Real estate investors buy more than they sell
On the sales side, investors sold 9.2% of all homes sold in the second quarter of 2025, the same as a year ago.
In total, investors bought approximately 41,000 more homes than they sold in the first half of 2025. This gap is 10.8% wider than in the first half of 2024, which the report attributes to the easing of sales activities to investors. Overall, investors have bought about 726,000 more homes than they have sold since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, putting pressure on homeownership, according to the report.
Main investor activity in Missouri, Mississippi
The state with the highest share of investor buyers was Missouri at 18.9%, followed by Mississippi (17.1%) and Nevada (15.4%). At the metro level, of the 50 largest metros, Memphis had the largest stock or investor activity at 25.2%, up 4.7% year over year. St. Louis, MO-KS was second at 20.6%, followed by Kansas City, MO-KS at 19.3%. Of the top 10 metropolitan cities, Columbus, Ohio saw the largest annual increase in investor buyer activity at 6.0%.
In Michigan (-53.1%), Maryland (-45.4%) and Virginia (-45.0%), investors tended to purchase properties below the average market price, while in Montana (+35.1%), Utah (+33.7%) and California (+23.3%) investors paid the largest premiums.
At the metro level, the typical purchase price for investors was much lower than the market median in Detroit (-58.0%), Pittsburgh (-52.7%) and Baltimore (-52.0%). In contrast, investors paid the highest home premiums in Los Angeles (+19.8%), San Diego (+9.2%) and New York City (+8.7%).
According to the report, in the states and metro areas where investors are purchasing homes well below the average price, they are competing with first-time homebuyers, which could potentially increase affordability pressure for these types of homebuyers.
In total, the average investor purchased a home for $287,000 in the second quarter of 2025, more than $80,000 below the national average sales price.
When it comes to investor size, the share of small real estate investors purchasing homes in the first half of 2025 reached the highest level since 2007, with small investors accounting for 62.5% of all investor purchases. Meanwhile, mid-sized investors accounted for 17.6% of all purchases and large investors accounted for 19.8% of purchases. According to the report, this decline in the share of purchases by major investors started in 2022.
Looking ahead, due to increased economic uncertainty, Realtor.com believes investors will likely focus on markets that offer a combination of affordability and stable housing demand.
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