Investors accounted for 11.3% of all U.S. home purchases in 2025, maintaining an elevated share of the housing market even as overall sales fell to multi-decade lows, according to a new report from Realtor.com.
Corporate investors purchased roughly 534,000 homes last year, a 0.7% increase from 2024, while non-investor home sales declined 2.1%. Investor purchases now exceed pre-pandemic levels by 14.6%, underscoring the sector’s continued influence in the housing market.
At the same time, investor selling slowed. Investors sold approximately 442,000 homes in 2025, down 1.5% from the prior year and the lowest level since 2020.
The gap between investor purchases and sales widened to about 92,000 properties in 2025, up from roughly 80,000 in 2024, indicating that investors remain net buyers despite a broader housing slowdown.
“The investor market has found a new equilibrium,” Realtor.com senior economist Hannah Jones stated. “With small investors now comprising nearly two-thirds of all investor purchases and large institutional players continuing to pull back, the dynamics shaping competition in entry-level housing are shifting.”
The composition of investor activity changed markedly in 2025.
Small investors—defined as entities with fewer than 10 total purchases—accounted for roughly 63% of all investor acquisitions, the highest share in more than 15 years. By contrast, mega investors, defined as those with at least 350 purchases, represented just 7.5% of investor buying, their smallest share since 2011.
Mega-investor purchase volumes have fallen nearly 70% from their 2021 peak, and over the past three years these investors have sold about 135,000 more homes than they purchased.
“Small investors are the stable floor beneath the more volatile institutional activity,” Jones stated. She noted that these buyers tend to target lower-priced homes that frequently overlap with the budgets of first-time homebuyers.
Investor activity remained concentrated in relatively affordable markets.
Among the nation’s 50 largest metropolitan areas, Memphis led with investors accounting for 23.7% of home purchases, followed by Kansas City at 21.2%, St. Louis at 21.1%, Birmingham at 21.0% and Oklahoma City at 17.9%.
Investor activity also remained strong in Sun Belt markets, including San Antonio and Dallas-Fort Worth, where population growth and available entry-level inventory continued to attract buyers.
By contrast, higher-cost West Coast and Northeast markets, including Portland, Sacramento and Hartford, posted some of the nation’s lowest investor shares.
Atlanta emerged as one of the report’s sharpest reversals. Once among the country’s most investor-heavy markets, investors were net sellers there in 2025 by nearly 1,800 homes, the largest negative net position among major metros.
The report suggests investor participation has stabilized at a level well above historical norms. Investor purchase shares have now exceeded 11% for three consecutive years, and Realtor.com indicated that the growing dominance of small investors could make that baseline more durable.
The findings are based on deed transaction data through December 2025 and include purchases by corporate entities such as limited liability companies, partnerships, trusts and real estate investment trusts. Builder, iBuyer and financial institution transactions were excluded.
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