Realtor.com data challenges Senate ban on big home investors

"One of the biggest takeaways is that from a national perspective, the largest investors account for a really small proportion of single-family home purchases and that share has decreased in recent years. So the ban is going to have less of a bite now than it would have had it been enacted a few years ago. It is attacking a trend that is already decreasing as opposed to one that is becoming increasingly part of the market."

"In contrast to the small share of institutional investor purchases, small investors (those who purchased less than 10 homes) accounted for roughly 53% of all gross investor purchase activity in the past decade, followed by 27% for medium investors (those who purchased between 10 and 99 homes) and 8% for large investors (those who purchased between 100 and 349 homes)."

"The report also found that institutional investor activity is highly concentrated in certain metros and certain ZIP codes inside those metro areas. According to the report, the top-10 metros by total activity account for over 50% of institutional investor purchases, while the top-25 metros account for 75%."

Institutional investors represent a diminishing portion of single-family home purchases, declining from 12.2% in 2015 to 7.5% in 2025 after peaking at 16.3% in 2021. Small investors purchasing fewer than 10 homes dominate investor activity at 53%, while medium and large investors account for 27% and 8% respectively. Over the past decade, investors purchased 5.5 million single-family homes compared to 58 million purchased by non-investors. Institutional investor activity concentrates heavily in specific metropolitan areas, with the top 10 metros representing over 50% of all institutional purchases and the top 25 metros accounting for 75%. Leading metros include Memphis, Colorado Springs, Charlotte, and Atlanta.

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