IINNTTEERRNNAATTIIOONNAALL
INTERNATIONAL
MATTERS
Orlando — yet again — attracted droves
of foreign homebuyers and retained the
state’s #2 spot for international activity
The charms of our City Beautiful continue to allure
homebuyers from around the globe. In fact, Orlando
held steady in 2018 as the #2 destination of choice
for Florida’s international homebuyers, according to the
National Association of REALTORS’® 2018 Profile of International
Residential Real Estate Activity in Florida.
Approximately 9.4 percent of all of Florida’s international
homebuyers opted to purchase a property in Orlando
during the profile’s August 2017 to July 2018 study period.
(Orlando drew 11 percent of Florida’s international activity
in the study’s 2017 period and 12 percent in 2016).
Only the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach area,
which drew a whopping 53.7 percent of all Florida international
transactions, topped Orlando as a desired destination
for international homebuyers in 2018. The Tampa-St.
Petersburg-Clearwater area came in third with 9.0 percent.
Those rankings are unchanged from both 2017 and 2016.
International activity accounts for a signification percentage
of Orlando’s residential real estate transactions,
and by extension the Orlando economy. The profile’s
results show that foreign buyers were involved approximately
11 percent of the Orlando-Sanford-Kissimmee
Metropolitan Statistical Area’s 44,000 home sales during
the study period.
BUYER ORIGINATIONS
Orlando area international buyers in 2018 were mainly
from Latin American and the Caribbean (47 percent),
Europe (18 percent), and Asia (15 percent). From a nation
centric perspective, those from Brazil were involved
in 20 percent of Orlando’s international transactions, while
Canadian and Venezuelan nationals participated in 8
percent each. China, Columbia, and the United Kingdom
each supplied 7 percent of Orlando’s international buyers
in 2018.
Several countries made their first appearances on
Orlando’s list of major foreign buyers in recent years: the
Dominican Republic, Bolivia, France, and the Russian
Federation.
Orlando's International
Buyer Origin 2018 2017 2016
Brazil 20% 13% 19%
Canada 8% 12% 8%
Venezuela 8% 10% 7%
China 7% 7% 4%
Colombia 7% 4% 4%
United Kingdom 7% 10% 15%
Argentina 3% 2% 4%
Dominican Republic 3% - -
Bolivia 2% - -
France 2% - -
Russian Federation 2% - -
Germany - 2% 3%
Italy - 3% -
Haiti - 2% -
Mexico - 2% -
India - 2% -
Israel - 2% -
Peru - 2% -
United Arab Emirates - 2% -
All Other Countries 31% 28% 29%
12 Orlando REALTOR® Spring 2019