Investors are beefing up their activities in the housing market once more, snatching up almost one in five houses that sold in the first quarter and making fatter profits than ever.

Their impact on affordable housing is even more severe, with one in four properties falling into investors' hands, a Redfin analysis has found. Low priced homes made up 47.5% of investor acquisitions. At the same time, they are moving aggressively into the market for high priced homes, purchasing 10.5% more in the first quarter than same period in 2023, or 28.5% of their total spend. Buys of mid-range homes also rose 4.7%, accounting for 24% of all investor purchases.

"The typical home bought by investors in the first quarter cost $464,560, up 9.2% from a year earlier. Investors purchased $31.3 billion worth of homes in the first quarter, up 6.6% year over year," Redfin reported. The company said the higher cost of homes was partly due to their focus on single family homes and partly due to their growing activity in high-priced California.