Kiri Blakeley of Realtor.com reports that investor activity held steady in 2024, with 13% of homes purchased by investors, just shy of the 2022 peak of 13.3%. Despite high home prices and unrelenting mortgage rates, investor presence ticked up from 2023, underscoring a continued appetite for real estate. However, a notable shift occurred in how purchases were financed: all-cash deals by investors dropped to their lowest level since 2008, driven partly by more inventory and less competition. 

Source: Realtor.com (June 2025)

At the state and city level, investor activity is surging in affordable markets with strong rental economics. Kansas emerged as a standout, with Kansas City experiencing the highest rent growth in April 2025 at 4.9%, even as national rents fell 1.7%. The city remains under the 30% rent-to-income threshold, making it attractive to landlords chasing yield. 

Hannah Jones of Realtor.com also reports on the data, highlighting that while investors bought 610,000 homes, total home sales dropped 2.1%, increasing investor share. Investor sellers also hit a record high at 10.8% of all sellers. Small investors made up 59.2% of purchases, the highest on record, while large investor activity declined. All-cash investor deals fell to their lowest share since 2008 at 62.3%, as more investors relied on financing amid rising inventory and less competition.

Source: Realtor.com (June 2025)

Regionally, Missouri (21.2%), Oklahoma (18.7%), and Kansas (18.4%) had the highest investor buyer shares. Cities like Springfield, MO, Memphis, TN, and Wichita, KS, led investor activity. On net, investors added demand in markets like Miami and New York, while they were net sellers in Sacramento and Portland. Despite more buying than selling, the gap narrowed to just 101,300 homes, its slimmest margin since 2019, signaling a potential shift in investor strategy as rents ease and prices stabilize.

“Based on the latest data, through February 2025, investor buying activity is continuing to grow as a share of home purchases. In the first two months of the year, investors purchased 0.9% fewer homes than one year prior, but overall home sales fell 5.4% in the same time period. As a result, the investor buyer share climbed from 14.3% in the first two months of 2024 to 15% so far in 2025. Investor selling activity fell from 12% of sales to 11.9%, dropping as investors sold 6.2% fewer homes compared with one year prior.”

Aislinn Murphy of Fox Business reports on the rise of smaller investors, noting that small investors acquired 361,900 homes, up 3.7% year-over-year. In contrast, large investors saw their share of purchases drop to a 17-year low, making up just 21.7% of investor buys, or 132,500 homes. 

Corporate landlords

Speaking of larger landlords, Kevin Erdmann of Investing.com reports on the proposed “Humans over Private Equity for Homeownership Act,” by Sen. Jeff Merkley and others. This law would require firms owning over 50 single-family rentals to divest, affecting 700,000 homes today and up to 5 million by 2030. Erdmann argues this amounts to legislated mass evictions and economic harm, noting such firms emerged largely to fill the gap created by a post-2008 mortgage crackdown. Small investors couldn’t meet rental demand at the time, and institutional landlords stepped in. The author argues that the bill is driven by misguided prejudice that vilifies corporate landlords as harmful despite their essential role in housing millions priced out of homeownership.

Michael Doudna of WSB Atlanta reports that U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is intensifying his investigation into corporate landlords, citing reports of “mistreatment and abuse” from over 160 witnesses. In metro Atlanta, corporate landlords own 30% of single-family rentals, with three firms controlling nearly 38,000 homes. A Georgia Tech study found these landlords are 4–5 times more likely to receive code complaints. Tenants report issues like carbon monoxide leaks and delayed repairs, with Ossoff calling the situation unprecedented and hinting at future legislation.

Josh Merchant of The Beacon comments on a new report from the Local Initiatives Support Corp (LISC) finding that corporate landlords now own 80% of apartments in the Kansas City metro area and are nearly four times more likely to file evictions than local or individual landlords. The study analyzed over 230,000 units across nine counties and found that corporate landlords were 1.6 times more likely to have code violations. Nearly half of the apartments are owned by companies based outside the region, often from Colorado, California, or New York.

On a recent JW Surety Bonds survey, Vance Cariaga of Nasdaq reports that 93% of Americans believe corporate landlords make homeownership more complicated, as institutional investors increasingly dominate the housing market. From owning virtually no homes in 2011, corporate landlords now hold around 450,000 single-family properties, intensifying competition and inflating prices. One in 20 buyers has lost a home to a corporate bidder, and 1 in 5 knows someone who has. 

Renter update

Orphe Divounguy of Zillow reports that rent growth cooled slightly in May, rising just 0.4% from the prior month and 3.2% year-over-year, giving renters more leverage as inventory expands across rental and for-sale markets. The typical U.S. asking rent now sits at $2,049, while single-family rentals average $2,296, still cheaper than the $2,388 mortgage payment for a comparable home. Multifamily rents rose 2.6% annually to $1,875, down from 2.9% in April. Here are some key data points:

• The typical asking rent is $2,049 in May, up 0.4% month-over-month. The pre-pandemic average month-over-month change for this time of year is 0.7%.
• Since the beginning of the pandemic, rents have increased by 35.8%.
• Rents are now up 3.2% from last year.
• Rents fell, on a monthly basis, in 3 major metro areas. The largest monthly drops are in Tampa (-0.2%), Phoenix (-0.2%) and New Orleans (-0.1%).
• Rents are up from year-ago levels in 47 of the 50 largest metro areas. Annual rent increases are highest in Cleveland (5.9%), Chicago (5.9%), Providence (5.9%), Columbus (5.3%), and Indianapolis (5.3%).

Anushna Prakash, also of Zillow, reports that rental concessions are starting to fade as summer demand picks up, with only 35% of May listings on Zillow offering incentives like free rent or parking. This is still a record high for the month, but down from 41% in winter. The return to seasonal norms follows last year’s construction boom, which had spiked concessions. Cities like Austin (63%), Charlotte (62%), and Denver (61%) still lead in deals, while Buffalo (9%) and New Orleans (11%) offer the fewest. Fewer new apartments under construction means less pressure on landlords to entice renters.

Evie Steele of CNBC reports that suburban renting is rising as homeownership slips further out of reach for many Americans. Between 2018 and 2023, 15 major suburbs shifted to majority-renter populations, with places like Frisco, McKinney, and Grand Prairie, Texas, each adding over 5,000 renter households. In Dallas’ suburbs, rentership surged 17.6%, more than twice the city’s growth rate. High mortgage rates, now near 7%, and elevated home prices have pushed many would-be buyers into rentals, especially in single-family homes that offer space without long-term financial commitment. 

Finally, Kristen Smithberg of Globe St reports that class A apartment occupancy hit 95.7% in May, the highest since June 2022, as renters delay home purchases amid high mortgage rates and prices. This marks a shift from pre-pandemic norms when Class C units led in occupancy. All classes—A, B, and C—are now above their pre-COVID averages, driven by strong rental demand and record new supply. Slower rent growth and leasing incentives have made high-end units more accessible, particularly in Sun Belt markets.