Institutional purchases of US homes are on the upswing according to data from the National Association of Realtors. Agreeing with other data sources, the analysis suggests that institutional investors, reacting to macroeconomic forces, are taking a significant portion of existing home sales with a likely emphasis on lower-priced units that would otherwise be available to first-time and lower-income buyers.

Using property deed records from Black Knight, the NAR analysis found that institutional buyers were 13.2% of the residential sales market in 2021, up from 11.8% in 2020. As with an analysis recently done in Newark, New Jersey, the data rests on a definition of institutional buyers being companies, corporations, or limited liability companies. 

That has a potential shortcoming in that smaller buyers of homes might use an LLC under recommendations from lawyers and CPAs to protect their personal finances by such a business structure. However, it still suggests that, whether by an institution or smaller investor, a significant amount of property is coming off the market as private homes and being turned into rental units.