The market for investors purchasing new homes is overall slow – but working-class Americans are leading the way, according to an activity rating by John Burns Research & Consulting. About 40% of builders reported no investor sales over the past 90 days.

The study, which leveraged insights from national surveys of homebuilders and real estate agents, found that nearly two-thirds of homebuilders sold properties to investors between February and April, primarily to mom-and-pop investors with between one and nine investment properties or second-home buyers. Of properties sold to investors, 69% went to mom-and-pop investors, 27% were sold to second or vacation-home buyers, and only 4% were sold to institutional investors with 10 or more investment properties.

The Northeast had a larger percentage of institutional investors purchasing properties at 20%, while vacation and second-home purchases dominated investment sales in the Northwest, Southern California and Florida.