If you’re house-hunting, you might be wondering if big investors are scooping up all the properties, making it harder for regular folks like us to find a place. There’s a lot of buzz and misinformation on social media about this, so let’s clear things up. The big investor craze is actually a thing of the past.

According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ):

“Investors of all sizes spent billions of dollars buying homes during the pandemic. At the 2022 peak, they bought more than one in every four single-family homes sold, though more recently their activity has slowed as interest rates rose and supply became tighter.”

Here’s the deal: investor activity has dropped a lot. Even at their peak, investors bought just 25% of single-family homes. That means regular buyers like you and me were still purchasing the majority of homes. Plus, most of the investors were small-time – folks who own a couple of properties, not giant firms.

But what about those huge mega-investor companies that everyone’s talking about? You know, the ones with 1,000+ properties. Surprisingly, they didn’t buy that many homes. During the peak in 2022, they snagged about 2% of available single-family homes, and that number has dropped so much it’s almost zero now.

Private lender RCN Capital dug into why these big investors are pulling back. CEO Jeffrey Tesch explained:

“Investors are already facing many challenges in today’s housing market – rising prices, limited inventory, and higher financing costs.”

So, big investors aren’t taking over the market and making it impossible for regular folks to buy homes.

Bottom Line

Big investors aren’t buying up all the homes. If you’ve got questions about the housing market, let’s chat. I’m here to help you get the real scoop.