As China's wealthy have grown more prosperous, many have carved out a premium slice of the American Dream.

Chinese investors are now second only to Canadians in terms of the number of U.S. homes they buy. And they outspend all other countries in the process, favoring higher-end homes or properties in pricier markets like San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles.

But China's recent move to devaluate its currency's value relative to the dollar means Chinese real estate investors will have to fork over more money to buy a home in the U.S.

That could put a damper on some deals, though likely only if China's currency falls further, experts say. At the same time, investor concerns over further devaluation on the yuan could spur a pickup in sales, said Rodney Ramcharan, research director at the University of Southern California's Lusk Center for Real Estate.

"You could have the situation where the Chinese investors anticipating that the currency will fall in value even more will now rush to buy more property either in California or elsewhere," Ramcharan said.

China's central bank devaluated its currency last Tuesday and Wednesday, saying the move was an attempt to make the country's exchange rate more responsive to the market. A weaker yuan also benefits China by making exports cheaper to overseas customers.

When it comes to buying a home listed for sale in dollars, however, a weaker yuan reduces Chinese investors' purchasing power.

That's a reversal of a trend the past six or so years, during which the yuan had steadily strengthened versus the dollar.

So even with the recent devaluation in the yuan, it's likely Chinese who are interested in buying real estate won't pull back now, said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors.

"Just five years ago $1 used to buy 7 yuan. And now $1 gets 6.5 yuan," Yun said. "Compared to five years ago, they have more purchasing power."

At the close of stock trading Friday, the dollar was buying 6.391 Chinese yuan, little changed from the previous day.

For now, that difference is likely not enough to dissuade the well-heeled homebuyers from China, said Wei Min Tan, a real estate broker who caters to investors looking to buy condominiums in Manhattan.

"My clients may say, 'OK, I'll just negotiate an extra 5 percent off," said Tan, whose clients tend to buy condos priced between $1 million and $5 million.

U.S. home purchases by Chinese investors and other foreign buyers represent a sliver of overall sales. And they were steadily declining since 2010 before spiking last year.

In the 12 months ended in March, roughly 209,000 U.S. houses were sold to buyers living outside the U.S. or immigrants in the country for less than two years, according to data by the National Association of Realtors.

That represents about 4 percent of all sales of previously occupied homes in the same period.

All told, U.S. home sales to foreign buyers fell 10 percent in the 12 months ended in March compared to the same period a year earlier.

In recent years, Canadians have made up the biggest share of foreign buyers of U.S. homes. At the same time, home sales to buyers China have been steadily increasing.

In the 12 months ended in March, buyers from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong accounted for 16 percent of all homes purchases, while Canadian buyers made up 14 percent.

Chinese buyers also accounted for the largest portion of home sales on a dollar basis, spending $28.6 billion. That's more than a quarter of the $104 billion in home sales to international buyers.

Half of the home sales to international buyers were in Florida, California, Texas and Arizona.

Most such buyers bought properties in cash. Among Chinese buyers, between 70 percent and 80 percent of them buy homes in cash.

Chinese investors typically buy a U.S. home as a vacation property or to turn it into a rental. But often the main reason for investing in the U.S. housing market is to protect their money.

"They want a safe place to park their assets," Tan said. "A lot of my clients were not expecting the Chinese economy to be strong indefinitely. A lot of them started moving assets to safer countries a few years ago."