Choose which platform to sign into.

Home sales nationwide decreased 4 percent in 2017 compared to 2016, but sales to buyers with last names of Lin, Zhang, Wu, Liu and Huang increased by more than 20 percent while sales to buyers with last names of Burns, Porter, Jenkins and Cole decreased by 15 percent or more, according to a new ATTOM Data Solutions analysis of homebuyer surnames in 2017.

For this analysis, ATTOM looked at buyer last names on more than 2.3 million single family home sales deeds nationwide in 2016 and 2017 to determine the hottest names based on percentage increase in home purchases. The analysis also looked at family name origin information from Ancestry.com for the hottest homebuyer names, as well as where these buyer names are most active by local market. For a detailed home sales data analysis, click here.

The top 8 hottest homebuyer last names in 2017 were of Chinese origin, with the ninth and 10th on the list of Korean and Vietnamese origin. The graphic below maps out family name origin information for all 24 buyer last names with at least 1,000 single family home purchases in 2017 and an increase of at least 1 percent in home purchases compared to 2016.

The hottest homebuyer last names in 2017 varied by state, from Liu in Washington to Larson in Florida, and from Mitchell in Nevada to Morales in Colorado. To determine hottest homebuyer last names for each state we looked at names with at least 1,000 home purchases nationwide and at least 50 home purchases statewide in 2017.

One buyer last name registered as hottest in three states — Liu in Maryland (2017 home purchases up 74 percent), Pennsylvania (2017 home purchases up 64 percent), and Washington (2017 home purchases up 68 percent). Eight buyer names came out on top in two states — Anderson in Montana and Oklahoma; Davis in Arkansas and Kentucky; Ellis in Illinois and Virginia; Larson in California and Florida; Miller in Kansas and New Mexico; Nguyen in Louisiana and Oregon; and Walker in Alabama and South Carolina.

The interactive heat map below shows the hottest buyer names in each state.

Hottest homebuyer last names also varied by metro area — Li in Dallas, Chicago and Houston; Peterson in Los Angeles; Barnes in Atlanta; Castillo in Washington, D.C.; Reyes in Miami; and Yang in New York.

The hottest homebuyer last name was Smith in eight of 64 metropolitan statistical areas analyzed by ATTOM with at least 1,000 single family home sales in 2017 and sufficient buyer name data — Dayton, Ohio, Des Moines, Iowa, Fayetteville, Arkansas, Greeley, Colorado, North Port-Sarasota, Florida, Spokane, Washington, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and Worcester, Massachusetts. The last name Johnson was the hottest homebuyer last name in five metro areas, with Brown, Williams and Li all registering as hottest in three of the 64 metro areas.

The interactive visual below shows the hottest buyer names in select metro areas.

Interested in purchasing the data cited in our articles?

Or learn more about how businesses are leveraging ATTOM’s property and real estate data? Please complete the form below to connect with a data expert.