Small Investors Made Gains in Housing Market This Year as Congress Limited Big Institutions

Investors might have slowed their home purchases as Washington scrutinized their industry. But they remain a steady force in the housing market, a new analysis from the Realtor.com® economics team has found.Investor buying in the national housing market fell 7% in the first half of 2026, compared to the year before. They purchased 224,000 homes, the lowest first-half total since 2020, according to the latest investor report from Realtor.com.The slowdown happened as Congress finalized legislation affecting large institutional investors in the housing market. But not all investors felt that equally—and investor purchases are still above where they were before the COVID-19 pandemic, says Realtor.com senior economist Hannah Jones.Investor activity still comprised 10.7% of home purchases in the first half of the year, down just 0.3% from the first half of 2025. Small investors remained the dominant force there, as large mega-investors pulled back.Mega-investor purchases are down 70% compared to where they were in 2021. Non-investor home transactions are down 34.3% at the same time, which indicates that investor activity is still contracting faster than the market at large.In the meantim...