Real Estate Investor Purchases Up 40% From Year Ago

Real estate investor purchases accounted for 16.4% of all home purchases nationally in the third quarter from 11.7% a year ago, an increase of more than 40 percent, reported RealtyTrac, Irvine, Calif.

The company’s quarterly Investor Purchase Report said the increase in investor purchase activity was national in scope – all but five states saw increases in the percentage of investor purchases among all home sales. Alaska, Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska and Vermont were the only states to show a decrease in real estate investor purchases during that period.

“The share of investor purchases continues to rise in the vast majority of states,” said RealtyTrac Executive Vice President Rick Sharga. “Despite historically low inventory of homes for sale, and historically high prices, both fix-and-flip and rental property investors continue to be very active in the residential market.”

States with the highest investor purchase share in the third quarter were Arizona (26.6%); Georgia (25.2%); Arkansas (23.5%); Florida (23.1% and Mississippi (22.7%). At the other end, states with the lowest investor purchase share were Vermont (0.5%), Alaska (1.3%); South Dakota (7.1%); New Mexico (7.4%) and Montana (8.1%).