IINNTTEERRNNAATTIIOONNAALL
Orlando’s appeal to global real estate investors
continued to exert its influence in 2019, when 11%
of Florida’s international homebuyers opted to
purchase a home in the City Beautiful.
According to the National Association of REALTORS’®
2019 Profile of International Residential Real Estate
Activity in Florida, Orlando yet again ranks as the state’s
#2 destination of choice for international buyers. In fact,
Orlando’s market share went up by two percentage
points over last year, when it garnered 9% of Florida’s
international purchases (11% in 2017 and 12% in 2016).
“International activity accounts for a significant
percentage of Orlando’s residential real estate
transactions, and by extension the Orlando economy,”
explains ORRA President Reese Stewart, RE/MAX Properties
SW. “Calculations from the 2019 profile show that
international buyers were involved in approximately 12%
of Orlando-Sanford-Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical
Area’s 42,000 home sales and valued at an estimated $1.25
billion.”
Only the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach area,
which drew a whopping 53% of all Florida international
transactions, topped Orlando in popularity. The Tampa-St.
Petersburg-Clearwater area came in third with 7%, which is
down from 9% last year. The three cities’ order of rank are
unchanged from both 2018 and 2017.
BUYER ORIGINATIONS
Orlando area international buyers in 2019 were mainly
from Latin American and the Caribbean (55%), Europe
(15%), and Asia/Oceania (12%).
From a nation-centric perspective, those from Brazil
were involved in 28 percent of Orlando’s international
transactions, while Canadian and United Kingdom
nationals participated in 8 percent each. Venezuela
supplied 7 percent of Orlando’s international buyers in
2019.
FINANCIAL MATTERS
International buyers not only contribute significantly
to Orlando’s dollar volume statistic (12% or an estimated
$1.25 billion in 2019), they tend to purchase higherpriced
home. They are also very apt to use cash because
they might not have the required U.S. credit to obtain
a mortgage from a U.S. source. In fact, about 67% of all
Florida’s international transactions in the study period
were all-cash (equal to 67% last year), with Canadians
(77%) and Argentinian nationals (71%) most likely to have
gone that route.
INTERNATIONAL
INTRIGUE
Foreign homebuyers keep Orlando
as the state’s #2 destination for
international activity
Buyer Makeup 2019 2018 2017
Brazil 28% 20% 13%
United Kingdom 8% 7% 10%
Canada 8% 8% 12%
Venezuela 7% 8% 10%
Colombia 5% 7% 4%
China 5% 7% 7%
Mexico 4% NA 2%
Dominican Republic 4% 3% NA
France 3% 2% NA
Argentina 2% 3% 2%
PROPERTY PREFERENCES
Orlando’s international
buyers purchase properties for
both vacation and residential
rental purposes. Those from
Argentina (52%), Columbia
(35%), and Venezuela (31%) in
particular like to take advantage
of Orlando’s steady stream of
tourists and invest in a rental
property while those from
Canada (61%) and Brazil (25%)
were most likely to purchase a
property for private vacation use.
Orlando's International
12 Orlando REALTOR® Spring 2020