Three of the five metros where investor purchases dropped most in the fourth quarter were in Florida. Investor purchases fell 27.5% year over year in Orlando, FL, more than any other major U.S. metro. It’s followed by Chicago (-23.3%), Miami (-21.3%), Atlanta (-18.4%) and West Palm Beach, FL (-14.5%). 

Investor market share dropped most in Florida, too. Investors purchased 20.7% of homes that sold in Orlando in the fourth quarter, down from 26.6% a year earlier, the biggest drop of any metro. The drop is similar in Jacksonville, FL, where investors bought 21.1% of homes that sold, down from 25.8%. The next-biggest declines were in Atlanta, Riverside, CA and Charlotte, NC.  

Investors are retreating from Florida metros because the outlook for earning money from real estate investments is cloudy. Six of the 10 metros that topped Redfin’s recent list of buyer’s markets are in Florida, with local agents reporting it’s not an ideal time to sell. Home prices in coastal Florida–especially condo prices–are dropping amid the increasing frequency and intensity of natural disasters, and soaring HOA fees and insurance costs. And investors looking to sell for a profit would have a lot of competition, with Florida for-sale inventory at a record high. 

On the other end of the spectrum, the Bay Area features heavily on the list of places where investor purchases–and investor market share–rose most. 

Investors in Seattle bought 33.8% more homes than a year earlier in the fourth quarter, a bigger increase than any other metro. Next come San Jose, CA (21.1%), Oakland, CA (19.4%), San Francisco (19.1%) and Detroit (15.5%). Investor market share rose most in Seattle, too; investors bought 11.3% of homes that sold there in the fourth quarter, up from 9% a year earlier. The next-biggest increases were in Oakland, Cleveland, Philadelphia and San Jose. 

Investor Purchases of Condos Drop to Lowest Q4 Level in 12 Years

Investors purchased 8,220 condos in the fourth quarter, the lowest level for that time of year since 2012. That’s down 13% from a year earlier, a much bigger decline than any other property type. 

Investors are buying fewer condos because the condo market has been slowing, particularly in Florida, due partly to the surge in HOA fees caused by worsening natural disasters. In Orlando, investor purchases of condos fell nearly 30% year over year in the fourth quarter. They fell 26.1% year over year in Tampa, and 22.9% in Miami. 

Investor purchases of single-family homes fell 1.6% year over year, and purchases of townhouses fell 6.1%. Investors bought 2.9% more multi-family properties than a year earlier. 

Most investor purchases are single-family homes. Nearly seven in 10 (69.4%) properties investors bought in the fourth quarter were single-family homes, while 17.5% were condos, 7.5% were townhouses and 5.6% were multi-family properties (that’s the highest share for multifamily since 2019). 

Real estate investors scooped up 32% of multi-family properties that sold in the fourth quarter, twice the market share of other property types. That stands to reason, as it’s generally more difficult for regular homebuyers to purchase multi-unit properties.