How Corporate and Institutional Investors Are Reshaping Local Homeownership in U.S. Markets

From "city of homeowners" to investor hot spot

Philadelphia has long marketed itself as a city where owning a rowhouse is part of the local identity. Yet between 2006 and 2025, the city’s homeownership rate slipped from about 58% to roughly 52%, according to a recent State of the City analysis cited by The Philadelphia Citizen.[thephiladelphiacitizen.org] During that same period, investors steadily increased their presence in the single‑family and small‑multifamily market.

A new report from the Reinvestment Fund and Rutgers University’s Center for Law, Inequality and Metropolitan Equity finds that investors now purchase roughly one in four homes in Philadelphia.[thephiladelphiacitizen.org] Many of these buyers use LLCs or corporate entities, which can make it difficult for tenants and neighbors to identify or contact an actual decision‑maker when problems arise.

The effect on local homeownership is straightforward: every property captured by an investor is one fewer listing available to an owner‑occupant. The Citizen notes that firms can often win bidding wars with cash offers and bids above asking price — tactics that typical first‑time buyers using financing struggle to match.[thephiladelphiacitizen.org] Over time, this shifts more of the city’s housing stock into rental use, even in neighborhoods historically dominated by owners.

Researchers and advocates worry about what this means for household wealth. National data from the Urban Institute show a median wealth gap of hundreds of thousands of dollars between owners and renters, underscoring how critical homeownership remains as a long‑term savings vehicle.[thephiladelphiacitizen.org] As investor ownership expands, fewer households may have access to that wealth‑building pathway.

At the same time, some research suggests large landlords can modestly increase access to high‑opportunity neighborhoods for certain renter groups, even as they are associated with higher eviction rates and more code violations.[thephiladelphiacitizen.org] The net impact on equity and stability can vary block by block.

Institutional capital moves into rentals

Investor activity is not limited to scattered single‑family homes. Large pools of capital are targeting professionally managed rentals, especially in fast‑growing Sun Belt metros.

In November 2025, Yield PRO reported that investment firm NexPoint launched a Delaware statutory trust (DST) offering backed by Oasis at Shingle Creek, a 356‑unit Class A garden‑style community in the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford metro.[yieldpro.com] Built in 2018, the property offers resort‑style amenities and high‑end finishes. The DST is sized at just over $46 million, with a minimum investment of $100,000.[yieldpro.com]

NexPoint’s thesis hinges on the Orlando area’s strong population growth, employment base, and sustained renter demand. The firm explicitly links the appeal of multifamily DSTs to today’s environment of elevated home prices and mortgage rates, which are keeping would‑be buyers in rentals longer and intensifying demand for high‑quality apartments.[yieldpro.com]

DSTs are designed to give investors access to institutional‑quality real estate while enabling tax‑deferred exchanges under Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code. In practice, that means some owners of smaller income properties can roll gains into larger multifamily assets instead of selling and exiting the sector.[yieldpro.com] Over time, this can consolidate rental housing into fewer, more capitalized ownership structures.

From the perspective of local households, the result is a bigger supply of professionally managed rentals, particularly in high‑growth regions. But these units are rarely affordable starter homes; they sit on a separate track from the for‑sale housing stock that supports local homeownership.

The investor loan boom: DSCR and beyond

As traditional purchase volume has cooled, lenders are paying closer attention to investors. National Mortgage News reports that foreign buyers and domestic investors “continue to play a critical role” in U.S. housing, pressing ahead with purchases and refinances despite higher costs.[nationalmortgagenews.com]

One key theme in that coverage is that smaller, so‑called mom‑and‑pop investors still own the bulk of investor‑held properties.[nationalmortgagenews.com] Executives at lenders such as American Pride Bank and Constructive Capital describe a steady stream of first‑time investors using non‑qualified mortgage products — especially debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) loans that underwrite primarily to rental income rather than borrower income.[nationalmortgagenews.com]

These loans have been less sensitive to mortgage rate swings than traditional owner‑occupied mortgages, in part because investors evaluate them as business decisions and can adjust rents or hold periods.[nationalmortgagenews.com] Lenders also value the repeat‑business nature of the segment: once an investor learns the process, they are more likely to buy additional properties or refinance to free up capital.

Foreign buyers are a meaningful piece of this picture. Lender Waltz, which focuses on international investors, reports that in early 2025 Canadian clients represented about one‑fifth of its foreign customer base, with Israelis accounting for an even larger share.[nationalmortgagenews.com] Many of these buyers view U.S. real estate as a long‑term inflation hedge and are willing to navigate complex financing to secure assets.

To support this volume, specialized lenders are investing in tools like rental automated valuation models (AVMs). Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions partnered with Clear Capital on a rental AVM to estimate income earlier in the loan process, reducing surprises when appraisals arrive and smoothing DSCR underwriting.[nationalmortgagenews.com]

Who owns the homes — and why it matters

The question is not whether investors should participate in housing; they always have. It is how concentrated that ownership becomes, and what it means for local access to ownership.

Redfin data cited by National Mortgage News shows investors still buying nearly one in five homes across the country as of mid‑2025, even after a pullback from peak activity.[nationalmortgagenews.com] Investor purchases have dipped year over year because of higher borrowing costs and home prices, but when investors do sell, more than half of those properties are bought by other investors rather than returning to the owner‑occupied pool.[nationalmortgagenews.com]

In Philadelphia, researchers found that most of the largest corporate buyers were local or regional firms scaling up portfolios, not just national platforms.[thephiladelphiacitizen.org] That nuance matters: local investors may understand neighborhoods better and make different decisions than large national funds, but they can still crowd out individual buyers and contribute to absentee‑owner dynamics.

At the community level, rising investor ownership can show up as:

• Fewer entry‑level listings that are realistically purchasable with standard financing
• More households remaining renters even if they could afford a mortgage
• Greater reliance on property‑management companies and online portals to resolve issues
• Heightened concern about rent increases, eviction practices, and property maintenance

On the flip side, investor capital can stabilize distressed properties, add rental supply where demand is strong, and fund new construction (including build‑to‑rent and small‑scale infill) that might not pencil out for individual owners.

What to watch next in investor‑driven housing

Looking ahead, several forces will influence how far investor ownership spreads and how it affects homeownership access:

• **Financing conditions.** If rates remain elevated and returns compress, some investors may slow acquisitions or sell to other investors. That could keep properties in the rental pool rather than returning them to owner‑occupants.
• **Build‑to‑rent and specialty housing.** Lenders like American Pride Bank are already exploring DSCR construction products aimed at long‑term rentals, while institutional firms are buying seniors housing and other niches as demographic plays.[yieldpro.com][nationalmortgagenews.com]
• **Local regulation and enforcement.** Cities are experimenting with tools ranging from rental registries to enhanced code enforcement to better track ownership and maintenance, especially when landlords operate through multiple entities.[thephiladelphiacitizen.org]
• **Data transparency.** Public tools like Philadelphia’s Atlas database make it easier to see when entire blocks are quietly shifting from individual owners to corporate landlords, but similar transparency is uneven across the country.[thephiladelphiacitizen.org]

For local buyers, the practical response involves getting pre‑approved early, working with agents who understand investor competition, and looking for properties that are less attractive to investors (for example, homes requiring owner‑occupant renovation programs). For investors, the challenge is to grow portfolios in ways that add value — through rehab, new construction, or better management — rather than simply outbidding would‑be owner‑occupants.

For lenders and housing professionals, the opportunity lies in serving both groups: designing investor products that are sustainable and transparent, while also supporting first‑time buyers with down‑payment assistance, counseling, and creative but sound financing structures.

The ownership of a city’s front doors is no longer a given. Understanding how investor capital moves through local markets is essential to making sure those doors do not close to the households that want to own them.