Where Real Estate Investors Are Buying Homes in 2026
Real estate investors bought fewer homes nationally in early 2026. That does not mean they stopped buying.
Across the major metropolitan markets tracked by Redfin, investors purchased more than 45,000 homes during the first quarter. In 18 individual markets, investor acquisitions exceeded 1,000 properties in just three months.
Some of those markets may look familiar. Others challenge the assumption that investor activity is concentrated only in inexpensive Sun Belt rental markets.
Phoenix led the country by purchase volume. Los Angeles and New York remained major investor destinations despite high acquisition costs. Miami was the only market near the top where buying increased by double digits, while activity fell sharply in Orlando, Charlotte and Tampa.
Knowing where real estate investors are buying homes gives you a useful starting point. It does not tell you where you should invest.
Investor purchases can reflect rental demand, redevelopment opportunities, price changes, appreciation expectations, distressed acquisitions or simply the enormous size of a housing market. The more useful question is what those investors may be seeing—and whether the economics fit your own strategy.
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How We Identified the Most Active Investor Markets
This report uses Redfin’s Q1 2026 investor-purchase data as its primary ranking source.
Redfin analyzed county-level residential sales records across 39 of the most populous U.S. metropolitan markets. It identifies investors primarily through business and institutional ownership information recorded on purchasing deeds.
Rather than deciding in advance to publish a “top 10” list, we used a quantitative cutoff.
Every market with at least 1,000 investor home purchases during Q1 2026 is included.
That produces 18 markets. Denver is the final qualifying metro with 1,062 investor purchases. Sacramento, the next market in Redfin’s data, recorded 955.
We rank by actual purchase volume rather than investor percentage because the purpose is to identify where real estate investors are buying homes in meaningful numbers. Investor market share is included as an important secondary measure.
Current housing conditions are cross-checked against Realtor.com’s July 2026 housing data where comparable metro information is available.
Where Investors Bought at Least 1,000 Homes
| Rank | Market | Q1 Investor Purchases | Investor Share | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phoenix, AZ | 3,072 | 20% | -4% |
| 2 | Atlanta, GA | 2,918 | 21% | -6% |
| 3 | Los Angeles, CA | 2,691 | 25% | 0% |
| 4 | New York, NY | 2,436 | 24% | -3% |
| 5 | Tampa, FL | 1,949 | 19% | -17% |
| 6 | Miami, FL | 1,863 | 33% | +10% |
| 7 | Chicago, IL | 1,754 | 16% | -13% |
| 8 | Riverside, CA | 1,672 | 20% | -7% |
| 9 | Las Vegas, NV | 1,443 | 22% | -15% |
| 10 | Orlando, FL | 1,378 | 21% | -25% |
| 11 | San Diego, CA | 1,372 | 26% | +8% |
| 12 | Baltimore, MD | 1,342 | 20% | -11% |
| 13 | Anaheim, CA | 1,283 | 29% | +6% |
| 14 | West Palm Beach, FL | 1,245 | 20% | +3% |
| 15 | Charlotte, NC | 1,148 | 18% | -20% |
| 16 | Washington, DC | 1,133 | 12% | -15% |
| 17 | Fort Lauderdale, FL | 1,122 | 20% | -2% |
| 18 | Denver, CO | 1,062 | 16% | +4% |
Source: Redfin Investor Home Purchases, Q1 2026.
The table reveals an important point before we examine individual markets: high investor purchase volume and increasing investor demand are not the same thing.
Only five of these 18 markets recorded year-over-year growth in investor purchases. Investors were still active in the remaining markets, but they were buying fewer homes than a year earlier.
1. Phoenix, Arizona: More Investor Purchases Than Any Other Market
Phoenix recorded 3,072 investor purchases in Q1 2026, the highest total in Redfin’s metro data.
Investors accounted for approximately 20% of home purchases, although their acquisitions declined 4% from the previous year.
Current pricing conditions provide useful context. Realtor.com reported a July median asking price of approximately $481,995, down 4.6% year over year, while more than 28% of active listings had received a price reduction.
That can give investors more room to negotiate than during Phoenix’s earlier housing boom.
The rental side deserves equal attention. New housing supply and slower rent growth have changed the assumptions that worked when Phoenix was experiencing rapid population and rental-price increases.
Investors are still buying heavily. They may simply be demanding different economics from the properties they acquire.
For you, the important question is whether today’s acquisition price and achievable rent work without depending on another period of unusually rapid appreciation.
2. Atlanta, Georgia: Heavy Buying While Some Investors Reduce Exposure
Atlanta recorded 2,918 investor purchases, second only to Phoenix.
Investors represented about 21% of Q1 purchases, although their buying declined 6% year over year.
Atlanta illustrates why investor data require interpretation rather than imitation.
Realtor.com’s separate 2026 investor research found that some larger operators have reduced holdings while smaller investors remain active nationally. Its 2025 data identified Atlanta as one of the markets where investors sold more homes than they purchased.
That does not contradict Redfin’s finding that Atlanta still generates a large number of investor transactions. It tells you the market is evolving.
Realtor.com’s July median asking price was approximately $425,000, while nearly one-quarter of active listings had received a price reduction.
Atlanta remains a major investment market. The more relevant question is which investors are buying, what they are purchasing and whether the opportunities available today resemble those that attracted institutional capital several years ago.
3. Los Angeles, California: High Prices Do Not Prevent Investor Activity
Investors purchased 2,691 homes in Los Angeles during Q1, representing approximately 25% of transactions.
Purchase volume was essentially unchanged from the previous year.
That level of activity is notable because Los Angeles is not a low-cost investment market. Realtor.com’s broader Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro reported a July median asking price of approximately $1.1 million.
Investors buying here are unlikely to be pursuing one uniform strategy.
Redevelopment, value-add projects, long-term appreciation, higher-end rentals and neighborhood-specific opportunities can all contribute to investor demand.
This is a useful reminder that high investor purchase volume should not be interpreted as evidence of high rental yield.
A market can attract substantial investment capital while producing economics that make little sense for a smaller landlord seeking immediate cash flow.
Follow the activity, but analyze the type of investment being made.
4. New York, New York: Investors Remain Active Despite High Entry Costs
New York recorded 2,436 investor purchases, with investors accounting for roughly 24% of Q1 transactions.
Purchases were down only 3% year over year.
Like Los Angeles, New York demonstrates that investor activity extends well beyond inexpensive single-family rentals.
Realtor.com’s July median asking price for the broader New York-Newark-Jersey City market was approximately $772,250. Price reductions appeared on only 9.7% of active listings, one of the lowest rates among the country’s largest metros.
Strong investor volume in a relatively expensive and competitive market can reflect multifamily acquisitions, condominiums, redevelopment and neighborhood-specific opportunities as well as conventional rentals.
Local regulation can also materially affect income and property operations.
Knowing investors are buying in New York is useful. Knowing what type of property they are buying is considerably more useful.
5. Tampa, Florida: Large Investor Volume Despite a 17% Pullback
Tampa investors purchased 1,949 homes during the first quarter.
That was enough to rank fifth by transaction volume, but the total was 17% lower than a year earlier.
Current market conditions help explain why investors may be becoming more selective.
Realtor.com’s July median asking price was approximately $397,450, down 4.2% year over year. Price per square foot fell 4.8%, and roughly one-quarter of active listings had received a price cut.
A lower acquisition price can improve a deal, but Florida operating expenses deserve close scrutiny.
Insurance costs, association expenses and property-specific storm exposure can affect returns after the purchase.
Tampa’s ranking therefore should not be read as a bullish signal. The market still attracts substantial investor capital, but significantly fewer purchases suggest investors are raising their standards.
6. Miami, Florida: Investors Increase Purchases by 10%
Miami provides one of the strongest contrasts in the report.
Investors purchased 1,863 homes in Q1, up 10% year over year.
Redfin also identified investors in 33% of Miami transactions, the highest investor share among the 39 markets it analyzed.
In other words, approximately one in three identified Miami purchases involved an investor.
The broader Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach market had a July median asking price of approximately $495,000, down 2.9% from a year earlier, according to Realtor.com.
Those softer acquisition conditions may be creating opportunities for investors willing to accept Miami’s higher operating risks.
Insurance, association costs, special assessments and property type can radically change the economics.
Miami’s investor activity is clearly increasing. Your due diligence should determine what those investors appear to be buying and whether their strategy resembles yours.
7. Chicago, Illinois: A Major Investor Market Outside the Sun Belt
Chicago recorded 1,754 investor purchases, despite a 13% year-over-year decline.
Investors represented approximately 16% of Q1 transactions.
That percentage is lower than in many Sun Belt and California markets, but Chicago’s large housing stock still produces substantial investor transaction volume.
Current market conditions are also different.
Realtor.com’s July median asking price was approximately $392,500, up 4.1% year over year, while only 14% of listings had received price cuts.
Investors buying Chicago property are therefore not necessarily pursuing the same falling-price opportunity available in parts of Florida or Arizona.
Established rental demand and neighborhood-level pricing can be more relevant.
Taxes, older housing stock and local regulation should remain central to your underwriting.
8. Riverside, California: Southern California Activity at a Lower Entry Point
Riverside recorded approximately 1,672 investor purchases, representing 20% of Q1 transactions.
Investor acquisitions were down 7% year over year.
The Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metro had a July median asking price of approximately $592,450, down 1.2% from the prior year.
That remains expensive compared with many national markets, but it is substantially below the broader Los Angeles metro.
The region’s size matters.
Conditions across Riverside and San Bernardino counties can differ considerably, so metro-level investor activity should lead you toward more localized research rather than a metro-wide conclusion.
The purchase volume shows investors remain active across Inland Southern California. It does not tell you which communities or property types are producing the strongest returns.
9. Las Vegas, Nevada: High Share but Lower Purchase Volume
Investors purchased 1,443 Las Vegas homes, accounting for approximately 22% of Q1 transactions.
Buying fell 15% year over year.
Realtor.com’s July median asking price was approximately $469,900, down 1.1%, while almost 24% of active listings had received a price reduction.
That combination points toward more buyer leverage at the same time investors are pulling back.
Those conditions can create opportunity, but they may also indicate that investors are finding fewer properties that satisfy their return requirements.
Las Vegas remains a heavily traded investor market. The decline in purchases suggests discipline matters more than simply being present.
10. Orlando, Florida: Investor Buying Drops 25%
Orlando recorded approximately 1,378 investor purchases, but that figure was 25% below the previous year.
Only Detroit experienced a larger percentage decline among the markets in Redfin’s analysis.
Investors still represented approximately 21% of Orlando transactions.
Realtor.com’s July median asking price stood near $419,450, down 1.8% year over year, with 21.8% of active listings receiving price reductions.
Redfin specifically points to declining prices, elevated inventory, HOA costs and insurance pressures as factors contributing to Florida’s investor retreat.
Orlando therefore deserves attention precisely because investors remain active while buying much less aggressively.
Before entering the market, determine what changed.
11. San Diego, California: Investor Activity Moves Higher
San Diego narrowly trails Orlando in purchase volume with 1,372 investor acquisitions, but its direction is very different.
Investor buying increased 8% year over year, and investors represented approximately 26% of all Q1 purchases.
Realtor.com’s July data show a median asking price of approximately $922,500, down 6.6% from the previous year.
That combination—more investor buying and lower asking prices—makes San Diego one of the more interesting markets in this report.
High acquisition costs still create a substantial hurdle for income-focused investors, but rising investor participation suggests buyers are finding opportunities despite those costs.
12. Baltimore, Maryland: More Than 1,300 Investor Purchases
Baltimore recorded 1,342 investor purchases, or about 20% of Q1 transactions.
Purchases were down 11% year over year.
Realtor.com’s July median asking price was approximately $377,945, down 5.5%, while active inventory was nearly 19% higher than the previous year.
Those conditions can give buyers a wider selection of properties and more room to investigate pricing.
For landlords, Baltimore’s neighborhood-level variation, local regulation and property condition require close attention. Metro-wide investor volume is useful primarily as a screening signal.
13. Anaheim, California: Investors Account for 29% of Purchases
Anaheim stands out less for its raw total of 1,283 investor purchases than for its market share.
Investors represented approximately 29% of Q1 transactions, second only to Miami among the 39 markets Redfin analyzed.
Investor purchases also increased 6% year over year.
Realtor.com combines Anaheim with Los Angeles and Long Beach in its monthly metro statistics, so its broader pricing figures should not be treated as Anaheim-specific.
Even so, the Redfin data clearly show unusually strong investor participation in this part of Southern California.
14. West Palm Beach, Florida: Investor Buying Still Increases
West Palm Beach recorded 1,245 investor purchases, representing about 20% of transactions.
Unlike Tampa and Orlando, its investor purchases increased 3% year over year.
That makes South Florida’s investor picture more complicated than a simple statewide retreat.
Realtor.com’s monthly housing statistics combine West Palm Beach with Miami and Fort Lauderdale, where asking prices were down 2.9% year over year in July.
Property type, insurance costs and association exposure remain particularly important screens.
15. Charlotte, North Carolina: High Volume but a 20% Decline
Charlotte recorded 1,148 investor purchases, but activity fell 20% from the previous year.
Investors still represented approximately 18% of transactions.
Realtor.com’s July data show a median asking price of approximately $437,498, down 2.7%, with 26% of listings receiving price reductions.
Charlotte therefore remains a significant investor market while simultaneously showing one of the largest pullbacks in investor buying.
That combination deserves more attention than the purchase count alone.
16. Washington, DC: A Large Market With a Lower Investor Share
Washington recorded 1,133 investor purchases, despite investors accounting for only about 12% of transactions.
That is the lowest investor market share among the 18 qualifying markets.
The result demonstrates why purchase volume and market share answer different questions.
Realtor.com’s July median asking price for the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria metro was approximately $579,450, down 5.4% year over year. New listings were up more than 10%.
Investor purchase volume fell 15%, suggesting that significant activity remains even as investors become more cautious.
17. Fort Lauderdale, Florida: Investor Activity Holds Relatively Steady
Fort Lauderdale recorded 1,122 investor purchases, representing approximately 20% of Q1 transactions.
Buying declined only 2% year over year.
That is a much smaller pullback than Tampa or Orlando.
As with West Palm Beach, Realtor.com’s monthly statistics place Fort Lauderdale within the broader Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metro rather than reporting an equivalent standalone market.
The important signal from Redfin is that investor participation remains substantial even as conditions diverge across Florida’s major metros.
18. Denver, Colorado: The Final Market Above the 1,000-Purchase Threshold
Denver completes the list with 1,062 investor purchases.
Investors accounted for approximately 16% of transactions, while purchases increased 4% year over year.
Realtor.com’s July data add an interesting acquisition angle. The Denver metro median asking price was approximately $579,798, down 3.4%, while 30.9% of active listings had received price reductions—one of the country’s highest rates.
Denver therefore combines increasing investor activity with softer seller pricing.
That does not establish an attractive return on its own, but it makes the market worth investigating at the property level.
Investor Share and Investor Volume Tell Different Stories
If you ranked these markets by investor percentage rather than transaction count, the list would look quite different.
Miami leads in investor share at 33%, followed by Anaheim at 29%, San Diego at 26%, Los Angeles at 25% and New York at 24%.
Phoenix, meanwhile, leads in actual investor purchases despite a 20% share.
Neither statistic is inherently superior.
Purchase volume tells you where investors are completing the greatest number of acquisitions.
Investor share tells you how large a role investors play relative to other homebuyers in that market.
A high share can sometimes result partly from reduced owner-occupant demand. That is why you should avoid interpreting the investor percentage alone as evidence of strong investment fundamentals.
Today’s Investor Is Increasingly a Smaller Operator
The word investor can create the impression that these transactions are primarily large institutions acquiring entire neighborhoods.
The current market looks different.
According to Realtor.com’s investor analysis, small investors—corporate entities with fewer than 10 purchases in its dataset—accounted for roughly 63% of investor acquisitions in 2025.
Mega-investors accounted for only 7.5%, their smallest share since 2011.
The difference is also visible in buying and selling behavior. Realtor.com found that small investors remained net purchasers while larger investor categories had shifted toward net selling.
Small investors purchased homes at a national median of approximately $330,000, about 25% below the overall market median.
That finding may be more useful to an individual landlord than the total amount of institutional capital in a market.
Smaller investors appear to be competing disproportionately in lower-priced homes and lower-cost markets.
Why Investor Data From Different Sources Can Disagree
Redfin and Realtor.com do not report identical investor-market shares.
That is not necessarily an error.
Redfin uses county sale records and identifies investors through buyer names and ownership codes associated with institutions, businesses, companies and trusts. The methodology can include some family trusts used for personal purchases and may miss investors purchasing under their own individual names.
Realtor.com also uses deed records but applies different corporate, ownership and occupancy criteria.
Coverage periods and geographic definitions also vary.
For you as a reader, the correct response is not to choose whichever statistic is larger.
Use each source according to its methodology and avoid combining figures as though they measure precisely the same thing.
What Investor Buying Activity Can Tell You
Tracking where real estate investors are buying homes can help you identify markets where significant capital is being deployed.
High activity may point toward:
- Deep rental demand
- Favorable acquisition opportunities
- Redevelopment potential
- Price discounts
- Appreciation expectations
- Large supplies of investment-grade housing
- Particular neighborhoods or price segments attracting investors
Changes in activity can be equally revealing.
Miami’s 10% increase is worth investigating.
So is San Diego’s 8% increase.
Orlando’s 25% decline, Charlotte’s 20% decline and Tampa’s 17% decline deserve attention for the opposite reason.
The data tell you where investor behavior is changing. Your research should determine why.
Looking Beyond Where Investors Are Buying
Knowing where investors are active is useful, but market selection is only one part of an investment strategy. The property you buy, the improvements you make, the rent it can support and the way you finance the acquisition can matter just as much as the metro itself.
If you are evaluating properties with renovation or value-add potential, BRRRR and More explores the Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat strategy along with other approaches to building a real estate investment portfolio.
The important distinction is that investor activity can identify markets worth investigating. Your strategy determines which opportunities within those markets actually make sense.
Do Not Follow Investors Without Knowing What They Are Buying
Market-level investor statistics hide significant differences in strategy.
An investor buying a million-dollar California redevelopment property is doing something very different from a landlord acquiring a $250,000 single-family rental.
Both transactions appear in investor-purchase data.
Redfin’s national Q1 figures show that single-family homes still accounted for 70% of investor purchases, while condos accounted for 18% and townhouses 7%.
At the same time, investors reduced purchases of lower-priced properties more sharply than higher-priced homes.
Before using investor activity to select a market, determine:
- What property types investors are purchasing
- Which price segments attract them
- Whether they appear to be holding or reselling
- What realistic rents those properties produce
- Whether acquisition prices are rising or falling
- How much inventory is available
- Whether new housing supply is increasing
- What taxes and insurance will cost
- Whether local regulation affects your strategy
- Whether the property works without aggressive appreciation assumptions
The market gets you to the neighborhood.
The underwriting gets you to the property.
Follow the Capital—but Follow the Economics Too
The answer to where real estate investors are buying homes in 2026 is more complicated than a simple Sun Belt story.
Phoenix leads the country in purchase volume. Atlanta remains heavily traded even as some investors reduce exposure. Los Angeles and New York continue to attract thousands of investment purchases despite high acquisition prices.
Florida tells several different stories at once. Miami investor buying is rising. West Palm Beach is also positive. Tampa and Orlando are experiencing significant pullbacks.
California is equally varied. Los Angeles remains stable, while investor activity is increasing in San Diego and Anaheim.
Even Denver, the final market above our 1,000-purchase threshold, combines rising investor acquisitions with falling asking prices and widespread seller price reductions.
There is no single investment thesis connecting all 18 markets.
That is why the data are useful.
They show where investors are deploying capital and where that behavior is changing. From there, you can investigate the underlying reason and determine whether it fits the way you invest.
Knowing where other investors are buying can narrow your search.
Knowing why a particular property works is what should determine whether you buy it.