Investors are snatching up 1 in 5 homes for sale, scooping up affordable housing
(FOX BUSINESS) – Homeownership has slipped out of reach for millions of Americans thanks to the astronomical rise in mortgage rates and an ongoing inventory shortage. Now, there is another obstacle to buying a home: Investors and hedge funds are snatching up properties at the fastest pace in nearly two years, according to new findings published by Redfin.
Real-estate investors bought about 44,000 homes in the first quarter of 2024, up half a percent from the previous year – the first increase since 2022. The gain was primarily driven by an uptick in purchases of single-family homes.
Although investors are scooping up fewer homes than they did before the pandemic began, they're still purchasing a "fairly high" share of the homes. In fact, in the first three months of the year, investors bought almost 19% of homes that sold, the highest percentage in nearly two years. That means investors bought just about one in five homes for sale in the three-month period from January to March.
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