The presence of institutional investors in the single-family housing market has been a lightning rod for controversy. In January 2026, President Trump issued an executive order calling for Congress to take action to limit these investors, and the comprehensive 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act (passed by the Senate) includes provisions limiting those investors.
However, economists have taken a skeptical view of these initiatives; the actual number of institutional investors (generally meaning owning several hundred homes to rent) in the market is rather small. Indeed, a new report from Realtor.com® finds that, nationally, institutional investor purchases amount for only 1% of single-family home purchases made nationally.
“Large corporate investors are often viewed as a primary driver of today’s housing affordability challenges, but the data show their footprint is relatively small and has been shrinking,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com®. “While institutional investors expanded during the favorable buying conditions of the pandemic market, they remain a minor share of overall purchases. Policies focused on boosting housing supply are likely to have a far greater impact on affordability and homeownership than restricting a small segment of buyers.”
Institutional investors (defined by the report as purchasing 350 homes or more since 2015) have pulled back from the single-family housing market after peak activity during the pandemic, as well. Per the report’s findings, the median metro has a total large investor purchase share of 0.6%, while the mean is about 1.2%.
More broadly, housing economists have taken a skeptical view of these initiatives; the actual number of institutional investors (generally meaning owning several hundred homes to rent) in the market is rather small. Thus, action like banning institutional investor purchases would have only a “modest” impact on the market, per Bright MLS Chief Economist Lisa Sturtevant in a statement following Trump’s executive order.
The majority of investor purchases are instead made by small investors, the report found, meaning those who’ve made 10 or less home purchases since 2015. Per Realtor.com, 61.3% of all investor purchases in 2025 were made by small investors, compared to 49.9% in 2015. The report indicates that small investor purchases picked up after the height of the pandemic (for instance, the small investor purchase share jumped from 50.6% in 2022 to 57.7% in 2023) and has climbed since.
At the same time, the number of large investor purchases (meaning 100-349 home purchases since 2015) in 2025 was 7.4%, down from 9.8% in 2015. The number of institutional investor purchases in 2025 was also 7.5% of all purchases, down from 12.2% in 2015. The findings indicate that institutional investor purchase share peaked in 2021 at 16.3%, dropped slightly in 2022 to 15.4%, and then dropped noticeably in 2023 to 9.9%. Since then, the decline has continued.
Thus, while overall investor activity makes up a larger share of the market than a decade ago, the perception that large corporate investors are driving this is generally not reflected in data. Moreover, the Realtor.com report indicates that institutional investor activity is concentrated in a few geographic regions (largely ones with more available inventory and lower prices), which further pushes down the overall national impact of investor purchases on home prices.
Per the report, the top 10 metro areas with the most institutional investor activity, which are largely concentrated in southern U.S. states, still have a market share of institutional investors (meaning ownership of 350 homes or more) of less than 5%. Only 11 of the top 100 metros have a total investor single-family home purchase share of 3% or greater.
The top 10 metro areas with the most institutional investor activity is as follows:
- Memphis, Tennessee: 4.4% share of institutional investors, with a total investor share of 19.2%.
- Colorado Springs, Colorado: 4.3% share of institutional investors, with a total investor share of 9.7%.
- Charlotte, North Carolina: 4.2% share of institutional investors, with a total investor share of 13.5%.
- Atlanta, Georgia: 3.8% share of institutional investors, with a total investor share of 13.2%.
- Birmingham, Alabama: 3.8% share of institutional investors, with a total investor share of 15.7%.
- Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas: 3.6% share of institutional investors, with a total investor share of 13.9%.
- Raleigh, North Carolina: 3.5% share of institutional investors, with a total investor share of 15%.
- Indianapolis, Indiana: 3.5% share of institutional investors, with a total investor share of 11.8%.
- Winston-Salem, North Carolina: 3.1% share of institutional investors, with a total investor share of 12%.
- San Antonio, Texas: 3% share of institutional investors, with a total investor share of 12.2%.
One of the report’s takeaways is that, “Any proposed investor ban, therefore, should carefully weigh the concentrated, short-term benefits of adding a small fraction of homes to the market against the risk of adding yet another barrier to new housing supply in the long run.”
For the full report, click here.
