Investors represent the largest share of buyers for 5 years

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Real estate investors, both individual and institutional, purchased a third of all single-family residential properties sold in the second quarter of 2025. That’s up from 27% in the first quarter and the highest percentage in the past five years, according to a report from CJ Patrick Co., using figures from BatchData, a real estate data provider. Investors accounted for 25.7% of residential housing sales in 2024.

Even though the sales share is higher, the gross numbers are lower. In the second quarter of this year, investors bought 16,000 fewer homes than a year ago, but home sales overall have been much weaker this year than last. This explains the gain on the part of investors. Investors continue to own about 20% of the nation’s 86 million single-family homes.

“Although investors bought more homes than they sold in the second quarter, they sold more than 104,000 homes, 45% of which were by traditional buyers,” said Ivo Draginov, co-founder and chief innovation officer at BatchData. “So, in addition to the important role that investors continue to play in providing needed liquidity to a weak home sales market, they are also bringing much-needed inventory – both rental properties and owner-occupied homes – into the market.

While large institutional investors continue to dominate the headlines in the single-family rental space, smaller investors represent more than 90% of the market. These are individuals with 10 or fewer properties. The largest investors, those who own 1,000 properties or more, account for just 2% of all investor-owned housing.

Unlike individuals, institutional investors are now selling more homes than they are buying, and have been doing so for six consecutive quarters. The largest owners in the country, Invitation houses, Residential Progress, American houses 4 rent and FirstKey Homes, all sold more homes in the third quarter of this year than they bought, according to an analysis by Parcl Labs.

“They’re not leaving the space, they’re just diverting capital to build-to-rent communities. But this shift means less competition for small investors and traditional home buyers, while increasing the supply of rental housing, which is needed in today’s market where young adults often choose to rent because they can’t afford a home,” said Rick Sharga, founder and CEO of CJ Patrick Co.

Regionally, Texas, California, and Florida have the most investor-owned housing. This is largely because they are also the most populous states. The states with the highest percentage of investor-owned housing are Hawaii, Alaska, Montana, and Maine. These are also high tourism states.

Investors have always focused on lower-priced homes because these can offer the best resale profits years later. In the second quarter of this year, investors paid an average of $455,481 per home, well below the national average price of $512,800, according to the CJ Patrick report. However, this is the highest average investor price in the last six quarters, as housing prices continue to rise overall.

Investor homes are typically either smaller or located in cheaper real estate markets. Large investors bought homes even cheaper than the entire pool, with an average purchase price of $279,889. Their average sale price was $334,787. Institutional investors are concentrated in the Midwest and South, where prices are lower than the national average.