Investor share slips to 27% of single-family purchases, Cotality says

Investors accounted for 27% of U.S. single-family home purchases from March through June 2026, down from 28% at the end of the first quarter, according to a Sept. 3 analysis from Cotality. The decline follows a typical seasonal pattern, as owner-occupant buyers become more active during the summer months. Investor activity, however, remains above the levels seen during much of the 2010s, when investors generally accounted for less than 20% of single-family purchases. Investors made about 273,000 purchases in the second quarter, down roughly 40,000 from the same period a year earlier. Mega investors, meaning those owning at least 1,000 properties, accounted for about 10,000 of that decline, Cotality found. “The investor share dropped in Q2 2026, but that is par for the course in the summer,” said Thom Malone, principal economist at Cotality. “The more compelling story lies in overall volume. Investors executed roughly 40,000 fewer purchases compared to Q2 2025, with mega investors accounting for about 10,000 of that decline. That represents a significant drop given their small market presence, suggesting that proposed restrictions on institutional investors had an immediate chilling...