Study Details Who Owns Single-Family Investment Houses

Sixteen percent of the nation’s single-family investment homes, or 3.4 million residential properties, are owned by out-of-state investors, according to a new study by ATTOM Data Solutions.

Among the states with the greatest number of investment homes owned by out-of-state investors are Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arizona, Georgia and Texas; Arizona’s Maricopa County and Nevada’s Clark County (home to Las Vegas) were the counties with the most out-of-state investors owning this type of real estate. California ranked highest as the state with investors owning the most out-of-state investment homes—24 percent of all investment homes owned by Californians located out of state—followed by Florida, Texas, New York, Illinois and Virginia.

“In many cases those lower-priced markets are in politically red states with the out-of-state investors often hailing from politically blue states,” said Jennifer von Pohlmann, senior public relations manager at ATTOM Data Solutions. “Passive real estate investors—think young professionals with well-paying day jobs or baby boomer homeowners flush with home equity wealth—in high-priced housing markets are looking beyond their backyards for real estate investing opportunities in lower-priced markets.”