Institutional Investors Are Snapping Up Homes Across the U.S.—They’re Taking the Biggest Share in These 5 Metros

by Joy Dumandan

Institutional investors continue to hold a significant slice of America's housing inventory, buying up more than 6% of homes across the U.S. in 2025 alone—but new data reveals that there are five metros where they could be taking a much bigger bite out of the market.

Prior to the COVID pandemic, the share of homes being sold to large investors hovered at around 5%, before almost doubling to 9.3% in 2021. While it has since declined, it has failed to return to pre-pandemic norms, sitting steady at 6.6% in 2024 and 2025, according to the ATTOM Year-End 2025 U.S. Home Sales Report.

Institutional property investment across the U.S. recently became the target of Donald Trump's push for more affordability, with the president threatening to "ban" Wall Street "from buying more single-family homes," a move that he insisted would help to unlock more housing inventory for the average American.

On Jan. 20, Trump took the first step toward this ban when he signed an executive order giving Kevin Hassett, the assistant to the president for economic policy, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent 30 days to "develop definitions" for both "large institutional investors" and "a single-family home."

He noted that these terms need to be clarified to better assess how a ban might impact the single-family housing market before further action can be taken.

However, ATTOM's new report suggests that a ban on institutional investment would have much more impact on some U.S. metros than others, highlighting the five regions where large investors are buying up the most significant share of family homes.

The report also highlights the ongoing affordability crisis in the housing market, noting that prices continued to rise in 2025—despite American families facing even more financial hurdles.

"Home prices kept climbing in 2025 even as affordability challenges intensified for households across the country," said Rob Barber, CEO of ATTOM.

Trump's executive order is not the first time that institutional investors have been flagged as a potential roadblock to affordability.

In 2023, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development stated that institutional and other large corporate investors were responsible for buying up "an increasing share" of single-family homes.

"[They are] taking properties off the market for individual homebuyers and putting upward pressure on home prices and rents," a HUD report at the time noted.

ATTOM's data identified the following states as seeing particularly high rates of institutional investors: Tennessee and Texas (9.2% of all sales); Missouri (9.1%); Indiana (9%); and Georgia, Alabama, and Oklahoma (8.8%).

But the report further identified five metros with the highest share of sales to institutional investors in 2025.

The metros topping the list are all located in the South—with Realtor.com® senior economist Joel Berner noting that these areas are prime for large-scale investment because of their relatively low house prices.

"These Southern metros all offer relatively low acquisition costs for homes with the potential to command strong rents. This means better return on investment for these institutional investors," explains Berner.

1. Memphis, TN

Median list price: $314,950
Median days on the market: 78

ATTOM's report found that institutional investors made up 14.8% of all sales in 2025 in Memphis. According to Realtor.com data, there's over 4,500 active listings for December 2025, with a median list price per square foot at $154.

This three-bedroom, two-bath home is in the heart of the Cordova neighborhood and is listed for $314,900. (Realtor.com)

2. Huntsville, AL

Median list price: $376,250
Median days on the market: 75

The institutional investor share in Huntsville for 2025 was 11.9% of sales. The metro has an active listing count of 2,727 homes for sale, with a median list price per square foot at $171.

New-construction homes, like this one listed for $356,900, is below the median list price in the metro. (Realtor.com)

3. Fayetteville, NC

Median list price: $295,000
Median days on the market: 67

In Fayetteville, institutional investors made up 11.4% of sales for last year. The metro has over 1,400 active listings, with a median list price per square foot at $154.

This Fayetteville, NC, home with four bedrooms and three baths is listed for $205,000. (Realtor.com)

4. Birmingham, AL

Median list price: $289,663
Median days on the market: 73

The institutional investor share in Birmingham for all of 2025 was 11.2% of home sales. There's an active listing count of over 4,200, with a median list price per square foot at $156.

A Birmingham, AL, home with four bedrooms and two baths is listed for $221,500. (Realtor.com)

5. Dallas

Median list price: $412,500
Median days on the market: 71

In Dallas, institutional investors made up 11.1% of home sales in 2025. The metro has an active listing count of more than 25,000 homes, with a median list price per square foot at $200.

A four-bedroom, 2.5-bath home is listed for $397,000. (Realtor.com)

"Each (metro) has a strong labor market that suggests demand for homes will remain high, sustaining the value of investing in homes there," Berner says. "These markets are attractive to renters for this same reason as well: plentiful job opportunities. Inventory is growing in these metros as each has a respectable level of new construction activity."

Making money

ATTOM's report also found that all-cash deals remained popular in 2025, with the share of homes purchased with all cash climbing to 39.1%—the highest it has been since 2013.

But profit margins on a median-priced home sale were lower in 2025 compared with 2024 in 87.7% (114) of the 130 metro areas with sufficient data to analyze by ATTOM.

Florida and California house the metros with the biggest losses. In metros with populations over 1 million, the largest profit margin declines were found in Tampa, FL (down 15 percentage points to 58%); Jacksonville, FL (down 13 percentage points to 45%); Fresno, CA (down 12 percentage points to 62%); San Jose, CA (down 12 percentage points to 94%); and Miami (down 11 percentage points to 72%).

Not every metro found itself in the red. ATTOM data identified the metro areas that saw the largest year-over-year growth on typical home sale profit margins. Its findings found all those metros were in the Midwest: Canton, OH (up 5 points to 54%); Akron, OH (up 3 points to 59%; Chicago (up 2 points to 47%); Cleveland (up 2 points to 61%); and South Bend, IN (up 2 points to 59% ).