Investors Now Buy Nearly One in Three U.S. Homes: What It Means for Prices, Renters, and First-Time Buyers

How big is today’s investor footprint?

According to new data from real estate analytics firm Cotality, investors accounted for roughly 29% of U.S. single-family home purchases in June 2025, down from a high of 32% in January but still well above the 25% share recorded a year earlier.[worldpropertyjournal.com] In practical terms, investors have been buying about 85,000 homes per month so far this year, nearly identical to their pace in the first half of 2024.[worldpropertyjournal.com]

That stability in volumes matters. During the 2022 peak, Cotality reports that investors were purchasing closer to 120,000 homes per month, powered by rapid price appreciation and ultra-tight rental markets.[worldpropertyjournal.com] Today’s investor share is elevated not because investors are suddenly binge-buying again, but because many would-be owner-occupants remain on the sidelines. High mortgage rates and still-high prices have thinned out traditional demand, so investors make up a larger slice of a smaller pie.[worldpropertyjournal.com]

Cotality expects investor market share to hover between about 25% and 30% for the rest of 2025, assuming no major shock to interest rates or broader housing conditions.[worldpropertyjournal.com] That implies investors will remain a durable, not transitory, force in who controls U.S. housing stock.

Who are the investors buying U.S. homes?

The popular image of investor buying focuses on mega firms with thousands of houses. Those players are important, but Cotality’s breakdown shows a more nuanced mix.[worldpropertyjournal.com]

• **Small investors (fewer than 10 properties)** are still the single largest group, responsible for about 14% of all single-family purchases.
• **Medium-sized investors (10–99 properties)** have been the fastest-growing segment, with their share rising from roughly 6% in June 2024 to about 10% in June 2025.
• **Large investors (101–1,000 properties)** account for around 3% of purchases.
• **Mega investors (more than 1,000 properties)** represent roughly 2%.

Medium-sized operators occupy a strategic middle ground. Like large institutions, they rely heavily on cash or low-leverage financing, so higher mortgage rates are less of a deterrent.[worldpropertyjournal.com] At the same time, they are more concentrated in specific regions and property types, making them highly focused on the health of the single-family rental sector.

This mix matters for neighborhoods. A market dominated by small landlords may see more hands-on management and slower consolidation, while heavy participation from large and mega investors can accelerate the shift toward professionally managed single-family rental communities.

Where investor activity is most intense

Cotality’s data highlight a clear geographic pattern. Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix and Los Angeles rank as the top five metros by the **number** of homes purchased by investors in the first half of 2025.[worldpropertyjournal.com] These markets combine strong population growth, robust job bases, and relatively abundant land for new construction.

When you switch the lens from volume to **share** of sales, the list shifts. Only Los Angeles and Atlanta appear among the leaders on both measures, while some smaller or slower-growing markets fall out of the top 20 once investor participation is stripped down to raw counts.[worldpropertyjournal.com] Dallas, for example, remains the nation’s largest market for investor purchases but drops to tenth place when ranked by investor share, reflecting how active local owner-occupants still are.

Across 18 of the top 20 metros, small investors consistently represent roughly 15% of purchases, so differences in overall investor presence are driven mostly by medium, large and mega buyers.[worldpropertyjournal.com] In some metros, the market would look far less investor-heavy without the presence of large-scale landlords.

Seasonality also plays a role. Historically, investor participation tends to rise in winter, when traditional buyers pull back, and to ease in the spring and summer buying seasons.[worldpropertyjournal.com] That pattern held in 2025, suggesting that investors are responding rationally to changing competition levels rather than simply charging ahead regardless of conditions.

Why global capital targets U.S. housing

Beyond domestic investors, international buyers are increasingly treating U.S. housing as a core part of global portfolios. An analysis in The European Business Review argues that several structural forces keep the United States at the top of the list for cross-border real estate investment.[europeanbusinessreview.com]

First, the U.S. offers deep, diversified rental demand supported by a large population, high household formation over time, and significant constraints on building in many job-rich metros.[europeanbusinessreview.com] That combination helps support long-run occupancy and rent growth for both multifamily and single-family rentals.

Second, property rights and legal frameworks in the U.S. are relatively transparent and predictable compared with many other markets, which is especially important for institutions and family offices deploying capital from abroad.[europeanbusinessreview.com] Investors value the ability to enforce leases, refinance properties, and exit holdings through a large, liquid market.

Third, U.S. housing can serve as a hedge or diversification tool. For some international buyers, owning dollar-denominated, income-producing assets helps balance exposure to home-country currencies or local economic risks.[europeanbusinessreview.com] For others, partnerships with specialized operators provide indirect exposure to single-family rentals without the need to manage properties directly.

What this means for buyers, renters, and policymakers

For first-time and move-up buyers, elevated investor activity can mean more competition—especially in the starter-home segment and in high-growth Sun Belt metros. All-cash offers from investors can be hard to beat, and sellers often favor fast, low-contingency closings. That can lengthen search times for households relying on traditional financing and push some renters to remain on the sidelines longer.

At the same time, investor purchases are helping meet real rental demand. As many households remain priced out of ownership by high rates and prices, single-family rentals provide a way to access neighborhoods with good schools and job access without a down payment. Institutional and medium-sized investors, in particular, have channeled capital into build-for-rent communities that expand the rental stock in growing metros.[europeanbusinessreview.com]

The tradeoff is most acute in entry-level segments. When investors focus heavily on lower-priced homes, they can limit the supply available to starter buyers and contribute to upward pressure on both prices and rents. Local leaders face a balancing act: encouraging capital that adds new units or rehabbed properties, while being cautious about dynamics that might overly concentrate ownership or displace would-be owner-occupants.

For households and professionals navigating this landscape, the key is understanding the local investor mix. Markets dominated by small landlords may feel very different from those where a handful of large operators control a big share of rentals. As long as affordability remains stretched, data suggest that investors—domestic and international—will remain a central force in U.S. housing rather than a temporary anomaly.[worldpropertyjournal.com][europeanbusinessreview.com]