Arizona is no longer among the top five states for foreign home buyers. That’s among the findings in the National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) annual report on international transactions in residential real estate.

Between April 2019 and March 2020, foreign buyers bought  154,000 properties in the United States. That’s 16% lower than the year before. The amount of purchases — $74 billion — was down 5% from the previous year.

Lawrence Yun, chief economist for NAR said foreign buyers and recent immigrants have become less of a force in the U.S. housing market over the last couple of years.

“A lack of housing inventory — the primary factor hindering domestic buyers – is also holding back some foreign buyers,” he said. “Additionally, less cross-border travel, falling international trade and fewer foreign students attending American universities are impacting foreign homebuyers.”

Nationwide, the biggest foreign buyers are from China, Canada, Mexico, India and Colombia. 

Their top destinations are:

1. Florida attracting 22% of foreign buyers.

2. California attracting 15% of foreign buyers.

3. Texas attracting 9% of foreign buyers.

4. New York attracting 5% of foreign buyers.

5. New Jersey attracting 4% of foreign buyers.

Arizona attracted 3% of foreign buyers in the 2020 report, down from 5% in 2019. Canadians and Mexicans make up more than half of foreign buyers in Arizona.

The report found 48% of foreign buyers across the U.S. bought homes in the suburbs, 29% bought in urban areas and 7% percent bought in resort areas. Most Chinese, Canadian, Asian Indian and Mexican buyers purchased in suburban areas while Colombian buyers purchased more central city/urban areas with 78% buying in Florida.

The NAR report is based on an online survey of 11,615 realtors between May 21 and June 24, 2020.