Institutional and All-Cash Home Buying Waned in 2014

IRVINE, CA—RealtyTrac has released its Q4 and Year-End 2014 U.S. Institutional Investor & Cash Sales Report, which shows that the share of home sales to institutional investors and all-cash buyers dropped to four-year lows in 2014 despite a quarterly increase in the fourth quarter.

A total of 105,278 single family homes were sold to institutional investors — entities that purchase at least 10 properties in a calendar year — in 2014, 4.2% of all sales and down 31% from the 153,450 institutional investor purchases in 2013 to a four-year low. Meanwhile overall sales of single family homes decreased 2% between 2013 and 2014.