The real estate market remains mostly stagnant across the United States, but in the Bay Area, specifically Silicon Valley, the housing market remains robust — and pricey.

According to Realtor.com, a home buyer will need to make $263,000 a year to afford a median-priced home in San Francisco, and in San Jose, you will need to earn $370,000.

And now, home buyers may soon face even more competition. For the first time since 2017, the country is seeing a spike in foreign investors, with a significant number of international buyers focusing on California.

"The number one origin is China," said Matt Christopherson with the National Association of REALTORS.

A recent NAR study shows international investors purchased 78,100 properties, spending $56 billion across the United States from April 2024 to March 2025, an annual increase of 44 percent.

Two countries lead the pack, with 15 percent of foreign buyers coming from China, 14 percent from Canada, followed by Mexico at 8 percent, India at 6 percent, and the United Kingdom at 4 percent.

Currently, Chinese home buyers are more attracted to California, with 36 percent investing in the Golden State, 9 percent of Chinese purchasing homes in Maryland and New York, 5 percent in Hawaii, and 4 percent in Georgia.

"With California, they have proximity to China and huge business opportunities from moving to the world's fourth-largest economy," said Christopherson.

Mark Wong, an agent with Compass Real Estate and a member of the Silicon Valley Real Estate Association, says that before the pandemic, he had sold several homes to Chinese buyers. He explained, they want to buy in the United States because, unlike in their native China, when they buy a home here, they own both the house and the land.

"In America, when you buy a house, you own the land," said Wong. "If you tell your people, I bought a house with a 10,000 square foot lot in America, I own the land, and that's a biggie, because they want to brag about it."

In the past, Wong says foreign investors have purchased properties sight-unseen, but he says the biggest competition in real estate still comes from the tech sector, especially in Silicon Valley.

"A lot of people in the tech sector are able to cash out their stock options," said Wong. "So, one of about every four transactions are cash buyers, right now."

In his most recent listing, a 3-bedroom, 2-bath house in Sunnyvale priced at $1.78 million, the home received several offers and sold in six days.

"The market in Silicon Valley is definitely a resilient one, houses are going quick here, we don't see houses on the market longer one or two weeks," said Jimmy Wong, Mark's son and real estate partner. "It is about location, definitely the strong schools, and being so close to work."