The housing market just returned to a pre-pandemic status quo that pushes out ‘traditional’ buyers

Finance·Real EstateThe housing market just returned to a pre-pandemic quo that pushes out ‘traditional’ buyersBY Alex VeigaBY The Associated PressBY Alex VeigaBY The Associated Press A for sale in Sudbury, Mass. , is shown on Sept

Peter Morgan—APReal estate investors are snapping up a bigger of U

S on the market as rising prices and stubbornly high borrowing costs freeze out many other would-be buyers

Nearly 27% of all s sold in the first three months of the year were bought by investors — the highest in at least five years, according to a report by real estate data vider BatchData

All told, investors bought 265,000 s in the January-March quarter, an increase of 1. 2% from the same period a year earlier, the firm said

Despite the modest annual increase, the rise in the of investor purchases is more a reflection of how much the housing market has slowed as traditional buyers face growing affordability constraints, according to BatchData

Sales fell last year to their lowest level in nearly 30 years

They’ve remained sluggish so far this year, as many spective buyers have been discouraged by elevated mortgage rates and prices that have kept climbing, though more slowly

As sales have slowed, perties are taking longer to sell

That’s led to a sharply higher inventory of s on the market, benefitting investors and other shoppers who can afford to bypass current mortgage rates by paying in cash or tapping equity gains. “As traditional buyers struggle with affordability, investors with cash and financing advantages are stepping in to maintain transaction volume,” according to the report

Sales records to determine which perties were purchased by investors

These could include vacation s or rentals, but not a buyer’s primary residence

Investors bought 1. 2 million s in 2024, up from an average of 1. 1 million s a year going back to 2020, according to BatchData

Even so, investor-owned s account for roughly 20% of the nation’s 86 million single-family s, the firm said

Institutional investors that own 1,000 or more s account for only 2. 2% of all investor-owned s, the firm said

And that number could get smaller, amid signs that large institutional investors are scaling back purchases

Out of a group of eight of the biggest companies that own and lease single-family houses, including Invitation s and American s 4 Rent, six sold more s in the second quarter than they bought, according to data from Parci Labs

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