A new Texas law, Senate Bill 17, which took effect on September 1, restricts certain foreign buyers from owning real estate in the state. The law targets people and companies from countries identified as threats to U.S. national security, specifically naming China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. It also allows the governor of Texas or the Director of National Intelligence to designate additional countries.
Tonya Li, a Sotheby’s agent who has worked with Chinese clients in Austin for nearly ten years, said her business has been significantly affected by the new restrictions. “I lost pretty much 50 percent of my work due to this,” Li said.
Li explained that while lawful residents and citizens from China are still permitted to buy land under the law, it has created uncertainty among potential buyers. “To a lot of them, it is a sign that tells them that the Texas government does not like foreign investors,” she said. “They’re panicking.”
Many Chinese owners have started selling their properties since the law was passed. Li noted concerns among her clients about possible future restrictions: “They are worried about — what if, two years later, there is going to be a new law coming out? I’ve been telling them, there’s no such thing just yet.”
According to data from Texas Realtors cited in recent reports (https://www.texasrealestate.com/news-releases/texas-international-homebuyers-report-2024/), most residential purchases by foreign buyers involve detached single-family homes intended as primary residences. Between April 2024 and March 2025, Chinese buyers accounted for 15 percent of all foreign buyer market activity nationwide—representing $13.7 billion—and made up eight percent of all foreign buyers in Texas during that period.
Chinese investors also own more agricultural property in Texas than other countries listed in SB 17. As reported by the USDA (https://www.fsa.usda.gov/news-room/news-releases/2023/usda-releases-annual-summary-of-foreign-owned-us-agricultural-land), as of 2023 there were over 150,000 acres owned by Chinese entities across 35 parcels; Iranian entities owned two parcels totaling around 200 acres.
SB 17 follows earlier legislative efforts aimed at limiting land ownership by individuals or organizations linked to certain countries after reports emerged regarding Sun Guangxin—a Chinese businessman who owns about 140,000 acres near Laughlin Air Force Base in Val Verde County—and his plans for a wind farm project on part of his holdings. In response to these developments and related concerns over critical infrastructure access by foreign entities (https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/87R/billtext/html/SB02119F.htm), Texas enacted the Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act.
Real estate attorney Dallas Barrington led local opposition against Guangxin’s development projects and commented on his decision to sell: “He’s got all of his stuff up for sale currently, every damn bit of it. And everybody I’ve talked to says he wants out. And, God bless, we all need to help him get out.” Barrington supports SB 17 for its national security benefits despite any economic impact: “it’s not a NIMBY bill.”
However, experts say enforcing SB 17 could be challenging because deed records do not typically show an owner’s country of origin or immigration status; indirect ownership through LLCs further complicates matters. Gerald Klassen from the Texas Real Estate Research Center told lawmakers last year that counties only register documents but do not control property titles or systematically track nationality information.
Violations under SB 17 carry serious penalties including forced sales and possible felony charges; however, enforcement depends on investigations initiated by the Office of the Attorney General—which has yet to clarify how it will proceed.
Nationally between April 2024 and March 2025 (https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics/research-reports/profile-of-international-transactions-in-u-s-residential-real-estate), about 78,000 foreign buyers purchased residential property in the United States with Texas accounting for ten percent—ranking third behind California and Florida.
