Almost 10% of home sold by ibuyers sold to institutional investors
Institutional investors are seeking out new opportunities to buy single-family homes for rentals as traditional routes are less abundant.
An analysis of the two leading US ibuyers, companies that buy homes directly from homeowners for all-cash offers, show that institutional investors accounted for almost 10% of sales so far in 2018 - 743 homes.
ATTOM Data Solutions analyzed data from Opendoor and Offerpad and found that the 9.6% share of homes bought by the entities was up from 6.6% in 2017 and just 3.9% in 2016.
When looking at all US home sales so far in 2018, institutional investor account for just 2.3% so far in 2018, and 2.9% in 2017.
The analysis suggests that a lower inventory of foreclosures is pushing large investors to look elsewhere to add to their portfolio.
"Tight inventory is a common challenge facing both individual and institutional single family rental investors across the country," said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president with ATTOM Data Solutions. "Meanwhile the appetite for more SFR inventory continues to grow as a new wave of institutional capital builds. Industry innovators are rising to meet this challenge through a variety of inventory-inducing channels, including off-market, build-to-rent, and iBuyer initiatives."
