Get ready for more scares about investor purchases of homes. According to CoreLogic's tally, their share in the last quarter of 2023 reached a new high of nearly 29% — 28% in October, 27.3% in November, and 28.7% in December. That's more than the former record of 28.3% in February 2022.

As CRE has seen in the past, there's a good chance that attention from activists and politicians will fall on the industry, claiming that giant investors are buying up ever more inventory. But there's a different dynamic going on. First, many investors are likely small, including many individuals and families that purchase an extra property to turn into rentals.

Second, investor purchases have been trending down in absolute numbers since mid-2021. But nowhere near as quickly as non-investor purchases. As the total sales have dropped, the investor portion has grown larger as a percentage although trending lower in units bought per month.