Small investors accounted for nearly one-third of single-family home investor purchases in the United States in 2025, the highest share in 15 years, while large institutional investors continued to retreat, according to a June 23 Realtor.com Investor Report.
Meanwhile, investor purchases in the housing market remained steady.
“The investor market has found a new equilibrium,” Realtor.com senior economist Hannah Jones said in the report. “The dynamics shaping competition in entry-level housing are shifting—but that competition hasn’t gone away, particularly in affordable Midwest and Sun Belt markets.”
The data show that investors of all sizes scooped up 11.3 percent of all home purchases in 2025—an uptick from 11 percent in 2024. Nearly 534,000 homes were bought by investors last year, representing a 0.7 percent year-over-year increase. However, investors sold just 442,000 properties—a 1.5 percent decline from 2024.
“Mega investors”—defined in the report as those with 350 or more properties—ruled the market during 2021 and 2022, accounting for more than 16 percent of home purchases at their peak in 2021. By last year, though, these large investors represented just 7.5 percent of all investor purchases—the smallest share since 2011. The report also notes their purchase volumes declined by nearly 70 percent from the 2021 peak.
Meanwhile, small investors increased their share of purchases to 63 percent last year—the highest share in more than 15 years. They also acquired about 53,000 more properties than they sold in 2025.
The report indicates that small investors, defined as corporate entities with fewer than 10 total properties, have always been the majority of the investor buyer market, but that dominance has expanded even further.
“Small investors are the stable floor beneath the more volatile institutional activity,” Jones added. “They purchase at a median of $330,000 nationally—about 25% below the overall market median of $440,000—meaning they are systematically active in the entry-level tier where first-time buyers are also competing.”
Jones also noted that large investor purchases are down by about 30 percent from their peak and continue to decline. Realtor.com data show that over the past three years, large investors sold 135,000 more properties than they bought.
On the selling side, investors accounted for 9.3 percent of home sales, rising above the pre-pandemic average of 6.7 percent. Jones attributed this to the aggressive accumulation of homes that took place in 2021 and 2022. However, she said investors are no longer “flooding supply” at the same pace.
Regionally, Jones notes, the Midwest and Sun Belt are still the most popular areas for home investors. Memphis, Tennessee, led the nation’s top 50 metros with 23.7 percent of its home purchases by investors. Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri, ranked second and third in investment purchases at 21.2 percent and 21.1 percent, respectively. Birmingham, Alabama, and Oklahoma City rounded out the top five metros where investors are very active.
In Kansas City, small investors alone accounted for 9.5 percent of all purchases—nearly 2.5 percentage points above the national small-investor average. These investors bought at a median of $240,000 against an overall market median of $347,000, competing with both first-time and moderate-income home buyers.
Charlotte, North Carolina, saw a decline in investor buys from 18.5 percent in 2022 to 13.6 percent last year. Large investors, who represented 6.4 percent of all home purchases in Charlotte in 2021, saw their share decline to 2.3 percent in 2025.
“Atlanta is perhaps the most striking reversal in the data,” Jones said. Investor purchase share in Georgia’s capital city dropped below 10 percent. She said elevated prices and a weakening rental market may have contributed to that decline.
San Antonio and Dallas, Texas, are also popular metros for investment purchases, as is Las Vegas. Meanwhile, the Northeast and West Coast showed very little investor action.
The continued retreat by large investors comes as Congress has been pushing for the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, aiming to make housing more affordable through several initiatives, including restrictions on large investment purchases of single-family homes.
The House of Representatives passed the bipartisan act by a vote of 358–32 on June 23, one day after the Senate approved the bill in an 83–5 vote.
An early June statement by the New York City-based law firm Greenberg Traurig explains that both the House and Senate versions of the Act would limit large institutional investors on single-family home purchases. However, both versions would apply to purchases made after the effective date, which is 180 days after enactment. Investors would not be required to divest homes acquired before that date.
