Amid the well-publicized housing affordability issue, President Trump made waves earlier this year with a proposal to ban institutional investors from buying single-family homes.
Institutional investors, such as private equity firms, Real Estate Investment Trusts (such as Invitation Homes or American Homes 4 Rent) have been buying single-family homes to rent them out since at least 2021.
Recent data show these large investors are not a dominant force nationally but, in certain housing markets, the purchases are more significant.
Large institutional investors (typically defined as those owning from 100 to 1,000 properties) represent a small portion of the overall single-family housing and rental market:
– They own roughly 1 percent of the total U.S. single-family housing stock (around 86 million homes), according to the National Association of Realtors.
– In the single-family rental segment (about 11-15 million units), their share is around 3-5 percent, according to sources such as AEI, Brookings, Urban Institute, and Government Accountability Office data.
– At their peak (around 2021-2022, post-foreclosure wave and low-rate environment), their purchase share rarely exceeded 3 percent of all single-family home sales nationally.
In contrast, all investors (including small "mom-and-pop" landlords with 1-10 properties) have been far more active:
– Investor purchases (of all sizes) reached highs of 30-33 percent of single-family home sales in parts of 2025, according to BatchData, up from averages of 18-26 percent in prior years.
Small investors account for about 90 percent of investor-owned homes and the majority of investor purchases.
Institutional investment purchases are more significant in certain areas. In Sun Belt metros like Atlanta, Phoenix, Tampa, Charlotte, Nashville suburbs, institutional ownership can reach 5-15 percent of rentals or local stock in specific counties/neighborhoods.