Small investors tighten grip on entry-level homes as Senate passes curbs on institutional activity

The Senate passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act on Monday, by 85 to 5, but will it really have much impact on housing prices?

While the legislation announced by President Trump earlier this year aims to stop large institutions from buying single-family homes, the stats suggest that it may be a law with limited impact in helping America’s home affordability issues.  

Realtor.com data released Monday reveals that investors purchased around 534,000 homes last year, a 0.7% year-over-year rise, while total non-investor sales declined 2.1%. Their share of all purchases edged up to 11.3% from 11.0% in 2024, marking the third consecutive year the figure has held above 11%.

The report notes that overall home sales were down 14.3% relative to pre-pandemic levels, while investor acquisitions gained 14.6% over the same period, a divergence that highlights the structural shift underway in who is actually buying.

Mega-investors, defined as entities with 350 or more cumulative purchases, now represent just 7.5% of all investor buying, their smallest share since 2011 and a volume decline of nearly 70% from their 2021 peak.

Small investors

Cotality’s principal economist Thom Malone, who authors his firm’s quarterly investor report, also notes a sharp drop in institutional activity. Those who own 1,000 or more homes cut their purchases in half in the early part of this year and represent a small slice of the overall market.

“Their retreat has not meaningfully reduced overall investor activity, as smaller “mom-and-pop” investors have stepped in to fill much of the gap,” Malone told InvestmentNews. “As a result, investor participation remains elevated, underscoring that large institutions are not the primary drivers of investor demand.”

The Realtor.com report also shows that small investors (fewer than 10 total purchases) have taken a larger share of overall investor activity in the housing market, accounting for roughly 63% of investor purchases in 2025, the highest concentration in more than 15 years. Unlike larger operators that have moved to net-selling, small investors remained net buyers by approximately 53,000 properties.

Small investors nationally purchase at a median of $330,000, around 25% below the overall market median of $440,000, placing them directly in the price tier most accessible to first-time and moderate-income buyers.

On the sell side, investor disposals eased for the first time in two years, falling from 448,000 to 442,000 properties. That reduction in supply from sellers who had been unwinding pandemic-era positions has ongoing implications for already-constrained inventory levels.

House price impact

While the pullback from institutional investors has not (at least so far) produced any noticeable downward pressure on house prices, Cotality’s Malone says the legislation is not without impact.

“Institutional investors do compete directly with first-time buyers, particularly through cash offers that sellers often prefer, even at a discount. To the extent that fewer large investors means fewer cash-heavy bids, some buyers may find slightly less competition at the margin,” he said.

Malone adds that the ROAD to Housing Act addresses a highly visible piece of the housing market, but not the largest one.

“It may provide incremental relief for some buyers, but it is unlikely to materially change the trajectory of home prices or affordability on its own. Meaningful progress on affordability will still depend on expanding supply and addressing the structural imbalance between housing demand and availability,” he said.  

Homebuyer sentiment

Meanwhile, consumer attitudes toward homeownership are showing the first meaningful recovery in three years.

Bank of America's newly released homebuyer insights report, conducted with the Bank of America Institute, found that 53% of respondents now consider buying preferable to renting or moving in with family, reversing a run of pessimism that persisted through 2024 and 2025.

The proportion viewing a home as a valuable investment jumped from 79% to 90% in a single year, while those citing stability as a key benefit of ownership rose from 83% to 94%.

The share of prospective buyers pointing to expensive home prices as their primary obstacle rose from 46% to 58%, and those citing high interest rates climbed from 40% to 47%.

However, the willingness to act is growing and fewer buyers say they are waiting for prices and rates to fall before committing, down from 75% to 71%, with Gen Z and millennials leading that retreat from the sidelines.

Among existing homeowners, 52% expect to purchase another property, and 22% plan to do so within the next 12 months, up from 15% a year earlier.

The lock-in effect, which has kept many existing owners from listing because selling would mean swapping a sub-3% mortgage for today's rates, appears to be gradually loosening.

More prospective buyers said they would accept a higher rate to move to a more affordable area, secure their preferred home, or improve their location, each metric up several percentage points on 2025 and 2024.

Rising homeownership costs

Broader cost pressures continue to weigh on both aspiring and existing owners.

Research from Unlock Technologies found that non-mortgage ownership costs, covering property taxes, insurance and maintenance, now absorb close to 10% of median household income nationally, and more than 14% in Florida, New Jersey, New York and California. Property insurance alone has climbed 74.8% since 2020.

For existing owners who accumulated equity through the pandemic years, the typical homeowner now holds more than $274,000 in that wealth but tapping it through a cash-out refinance would add more than $477 a month to the average mortgage payment, making access prohibitively expensive for most.