), and residential land (6%).

Meanwhile, Indians made up 4% of the foreign sellers of residential properties in the US. This list was dominated by the Chinese, followed by the Canadians.

The study was based on an online survey of 150,000 entities and local associations that included non-US citizens, recent immigrants, and non-immigrant visa holders who have resided for more than six months in the US.