A sold sign is posted in front of a for sale on Aug.
27, 2025 in San Francisco, California.Justin Sullivan | Getty ImagesA version of this article first appeared in the CNBC perty Play with Diana Olick.
perty Play covers new and evolving opportunities for the real estate investor, from individuals to venture capitalists, private equity funds, family offices, institutional investors and large public companies.
to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.Real estate investors, both individual and institutional, bought one-third of all single-family residential perties sold in the second quarter of 2025.
That is an increase from 27% in the first quarter, and the highest percentage in the last five years, according to a report from CJ Patrick Co., using numbers from BatchData, a real estate data vider.
Investors accounted for 25.7% of residential sales in 2024.While the of sales is higher, the raw numbers are lower.
Investors in the second quarter of this year bought 16,000 fewer s than a year ago, but sales overall were much weaker this year than last year. That accounts for the gain in the investor .
Investors continue to own 20% of the 86 million single-family s in the country."While investors purchased more s than they sold in the second quarter, they did sell over 104,000 s, with 45% of those sales going to traditional buyers," said Ivo Draginov, co-founder and chief innovation officer at BatchData.
"So in addition to the important role investors continue to play viding necessary liquidity to a weak sales market, they're also bringing much-needed inventory – both rental perties, and s for owner-occupants – to the market."While large institutional investors continue to get most of the headlines in the single-family rental space, small investors account for more than 90% of the market.
These are individuals owning 10 perties or less.
The largest investors, those with 1,000 or more perties, make up just 2% of all investor-owned s.Get perty Play directly to your inboxCNBC's perty Play with Diana Olick covers new and evolving opportunities for the real estate investor, dered weekly to your inbox.
here to get access today.Un individuals, institutional investors are now selling more s than they buy and have been for six consecutive quarters.
The nation's largest landlords, Invitation s, gress Residential, American s 4 Rent and FirstKey s, all sold more s in the third quarter of this year than they purchased, according to an analysis from Parcl Labs.
"They're not exiting the space, just diverting capital into build-to-rent communities.
But this shift means less competition for small investors and traditional buyers, while also adding more rental supply, which is needed in today's market where younger adults often opt to rent since they can't afford to buy a ," said Rick Sharga, founder and CEO of CJ Patrick Co.Looking regionally, Texas, California and Florida have the highest number of investor-owned s.
This is largely because they are also the most populous states. The states with the highest percentage of investor-owned s are Hawaii, Alaska, Montana and Maine. These are also heavy tourism states.
Investors have always focused on lower-priced s because those can offer the best fits in resale years later.
In the second quarter of this year, investors paid an average of $455,481 per — well below the national average price of $512,800, according to the CJ Patrick report.
It was, however, the highest average investor price in the past six quarters, since prices overall continue to climb.Investor s are typically either smaller or in less expensive housing .
Large investors bought even cheaper s than the overall pool, with their average purchase price at $279,889. Their average sale price was $334,787.
Institutional investors are concentrated most in the Midwest and South, where prices are below the national average.