Investor Home Purchases Fall to Lowest Level Since 2020

• Elevated housing costs, a slower-than-usual housing market and a cooling rental market are squeezing potential returns for U.S. investors. 
• Real estate investors’ market share was 19%, largely unchanged from a year earlier, reflecting the overall sluggishness of the U.S. housing market in the first quarter. 
• Investors cut back sharply on buying condos, and on buying lower-priced homes. 
• When investors buy fewer homes, there are fewer homes to sell: Investors had 7.8% of all listings, the smallest share in 5 years. 
• Investor purchases of condos fell most in Detroit and Orlando, and rose most in the Bay Area.

U.S. investor home purchases fell 6% year over year in the first quarter to their lowest level since 2020, when the start of the pandemic ground homebuying to a halt. Prior to 2020, the last time investors bought so few homes was in 2016. 

This is based on a Redfin analysis of county-level home purchase records across 39 of the most populous U.S. metropolitan areas going back through 2000. We define an investor as any institution or business that purchases residential real estate, meaning this report covers both institutional and mom-and-pop investors. Please see the end of this report for a more detailed methodology, and please visit Redfin’s data center for downloadable data. 

Investor home purchases fell in the first quarter largely because elevated housing costs squeezed potential returns. While mortgage rates were slightly lower in the first quarter than recent peaks, dipping into the low-6% range from near 7% throughout 2025, they’re still double pandemic-era lows. Home-sale prices are still rising in most of the country, too. That makes it more expensive for investors to buy properties, and reduces the profitability of rental properties and flips. 

A cooler housing market is also playing a role. Home-price growth has slowed in much of the country, and in some markets prices are falling. That gives investors less confidence that homes will quickly rise in value. At the same time, rising insurance premiums, property taxes and maintenance costs are cutting into margins, particularly for smaller investors. 

Investor gains are losing steam. The median capital gain for a home sold by an investor was $196,618 in the first quarter, up 5.3% year over year. But that pales in comparison to the double-digit gains common in 2020 and 2021. 

The rental market is cooling, too. That makes it harder for investors to make the case to become a landlord. 

Economic uncertainty has added another layer of caution. Concerns about the Iran war, inflation, a potential economic slowdown and volatility in financial markets may be causing investors to pull back and preserve cash rather than expand their real estate portfolios. Some investors are also waiting on the sidelines because there are more homes for sale than buyers and less urgency to buy immediately.

Investor activity is normalizing after the pandemic homebuying frenzy. Investors purchased homes at record levels in 2021 and 2022, when ultra-low mortgage rates and soaring home values made residential real estate especially attractive. Now that the market has cooled and borrowing costs are higher, investor demand has moderated closer to pre-pandemic norms.

“Higher mortgage rates, slowing price growth and rising construction costs are giving both investors and individual homebuyers pause,” said Tamara Mattox-Kabat, a Redfin Premier agent in Denver. “Flippers and investors are scaling back, and being much more strategic when they do buy homes. They’re buying less expensive materials, and being more careful about timing their projects to list during the stronger spring and summer seasons. It’s also noteworthy that large institutional investors are focusing more on building new homes than buying existing ones.”

Note that fewer investors is good news for regular buyers. First-time buyers have a better chance of breaking into the housing market when they aren’t competing with investors who are driving up prices. 

The House recently passed a housing affordability bill focused partly on preventing institutional investors from buying single-family homes–but allowing them to build more homes. While legislation to combat the housing affordability crisis should be a priority, Redfin economists note that banning investors may not have the desired effect.

Investors Buy Roughly 1 in 5 Homes 

Real estate investors purchased 19% of homes that sold in the first quarter, down slightly from 20% a year earlier.

The largely unchanged market share shows that tepid investor activity reflects the sluggishness of the overall U.S. housing market. Investors bought fewer homes in the first quarter, and so did individual homebuyers; overall pending home sales fell roughly 3% year over year in March.

Fewer Home Listings Are Owned By Investors

On the selling side, investors have a smaller share of listings of homes for sale than in the recent past. 

Investors held 7.8% of all U.S. home listings in the first quarter, the smallest share in five years. When investors buy fewer homes, they have fewer homes to sell. 

Investors Cut Back Sharply on Buying Condos

Real estate investor purchases of condos fell 8% year over year in the first quarter to the lowest first-quarter level since 2015. Condos have become less attractive to investors as demand declines due largely to rising HOA fees and insurance costs. 

Investor purchases of single-family homes fell 6% year over year, and purchases of townhouses fell 13%.  

Even though investors purchased fewer single-family homes than a year ago, they’re still by far the most popular property type: Single-family homes made up 70% of all investor purchases in the first quarter, while condos made up 18% and townhouses made up 7%. 

Investors Favor High-End Homes Over Low-Priced Properties

Investor purchases of low-priced homes fell 10% year over year to their lowest first-quarter level in a decade. 

They fell across the other price points, too, but to a smaller extent. Investor purchase of mid-priced homes declined 6% year over year, and those of high-priced homes fell 1%. 

High-priced homes are holding up a bit better because they’re often viewed as more stable long-term investments. In contrast, low-priced homes are often prone to tight profit margins, making them less attractive in an era of economic uncertainty. 

Investor Purchases Plunge Most in Detroit and Orlando, Rise Most in Bay Area

In Detroit, investor purchases fell 35% year over year in the first quarter–the biggest decline among the metros in this analysis.

The next-biggest decline was in Orlando, where investor purchases fell 25% year over year.  Investors have been retreating from Florida for years because the Sunshine State’s housing market has been suffering from dropping prices, high inventory, surging HOA fees and rising insurance costs. Cleveland (-21%) comes in third. 

On the flip side, investor purchases rose most in the Bay Area and Virginia Beach. Investors bought 19% more homes in San Francisco than a year earlier, followed by Virginia Beach, VA (15%) and San Jose (12%). Investors are trying to cash in on the Bay Area’s hot housing market, which is fueled by the AI boom. 

Methodology 

For this analysis, we looked at county sale records for homes purchased from January 2000 through March 2026. We define an investor as any buyer whose name includes at least one of the following keywords: LLC, Inc, Trust, Corp, Homes. We also define an investor as any buyer whose ownership code on a purchasing deed includes at least one of the following keywords: association, corporate trustee, company, joint venture, corporate trust. This data may include purchases made through family trusts for personal use.

We analyzed home sales in the 50 most populous metro areas, but only included 39 metros in this report due to non-disclosure of sale prices in some counties. The national figures in this report represent an aggregation of those 39 metros. 

When we refer to a “record,” the record dates back to the first quarter of 2000. Data is subject to revision.

The post Investor Home Purchases Fall to Lowest Level Since 2020 appeared first on Redfin Real Estate News.