Nearly one in 10 home buyers use funds from overseas to finance their property transaction according to research from client due diligence platform Thirdfort.
The data, drawn from over a million source of funds checks carried out by Thirdfort, showed 9.7% of the ome buyers are using funds originating overseas to fund all or part of their purchase. The five most common source countries are India, USA, Hong Kong, Italy and China. Over the last two years, China has moved into the top five, taking the place France held previously.
Thirdfort said their research identified that although cash use in society is declining, it has not disappeared from property transactions. Some 9% of buyers have made more than 10 cash deposits into the account funding their purchase in the past six months, and 8% have a median deposit value more than £500.
High cash deposits – those over £500 – have fallen steadily over the last three years, according to Thirdfort. In 2023, 9.47% of source of funds verifications met that threshold, with 9.52% in 2024, 7.54% in 2025, and 6.99% so far in 2026.
Despite the prsopect of using digital currency to purchase property, the platform said it had seen only around 0.1% of buyers with funds coming from cryptocurrency, a figure that has held steady since 2024.
Thirdfort co-founder and CEO Olly Thornton-Berry said: “Our data points to a market where most buyers are funding a purchase in ordinary, explainable ways. Meanwhile, there is a much smaller, more identifiable set of transactions that create the biggest headaches with money crossing borders, cash moving in patterns worth understanding and more gifts being made.
“Overall, our analysis helps regulated professionals better understand risk and maintain control.”
