There is a reasonable amount of investor activity, but I’ve yet to see the big names buying homes in our market. Yes, there are LLCs and investors, but through my lens, I haven’t see “Wall Street firms” buying in the Charlottesville market. (I’m trying to figure out how to look for this locally)
I have read about neighborhoods being built to rent by corporations. I have yet to see that in our market, but the Greystar project at 29/Old Ivy Road might be such a thing.
From below, “Bloomberg makes a distinction between large corporate Wall Street landlords snatching up single-family homes and those smaller businesses like mom-and-pop landlords. “In most US cities, the number of homes owned by Wall Street is vanishingly small,” the site writes.”
Two good things to read/watch:
1 – Logan Mohtashami: BlackRock is not buying any homes
2 – Investors Are Buying a Higher Percentage of Homes, According to Redfin Report
Amid the maze-like challenges presented by the ongoing housing crisis, the investor-owned real estate market has been thrust into the limelight. Last week, Redfin released a new report that shows a curious spike: Over the past year, $43 billion of homes purchased were bought by private investors (defined by Redfin as any institution or business) in 39 metropolitan areas, up almost 14 percent since 2023. Although townhouses and multifamily units make up a small percentage of those purchased homes, these investors are vastly more attracted to single-family and condo housing, making up approximately 69 percent and 19 percent of those sales, respectively.
The issue isn’t new: Redfin has been tracking corporate home purchases since 2000; dips and spikes in investor purchases often correlate to large-scale events like market downturns and the pandemic. The most recent increase is the largest since 2022, when high interest rates and home prices slowed individual home purchases and drove up rental demand, the study reads. In 2024’s second quarter, investors bought one in six of all homes that sold, up more than three percent despite this year’s earlier decline in individual home sales. But whether or not the upward trend in corporate home purchases requires intervention is questionable.
Bloomberg makes a distinction between large corporate Wall Street landlords snatching up single-family homes and those smaller businesses like mom-and-pop landlords. “In most US cities, the number of homes owned by Wall Street is vanishingly small,” the site writes. Citing “Place the Blame Where It Belongs,” a report from the Urban Institute think-tank, Bloomberg continues, “investor interest is a symptom of a lack of housing, not a cause of it. Corporate investors do not generate new demand, nor do their purchases take homes out of the local supply (barring some other problem). Investors often buy properties that require upgrades, improving the supply, and first-time homebuyers rarely have access to the same capital required for significant upfront costs.”
