Eliza Theiss Key Takeaways:
- NYC residents bought 77% of homes sold in the first half of the year, down from 81% a decade ago.
- More than one in 10 homes in the city are sold to out-of-state buyers.
- Nearly 1 in 10 NYC homes were purchased by in-state buyers from outside NYC.
- Nearly half of out-of-state buyers are New Jersey, California or Florida residents.
- The number of New Jersey buyers has dropped significantly in the last decade.
- Foreign buyers represented just one in 50 out-of-state sales in 2024, down from 1 in 10 in 2014
- Nevada buyers increased their NYC real estate spending tenfold, North Carolina residents elevenfold.
- Floridians were the most active out-of-state buyers in the city’s luxury sector.
- Buyers from Massachusetts tripled their spending on NYC luxury real estate.
- Nassau County buyers were the most active in-state buyers from outside NYC , followed by homeowners from Westchester and Suffolk counties.
Considering the unique events of recent years and the shifts they brought to New York City’s real estate market, we investigated how the city’s buyer mix looks in 2024 and how it has changed compared to 10 years ago.
By analyzing residential sales recorded in the first halves of 2024 and 2014, we discovered an evolving landscape of shifting buyer preferences. For example, New Jersey residents may still be the most active out-of-state buyers in NYC, but their numbers have dropped significantly.
Conversely, Californians’ interest has grown becoming the second-most active out-of-state buyers in 2024, outpacing Floridians. Nevertheless, high-end buyers from the Sunshine State retained their lead in the city’s luxury market, spending $150 million on NYC homes worth $3 million or more, while Massachusetts buyers nearly tripled their luxury home expenses in the last decade.
Crucially, the number of international buyers has fallen off: While buyers with non-U.S. addresses accounted for every tenth NYC home sold to out-of-state buyers in 2014, today, they represent just 2.25% of the out-of-state buyer pool. In fact, even Delawareans outspent buyers with addresses outside the U.S., investing $62 million versus the $61 million laid down by foreign buyers. By comparison, foreign buyers infused the NYC real estate market with $367 million in the first half of 2014.
1 in 5 Out-of-State Buyers from New Jersey, 1 in 8 from California
Buyers from all but two states came to NYC in the first half of the year, although 11 states — including Kansas, Hawaii and Montana — supplied buyers for no more than five properties, each. Conversely, just four states secured at least 100 buyers in the first half of the year — Connecticut, Florida, California and New Jersey.
New Jersey buyers remained in the lead with 345 deals in the first six month of the year, but their numbers have decreased compared to 2014. So, while New Jerseyans represented 27.6% of out-of-state buyers a decade ago, today, they account for 19%. Accordingly, the infusion of New Jersey cash into the NYC real estate market also declined by $47 million to total $441 million in in the first half of the year.
At the same time, Californians upped their presence in the local real estate market: A decade ago, buyers from California represented just under 10% of out-of-state buyers, whereas, today, their share has inched up to 13.4%. Even more significantly, Californians spent $352 million in just six months, $107 million more than in the first half of 2014.
As a result, Floridians slipped to the #3 spot for out-of-state buyers, despite a growing number of buyers. Specifically, between January and June of this year, Floridians accounted for 219 sales — 12% of out-of-state deals — worth a combined $315 million. For comparison, a decade ago, 189 buyers from Florida spent $286 million on NYC real estate.
Connecticut was the only other state to see more than 100 buyers pick up NYC properties, although fewer residents invested here: They now represent 6.5% of out-of-state buyers compared to 7.3% a decade ago. Connecticut residents also spent $32 million less, paying out $147 million for NYC homes.
Massachusetts Residents Nearly Doubled NYC Real Estate Spending, Illinoisans Focus On Lower-Priced Homes
The stream of Texan buyers remained about the same compared to 10 years ago, hovering around 5% of out-of-state buyers. That said, Lone Star State residents closed $20 million more in real estate deals this year. Meanwhile, Pennsylvanians accounted for 4.6% of NYC’s out-of-state buyers in 2024, slightly up from 4.3% a decade ago. However, Keystone State residents seem to have reoriented toward somewhat lower-priced properties, closing $94 million in residential sales — $1 million less than a decade ago.
On the other hand, Massachusetts residents nearly doubled their spending on NYC real estate in the last decade. After paying $88 million in 2014, they’re up to $174 million this year as the number of Massachusetts buyers rose by a nearly one-third over the last decade
Not to be outdone, Nevadans spent 10 times more in 2024 and North Carolinians 11 times more. So, while buyers from the Nevada spent just $4.8 million on NYC real estate in 2014, that total rose to $48 million 10 years later, fueled almost exclusively by luxury sales. Specifically, they were behind $40 million in NYC luxury real estate deals in the first half of this year, but 10 years ago, there were no luxury buyers with Nevada addresses.
Similarly, North Carolinians spent only $4.5 million 10 years ago but totaled $52 million in the first half of this year with only four times as many buyers. North Carolina’s numbers were also significantly elevated by luxury sales worth nearly $20 million. By contrast, there were no luxury buyers with Nevada addresses a decade ago.
At the other end of the spectrum, Illinoisans bought slightly more NYC homes this year than a decade ago but spent much less. Current Illinois buyers seem to prefer lower-priced properties, spending $48 million in the first half of this year as compared to $85 million a decade ago. Illinoisans’ current luxury-buying patterns also show this shift, totaling $25 million in the first half of this year compared to the decade-ago $65 million.
California Spends 39% More on Luxury Homes Than a Decade Ago, Massachusetts Triples Budget
The city’s luxury sector saw the number of out-of-state investors grow in the past 10 years, increasing from 13% of closed deals to nearly 17%. Among them, Floridians represented the most active cohort of out-of-state luxury buyers. More precisely, Floridians accounted for 17% of out-of-state deals above $3 million — higher than their share in the overall market, reaffirming Florida buyers’ preference for high-end properties. In fact, nearly half ($141 million) of Floridian real estate funds in NYC went to high-end properties.
Meanwhile, Californians increased their presence in the city’s luxury sector as well and to now account for 15% of out-of-state buyers — up from 12% a decade ago. This in turn also brought a $40 million increase to their total spending on luxury real estate.
At the same time, New Jersey buyers pulled back from NYC’s luxury sector, although not quite as much as in the overall market. But New Jersey residents are now focused on higher-priced luxury properties, having spent spent nearly as much on NYC luxury real estate this year ($149 million) as they did in 2014 ($152 million), despite their number dropping by one-third.
Similarly, Massachusetts luxury buyers seem to have also reoriented themselves toward more expensive residences and tripled the amount spent on properties of $3 million or more. Specifically, high-income Massachusettsans spent $37 million on luxury homes in 2014 and $104 million this year. So, while the number of luxury buyers from the Commonwealth State rose 40%, their budget nearly tripled.
Florida, California, New Jersey and Massachusetts were the only states whose residents spent more than $100 million on NYC luxury real estate.
1 in 10 Homes Picked Up by In-State Buyers from Outside NYC
However, when it came to in-state buyers, the number of NYC residents buying homes in NYC ticked down throughout the last 10 years, slipping from 81% to 77% of the city’s buyer pool. This was mainly driven by the uptick in out-of-state buyers, although the share in-state buyers outside of NYC also inched up to represent one in 10 new homeowners.
That said, Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan residents accounted for most NYC sales. Queens (3,247 sales) and Brooklyn (3,041 sales) residents bought a larger slice of the city’s real estate in the first half of this year than a decade ago. At the same time Manhattanites seem to have lost some of their buying appetite: While NYC sales overall declined 27% compared to 2014, Manhattan sales were 38% lower.
The number of Staten Island buyers has also fallen noticeably compared to 10 years ago but this decline was in line with ongoing citywide trends stemming from a slower market. By contrast, Bronx residents picked up steam, buying 20% more homes this year.
Notably, buyers from Nassau County were behind more sales than either borough's residents, picking up 730 NYC homes. Suffolk and Westchester counties were the only other in-state locations to see more than 100 residents invests in NYC real estate. 178 deals were signed by buyers with Suffolk County addresses in the first half of the year and 197 by Westchester County buyers.
And, although Westchester residents represented just a fraction of new NYC homeowners, one in 10 Westchester buyers spent $3 million or more. Nevertheless, Manhattan residents dominated the city’s luxury market by a decided margin, buying more than half (529) of the properties that sold for over $3 million. Meanwhile, buyers from Brooklyn were the second-most active cohort of luxury buyers in NYC with 107 deals north of $3 million, while Nassau County residents were behind the third highest number, closing 69 luxury sales.
Explore the table below to see the exact number and origin of all NYC buyers and luxury buyers in the the first half of 2024 and 2014:
Methodology
We extracted all sales of single- and two-family homes, condos and co-ops with a sale price of at least $100,000 registered between January 1, 2014 and June 30, 2014, and January 1, 2024 and June 30, 2024.
Owners and owners addresses were extracted from public records such as sale and mortgage documents, initial condo offerings and powers of attorney. In cases where buyers purchased through an LLC, we manually confirmed the real owner behind it using proprietary tools and features such as Real Owners Behind LLCs.
All sales of $3 million and over were manually verified, whether the owners registered the sale under their own name or an LLC.
