Over 16% of single-family homes sold in the third quarter of last year were purchased by investors.

Investor activity in the real estate market remained on the upswing in the third quarter of last year, with investor purchases comprising 16.4% of all single-family home sales during the period, according to RealtyTrac. That’s up from 11.7% in the same quarter in 2020, equating to a year-over-year increase of just over 40%. “The share of investor purchases continues to rise in the vast majority of states,” said RealtyTrac Executive Vice President Rick Sharga. “Despite historically low inventory of homes for sale, and historically high prices, both fix-and-flip and rental property investors continue to be very active in the residential market.”  RealtyTrac also found that investors nationwide paid an average of 18.9% less than the overall median sale price during last year’s third quarter. Investors paid a median of just $245,000 for their typical home buy, compared to $302,000 for all single-family purchases. But while investors continue to pay less than consumers at large do, the difference between the two has seen a marked decline. The discount reaped by investors during last year’s Q3 was substantially lower than the 29.4% reduction they enjoyed in the same quarter one year earlier. Investors continue to wield the benefit of more liquid capital than most consumers, continuing in most cases to pay with cash rather than financing. The share of all-cash home purchases among investors saw an increase of 9.5 percentage points from Q3 2020 to Q3 2021, rising from 69.5% to 79.0%.

Source: The Scotsman Guide