Investor Buying Activity Remains Historically High in 2025
According to data from real estate analytics firm Cotality, investor purchases of U.S. single-family homes eased modestly in the second quarter of 2025, but remain well above pre-pandemic levels.
Investors represented 29% of all single-family home purchases in June, down from a 2025 high of 32% in January. Even with the pullback, the share sat comfortably above the 25% recorded in June 2024, underscoring how elevated borrowing costs and still-high prices continue to sideline many would-be first-time buyers — leaving investors to fill the gap in rental demand.
“Investors expanded their market presence significantly in 2025, building on historically high levels,” said Thom Malone, Cotality’s principal economist. “This demonstrates their resilience in a high-price, high-rate environment. As these adverse conditions persist, investors are well positioned to meet rental demand. Their tendency to buy with all cash means high interest rates are less of a deterrent. Plus, current high prices can be offset by strong rental returns.”
Steady Volumes, Shifting Composition
Investors purchased roughly 85,000 homes per month this year, nearly unchanged from the 84,000-unit monthly average in the first half of 2024. While their market share has increased, Cotality said it does not expect a return to the frenzied activity of 2022 — when investor purchases averaged 120,000 a month — without a comparable surge in home-price appreciation.
The rise in investor share is driven more by fewer owner-occupants entering the market than by a spike in investor buying. First-time buyers in particular continue to struggle with mortgage rates hovering near multi-decade highs and prices that remain close to record levels.
Medium-sized investors — defined as those holding between 10 and 99 properties — have been the fastest-growing cohort. Their market share rose to 10% in June from 6% a year earlier. Small investors with fewer than 10 homes remain the dominant group at 14% of all purchases. Large investors (101-1,000 properties) accounted for 3%, while mega investors with portfolios exceeding 1,000 homes made up 2%.
Medium-sized operators have become especially active, Cotality said, because they blend characteristics of two very different investor profiles: They pay in cash more often than small, “mom-and-pop” landlords, yet do not have the diversified exposure of mega investors, making them more committed to opportunities in the for-rent single-family sector.
Sun Belt Metros Remain Investor Magnets
Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix and Los Angeles ranked as the top five metros for total investor purchases in the first half of the year. But the picture shifts when examining investor share rather than raw volumes: only Los Angeles and Atlanta appear on both lists.
Dallas remains the nation’s largest market for overall investor purchases but drops to tenth place when measured by investor share, given its strong owner-occupied activity. Across 18 of the top 20 metros, small investors consistently represent roughly 15% of the market, leaving variations in total investor presence driven largely by medium, large and mega buyers. Atlanta, for example, would fall out of the top 20 without participation from mega investors.
Seasonal Patterns Likely to Persist
Investor participation historically rises in winter months and eases in summer as traditional buyers return to the market, a pattern that remained intact this year. Absent major shifts in interest rates or broader macroeconomic conditions, Cotality expects investor share to hover between 25% and 30% for the remainder of 2025.
Despite the recent dip, Malone said investor activity remains remarkably resilient.
“The fundamentals continue to favor rental demand,” Malone said. “As long as affordability remains strained for owner-occupants, investors will continue to serve as a major force in the U.S. housing market.”
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