Investor Homebuying Has Dropped 45% In Deadlocked Housing Market
45%
That’s how much investor purchases of homes have fallen since last year, as of the second quarter, according to data from Redfin, as homebuying looks less profitable than during the pandemic housing boom.
Investors, just like private buyers, think it’s a bad time to buy a home.
That’s according to data from real estate brokerage Redfin released Wednesday, which showed that investors bought 50,000 homes in the second quarter. That’s the lowest for any second quarter in seven years, and down by nearly half from the second quarter of 2022. Investors accounted for just 15.6% of home sales in this year’s second quarter, a drop from 19.7% a year earlier.
Investors—including hedge funds, house flippers, and large investment banks—snapped up houses during the era of ultra-low mortgage rates during the pandemic, but have been turned off by the same factors that have kept private buyers on the sidelines. Mortgage rates have more than doubled since the start of 2022, amid a severe lack of for-sale listings.
As of July, 82% of consumers polled by mortgage giant Fannie Mae said it was a bad time to buy a house, tied for a record high in monthly survey data going back to 2010. According to Redfin’s data, investors—who are motivated by profit rather than the need for a place to live—feel the same.