Don't underestimate the landlord next door — mom-and-pop investors are reported to have over 90% market share
Real estate investors purchased 33% of single-family homes sold in the second quarter of 2025, the highest share in five years, according to new data from BatchData, a real estate data platform. But the real story lies in who is doing the buying.
Despite headlines about Wall Street landlords, the market remains overwhelmingly controlled by small investors. Owners of just one to five properties account for 87% of all investor-owned homes, the report found. Another 4% belong to those with six to ten properties. By contrast, large institutional players with portfolios exceeding 1,000 homes control only 2% of the market.
“The perception that institutional investors are gobbling up the nation’s housing stock is overstated,” BatchData said in releasing the report.
This surge is largely driven by "mom-and-pop" investors focusing on lower-priced single-family homes, despite larger institutions being net sellers. Source: BatchData
Even as investor share has risen, the total number of homes sold to investors actually fell: about 16,000 fewer properties changed hands in Q2 compared with a year earlier, underscoring how slower overall sales volumes can inflate investors’ market share. Investors now own about 20% of the nation’s 86 million single-family homes.
Geographically, the largest pools of investor-owned homes are in Texas (1.46 million), California (1.33 million), and Florida (1.1 million). States with the highest percentage of single-family homes owned by investors include Hawaii (26%), Alaska (27%), Montana (31%), and Maine (31%).
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Investors are also buying below market averages. In Q2, they paid about $455,000 per property, compared with a national average price of $512,800. Large institutional buyers operate in even lower tiers, with average purchase prices closer to $280,000.
The report highlights another key trend: investor-to-investor transactions remain a major force. More than half of investor sales in Q2 went to other investors, though large operators are increasingly net sellers. The biggest players sold 5,801 properties while buying just 4,069, marking their sixth straight quarter of net dispositions.
Still, BatchData noted, nearly 45% of investor sales in Q2 went back to traditional homebuyers, putting homes back into the broader market.
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