Like the rest of the housing market, investor activity has been affected by weak homebuying demand, high interest rates, and overall economic uncertainty. Of the total homes sold in Q4 2024, investors accounted for 17% of buyers, according to real estate marketing platform Redfin. This is down slightly from the year prior, when 19% of all buyers were investors. Overall, Q4 saw 47,004 homes purchased by investors, which is the lowest level for that time of year since 2016.
The investor market share fell the most in Florida markets. For instance, investors in Orlando purchased 20.7% of homes that sold during Q4 2024, compared with 26.6% a year earlier. Similarly, in Jacksonville, investors bought 21.1% of homes that sold, down from 25.8% the year prior.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Bay Area features heavily on the list of places where investor purchases–and investor market share–rose most.
Investors in Seattle bought 33.8% more homes than a year earlier in the fourth quarter, a bigger increase than any other metro. Next come San Jose, CA (21.1%), Oakland, CA (19.4%), San Francisco (19.1%) and Detroit (15.5%). Investor market share rose most in Seattle, too; investors bought 11.3% of homes that sold there in the fourth quarter, up from 9% a year earlier. The next-biggest increases were in Oakland, Cleveland, Philadelphia and San Jose. Read more
