Investor home purchases have suffered the largest decline since the Great Recession. According to Redfin, investor home buys fell 30.2 percent year-over-year in Q3, outpacing the 27.4 percent drop in overall home purchases nationwide.
Investor purchases slumped 26.1 percent on a quarter-over-quarter basis, the largest quarterly decline on record with the exception of the start of the pandemic.
In dollar terms, investors bought $42.4 billion worth of homes in Q3, down from $57.6 billion one year earlier. The typical home that investors purchased cost $451,975, up 6.4 percent from one year earlier but down 4.3 percent from one quarter earlier.
“It’s unlikely that investors will return to the market in a big way anytime soon. Home prices would need to fall significantly for that to happen,” said Redfin Senior Economist Sheharyar Bokhari. “This means that regular buyers who are still in the market are no longer facing fierce competition from hordes of cash-rich investors like they were last year.”
The top 10 metros that saw the largest declines include Phoenix, Portland, Las Vegas, Sacramento, Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami, Denver, San Diego and Riverside.