Institutional investors have long been cast as the boogeyman of the housing market. The public fears a corporate monster buying up starter homes and shutting out first-time homebuyers. But the data suggests institutional investors are more like shark attacks: rarely encountered in real life, and not especially deadly.
Large institutional investors own fewer than 500,000 single-family rental homes nationwide, or about 3% of the rental stock and less than 1% of all housing stock.
The past few years have brought renewed attention to the issue. In 2021, investors’ share of single-family purchases surged to roughly one-quarter of the market. In 2024, that share rose again. Investors now account for roughly 1 in 3 purchases. Because home prices r...