Leaving US dream behind: Returning Indian techies abandon homes, cars | Hyderabad News
HYDERABAD: T Kiran (name changed), a software engineer from Hyderabad, had about eight months left on the home lease in Dallas, Texas when he decided overnight to return to India. The moment his I-140 (immigrant petition for alien workers) was rejected, he saw no point in extending his six-and-a-half year stay in the US.“I packed my bags and left overnight,” he told TOI after returning to Hyderabad. “Once I left, my friends took my car to the scrapyard, and my belongings were dumped in the trash. Staying back would have meant paying $1,800 a month in rent.” Kiran, who previously earned $99,000 (about Rs 95 lakh) a year, is now making about Rs 35 lakh a year in Hyderabad.Kiran is one of dozens of Indian tech professionals in the US, most of them with H-1Bs, abandoning their properties in cities and towns like Celina, Frisco, Prosper, Melissa and McKinney and other areas. The trend has been seen in Dallas-Fort Worth, parts of California and the Washington DC as well.Many feel abandoning is the best strategy given the high mortgage rates (which have risen from about 4% to a three-year high of about 7.5% recently) and high inflation amid an increasingly anti-migrant sentiment.Indian tech workers who bought homes in the US amid the post-pandemic boom are now staring at high borrowing costs and mounting losses.
Many professionals, facing economic challenges, are choosing to abandon their properties.
Layoffs have made it harder to sell homes, with resale properties competing with new ones offering attractive offers, forcing some owners to consider foreclosure.According to ATTOM’s Aug 2026 US Foreclosure Activity Report, 40,277 foreclosure filings were recorded across the US that month, a 12.83% increase from Aug 2025. Texas recorded 4,961 filings, up 43.46% year-on-year and 8.53% month-on-month. California, another state with a large concentration of Indian tech professionals, recorded 4,450 filings, an 8.33% increase from Aug 2025.“Their only options are foreclosure or abandoning properties. In the current situation, opting foreclosure means booking a loss, as many bought properties when prices peaked after Covid-19. This has been going on for at least three months and might continue until the 2028 presidential election,” said a 45-year-old Hyderabadi living in Dallas, adding that he had heard of five abandoning their houses recently.‘2008 recession’Telugus in US are drawing parallels with the dotcom bubble of 2000 and the 2008 recession. “People are silently leaving the country. While abandoning cars at airports has been standard practice, now, with house prices down by about $1,00,000 to $2,00,000 or even more, many have no option but to leave the country,” said Vishweshwar Reddy Kalavala, president of Global Telangana Association.Mohan Nannapaneni, ex-president of Telugu Association of North America, said techies in Texas, California and Washington DC were among the worst-hit. “People with even 20 years of experience are losing jobs. The problem is that many bought second or third properties to sell them in a few years and make a profit. Now, they are all stuck and unable to sell or continue living in the US,” he said, adding that he knew three cases where people had moved back to India. “Prices are down by 30%. High interest rates mean that many don’t even qualify for home loans now. Reverse migration of H-1B holders has started,” said Satish Reddy, president-elect of American Telugu Association.
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