Investor Share of Home Purchases Remains Elevated as Large Buyers Pull Back
Investors purchased just over 32% of all single-family residential properties sold in Q4 2025, down slightly from 34% in Q3 but still above 30% for the third straight quarter, data provider BatchData reported. In total, investors bought 1.32 million homes in 2025, a 4.5% decline from 1.39 million in 2024. Roughly 18% of the nation’s 86 million single-family homes are now investor owned.
The biggest landlords, those with 1,000 or more homes, continued to sell into the market. They unloaded 5,970 properties in Q4 while buying only 4,336, marking an eighth consecutive quarter as net sellers; over the full year, they sold 20% more homes than they purchased.
“While investors continue to represent a high percentage of home purchases, the number of properties they’re buying has actually decreased significantly,” said BatchData president Ivo Draginov. “Investors bought about 292,000 homes in Q4 2025 — down 19% from Q3, and down 15% year-over-year. So once again, the high percentage is largely due to fewer home purchases by traditional homeowners rather than overly aggressive investor activity.”
Ownership remains heavily skewed toward small players. Investors with one to five properties hold almost 92% of investor-owned single-family homes, while those with six to 10 properties account for just under 4%. The largest investors represent only about 2% of the investor-owned stock. Collectively, investors bought more than 1.32 million homes in 2025 and sold about 368,000, but large investors were net sellers, purchasing 20,856 homes and selling 25,861.
Investor ownership is most pronounced in parts of the Mountain West and the Sun Belt. Wyoming leads all states with 30.66% of homes held by investors, followed by Maine (29.88%), Montana (26.63%), Alaska (26.61%) and Hawaii (25.84%).
Investors own at least 18% of single-family homes in 44 of the 100 largest U.S. metros, with especially strong concentration in the Southeast. Asheville, NC, tops the list at almost 28%, trailed by Lubbock, TX (27.49%), Charleston, WV (24.54%), Fayetteville, NC (almost 25%), Portland, ME (23.69%) and Myrtle Beach, SC (22.60%). Among large investors with 100-plus properties, Atlanta has the highest share at 3.77%, followed by Jacksonville (3.50%), Charlotte (2.79%), Phoenix (2.50%), Memphis (2.41%), and Las Vegas (2.31%).
Pictured: Investor Purchases According to BatchData