Realtor.com Investor Report: Investor Buyer Share Edges Higher; Investor Share of Sellers Peaks

By Hannah Jones, Realtor.com, Jun 10, 2025 (excerpts)

National trends

• Buying: Investor buying edges slightly higher, but remains below record high
• 13% of homes purchased in 2024 were purchased by an investor.
• Slightly more homes were bought by investors in 2024, while fewer total homes were bought, resulting in a higher investor buyer share than in 2023.
• The investor buyer share still lagged the 2022 peak (13.3%).
• Selling: Investor selling hits a new high
• On the other side of the transaction, 10.8% of sellers were investors in 2024, the highest investor seller share in the data’s history.
• This is up from 10.1% in 2023, and roughly 8% from 2018 to 2021….
• Financing: While buying with cash became more common in 2024 in the housing market overall, investors were more likely to use debt than in previous years
• All-cash investor sales fell to the lowest level since 2008, but remained nearly double the cash share of total home sales.

Regional trends

States with the most investor activity: Missouri (21.2%), Oklahoma (18.7%), and Kansas (18.4%) saw the highest investor buyer share of home purchases. Oklahoma (16.7%), Missouri (16.7%), and Georgia (15.9%) saw the highest share of investor sellers.

States where investors are affecting supply and demand: Scaled by total home sales, Hawaii, Montana, and Washington, DC, saw the largest net-negative impact of investors on housing supply (more buyers than sellers), while California, Minnesota, and Oregon saw the largest net-positive impact of investors on supply (more sellers than buyers).

States where investor activity has grown the most: Compared with 2023, investor buying activity as a share of purchases picked up the most in Delaware, Ohio, and Washington, DC, in 2024, while investor selling grew the most in Mississippi, Nevada, and South Dakota.

Metros with the most investor activity are in the Midwest and South: Of the 150 largest U.S. metros, Springfield, MO, Memphis, TN, and Wichita, KS, saw the highest investor buyer share. Memphis, Oklahoma City, and Springfield, MO, topped the list of markets with the highest share of investor sellers.

Net impact: On net, investors boosted demand, tipping markets in a seller-friendly direction the most in Miami, Pittsburgh, and New York City. On the flip side, investors sold more than they bought, boosting supply on the net in Sacramento, Minneapolis, and Portland….

Investors pick up modest share amid low home sales in 2024

Investor purchases picked up from about 608,000 in 2023 to 610,000 in 2024. Though modest, this increase in investor home purchases came at a time when overall home purchasing slumped, resulting in an uptick in investor buyer share. In 2024, 13% of homes sold were purchased by an investor, up from 12.7% in 2023, but still below the 2022 peak of 13.3%. Home prices and mortgage rates remained elevated through the year, eating into overall buyer demand. Investor purchases picked up 0.4% in 2024, outpacing the 2.1% decline in total transactions, which dropped total home sales to a decade-plus low….

In terms of investor growth, Delaware (+3.8 ppts), Ohio (+2.2 ppts), DC (+1.8 ppts), Hawaii (+1.4 ppts), and Nevada (+1.3 ppts) saw the investor share pick up the most year over year in 2024. …

Since the states that are popular for investor buyers are also popular for sellers, it is interesting to look at the net effect of investor activity, expressed as the number of properties sold by investors minus the number purchased, divided by total transactions in the state in 2024. The markets that saw the largest negative impact of investor activity (more buyers than sellers), in terms of home supply, were Hawaii, Montana, DC, Missouri, and Wyoming. 

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