Investors snapping up nearly 1 in 3 homes, report finds 

Investor housing market activity is holding strong in 2025, a sign that investors are seeing potential in the rental market amid housing affordability challenges, a recent Cotality report suggests.

Investors accounted for 29% of single-family home purchases in June, according to Cotality data — and while that was down from 32% in January, it was significantly higher than the years preceding the pandemic, when shares typically stayed under 20%.

This growing market presence "demonstrates [investors'] resilience in a high-price, high-rate environment," said Thom Malone, principal economist at Cotality. "As these adverse conditions are expected to persist, investors are well positioned to meet rental demand."

Investors' tendency to make all-cash home purchases "means high interest rates are less of a deterrent," Malone added. "Plus, current high prices can be offset by strong rental returns."

Looking ahead, investor activity "will likely remain steady through the end of 2025," the report said.

Which investors are diving in? Those who own between 10 and 99 properties drove the recent uptick in investor activity, according to the report. Their market share grew from 6% in June 2024 to 10% in June 2025.

The most common type of investor owns fewer than 10 properties. These smaller investors collectively hold a 14% share of the overall market. Investors who own between 101 and 1,000 properties represent 3% of all home purchases, while those with more than 1,000 properties have the smallest market share at 2%.

Where are investors buying? Between January and June of this year, Dallas was the top city for investor activity when measured by raw sales numbers, with 21,842 purchases made. Houston was second with 18,324 purchases, followed by Atlanta, Phoenix and Los Angeles with more than 11,000 purchases each.

Among the cities with high investor activity, only Los Angeles had relatively low non-investor purchases, bringing the area close to a 50-50 split.