Blackrock is the Grinch who stole the housing market 2023-12-22
Gulf Coast Real Estate Update
December 22nd, 2023
Is Blackrock the Grinch
who stole the
housing market?
Are big Wall Street investors really buying 44% of homes this year? The answer is no — not even close. Housing inventory is near all-time lows, but big institutional investors like Invitation Homes or BlackRock aren’t to blame.
The viral story published December 4th in Mediumsaying Wall Street has bought 44% of the single-family homes this year is laughable. The 1000-plus block buyers accounted for just 0.4% of market share in Q2.
Actually, there is nothing in the data to show that Wall Street has been the big buyer of homes in the U.S since 2000. Millennials, who started buying homes in 2013 and were the largest percentage of homebuyers until mortgage rates rose in 2022. Since then, Gen Xers and Baby Boomers have once again come out on top, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Consider the following:
There are eighty-two million single-family homes in the United States.
Sixty-eight million (82.93%) of those homes are owner-occupied.
That leaves just about fourteen million homes left that are single-family rentals.
Here’s how the ownership breaks down.
Source: SFR Investor / John Burns Research / Housing Wire
As you can see in the chart, despite what the news and social media would have you believe, the green shows the vast majority are not owned by large institutional investors. Instead, most are owned by small mom & pop investors, like you and your friends and neighbors.
Mortgage Rates
Continue Their Fall
Below Seven Percent
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage remained below seven percent for the second week in a row, a welcome downward trend after 17 consecutive weeks above seven percent. Lower rates are bringing potential homebuyers who were previously waiting on the sidelines back into the market and builders already are starting to feel the positive effects. A rise in homebuilder confidence, followed by new home construction reaching its highest level since May, signals a response to meet heightened demand as current inventory remains low.
