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Issue link: http://digital.themreport.com/i/1463706
M R EP O RT | 9 What Impact Could Russia Sanctions Have on the Housing Market? The typical Russian homebuyer in the U.S. lives on a visa in a single-family home in one of five primary states: Florida, Georgia, New York, California, and Illinois. MDWELL • The top five foreign buyers are: Canada (8% of foreign volume); Mexico (7%); China (6%); India (4%); and the United Kingdom (4%). Russia does not even place in the top 5. • International buyers purchased 107,000 residential properties totaling $54.4 billion from April 2020-March 2021; this represents just 2.8% of the $1.96 trillion of volume seen during the same period. • Russians overwhelmingly bought in five states: Florida (29% of Russian volume); Georgia (16%); New York (13%); California (8%); and Illinois (5%). • 59% of Russian buyers lived in the U.S. with a visa. • 54% purchased their property to use as their primary residence. • Single-family homes made up 55% of Russian purchases (compared to a rate of 65% of all foreign buyers) but Russians bought condos at a rate higher than average—26% of Russian purchases were condos compared to 17% of all foreign buyers. • The median purchase price for Russian buyers was $325,000, higher than the median of all foreign buyers which stands at $303,200. • Russians spent an average (not median) $652,915 on their properties compared to an overall average of $480,695 per property for foreign buyers. R ussia has been in the headlines a lot lately and for good reason—whether you call it a "conflict," or "military offensive," an "invasion," or "war," Russia's recent actions are having global consequences. Seemingly every hour, news comes out about another government or company that is closing up operations in Russia as a show of solidarity with Ukraine. Knowing this, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) rehashed it's 2021 International Transactions in U.S. Residential Real Estate Report (originally released in July 2021) to find out the impact of Russian buyers and investors on the U.S. real estate market as a whole. Even if sanctions against Russian buyers come to fruition, little impact will be seen in future market numbers. "Any decline in international real estate transactions will have little direct impact on the U.S. housing market," NAR said. "Russian foreign buyers account for less than 1% of foreign buyer purchases, and overall, foreign buyers account for about 2% of existing home sales." Statistics: