As mortgage rates surge and rattle home buyers, one group has stayed more active than ever this summer.
Real-estate investors, particularly small mom-and-pop buyers, continue to buy up properties at a steady pace, according to a new report by CoreLogic. In June, investors accounted for 26% of all single-family home buying. The share of investors buying property has hovered at around the 25% mark since the start of the year.
Investors, like home buyers, may also be contending with 30-year mortgage rates above 7%, but that hasn’t stopped them from buying more. Nearly 60% of investors are financing home buying with a mortgage, more than the 67% of non-investors who buy a home with a mortgage, said Thomas Malone, an economist at CoreLogic.
“The year 2021 saw a surge in investor activity. Investors have since held a market share that averages 8% points higher than in 2020,” CoreLogic said. “Investor activity has declined slightly since early 2023, but there is still no sign that the share will fall back to its pre-pandemic level in the near future.”
“Indeed, the most likely reason for the small drop in home investor purchases in recent months is seasonality, as owner-occupied buyers become more active in the summer,” the report added.
“Between 2019 and June 2023, purchases of homes by buyers who intend to live in them fell by over 40%. But investor purchases over the same time period rose 12%.”
Still, many larger investors are able to purchase homes with cash, Malone told MarketWatch.
“High interest rates have driven unaffordability to unprecedented levels for home buyers and created a robust demand for rentals that investors appear to be seizing, and will likely continue to do so for the foreseeable future,” Malone said.
CoreLogic used public records data to identify investor purchase activity. The company defines an investor as an entity, individual or corporate, that has retained three or more properties simultaneously within the past 10 years.
Between 2019 and June 2023, purchases of homes by buyers who intend to live in them fell by over 40%, he noted. But investor purchases over the same time period are up 12%.
Even though the share of homes bought by “mega-investors” — those that own a thousand or more properties — has nearly halved from a high in June 2022, smaller investors have stepped in. In June, buyers who own 3 to 9 properties accounted for 47% of investor purchases, the highest level since 2011, CoreLogic said.
Investors were most active in California, where they bought 34% of homes, followed by D.C., at 33%, and Georgia, at 32%.
Part of the reason behind the increase in small investors buying homes could be due to a persistent lack of for sale inventory, which could translate to higher demand for rentals.
“Rising demand for rental properties is translating to increasingly unaffordable rates and gives investors a good reason to stay (relatively) more active in the market than owner-occupied buyers,” CoreLogic’s Malone added.
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