Florida’s International Buyers Are Growing While the Nation Pulls Back.
Here’s What That Means for Sarasota.
The national number looked bad: foreign buyers pulled back sharply across the U.S. this year, down 19.1% in dollar volume. That’s real, and it’s worth understanding. But it’s not the whole picture. Florida didn’t move with the national trend. It moved against it.
The state ran the opposite direction
Florida Realtors’ latest report, the 2025 Profile of International Residential Transactions (covering August 2024 through July 2025) shows international buyer dollar volume in Florida climbing to $10.4 billion, up 50% from the year before. Transaction counts rose too: 16,400 homes purchased by international buyers, a 34% increase. Higher prices and more transactions both moved in the same direction at once.
That’s the opposite of the national headline. Two things can be true together: the U.S. as a whole is seeing fewer international buyers, and Florida is seeing more of them.
Sarasota’s specific slice
The North Port–Sarasota–Bradenton metro accounted for 4% of Florida’s international buyers in this period. That’s smaller than Miami’s 45% or Orlando’s 13%… Sarasota isn’t the state’s biggest international gateway, and it doesn’t need to pretend to be one. But 4% of a growing $10.4 billion number is a real, specific slice of demand, not a rounding error, and it’s worth knowing it’s there.
Who’s actually buying
The buyer profile tracks closely with what we covered nationally: cash-heavy, higher-budget, relationship-driven:
- Canada leads by a wide margin, both in buyer count (18% of Florida’s international buyers) and dollar volume ($1.9 billion).
- Colombia, Brazil, and Argentina round out the top buyer countries by spend.
- The statewide median purchase price for international buyers was $442,000, against $390,000 for all Florida home sales which is a meaningful premium.
- 60% of Florida’s international buyers paid all cash.
- 65% came through a referral or were repeat clients: not a cold search, a warm introduction.
- 90% visited Florida in person at least once before buying.
That last point matters more than it might first appear. This isn’t an impulse purchase from overseas; it’s a considered decision, usually preceded by a visit and a personal connection to someone already here.
What this means if you’re selling in Sarasota
The two reports together tell a more precise story than either one alone. Nationally, the casual, price-sensitive, financing-dependent international buyer is stepping back. In Florida, the buyer who remains is showing up in larger numbers than a year ago. Cash ready. Relationship connected. Willing to visit before committing. Sarasota holds a small but real share of that growth.
For a seller, the practical takeaway isn’t “list your home as an international property.” It’s this: a well-prepared $3M+ Sarasota listing is positioned for exactly the buyer this data describes, and that buyer is more likely to arrive through a personal introduction than a listing portal search. That’s not a marketing theory, it’s what both reports show, independently, about how these transactions actually happen.
Curious whether an international buyer strategy makes sense for your specific property? Start a confidential conversation with Brian.
Sources: Florida Realtors®, 2025 Profile of International Residential Transactions in Florida (Aug 2024–Jul 2025, published Nov 2025); National Association of REALTORS®, 2026 International Transactions in U.S. Residential Real Estate (published July 29, 2026).