Real estate investors bought 26.1 percent of low-priced homes that sold in the fourth quarter of last year, according to Redfin. That’s the highest share on record and is up from 24 percent a year earlier.
Redfin defines low-priced homes as those that fall into the bottom tercile of local sale prices. By comparison, investors purchased 13.6 percent of mid-priced homes that sold and 15.9 percent of high-priced homes that sold in Q4.
Investor purchases of U.S. homes fell 10.5 percent year- over-year in the fourth quarter to 46,419—the lowest fourth-quarter level since 2016. This marks the sixth straight year-over-year decline.