Housing markets with the highest share of investor ownership, according to Parcl Labs

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This month, Parcl Labs released a new product that provides anyone direct access to their API. For today’s issue, ResiClub queried directly from the Parcl Labs API, to find the major metro area housing markets where investors own the highest share of housing stock, including singe-family homes, townhomes, and condos.

According to Parcl Labs, among the 100 largest metro housing markets, these 10 markets had the highest share of investor homeownership:

1. Oxnard, CA (21.9%)

2. San Francisco, CA (21.0%)

3. San Jose, CA (20.8%)

4. San Diego, CA (19.7%)

5. Honolulu, HI (19.2%)

6. Los Angeles, CA (18.3%)

7. Sacramento, CA (17.4%)

8. Phoenix, AZ (15.4%)

9. Cape Coral, FL (15.3%)

10. Naples, FL (14.9%)

The vast majority of these investors are small investors, owning less than 10 total homes. Institutional operators (those owning at least 1,000 single-family homes) only own around 1% of total U.S. housing stock, according to Parcl Labs.

And while markets like San Fransisco and San Diego lead the pack according to Parcl Labs for total homes owned, they're also the very places where many investors are hitting pause. Given the rise in rates and prices, it's harder to find cash-flowing properties at the moment in markets like San Fransisco and San Diego.

Over time, more affordable markets like Cleveland and Indianapolis should gradually ascend this list, as investors in those markets still find it easier to locate properties that generate cash flow.

On Tuesday, we learned that U.S. home prices, as tracked by the Case-Shiller National Home Price Index, rose +1.3% between the February 2024 reading and the March 2024 reading.

That's a new all-time high for national home prices, up +2.7% above the 2022 peak.

U.S. home prices are also up +6.5% on a year-over-year basis, and up +47.1% since March 2020.

A few things to keep mind:

1. National months of inventory is rising, however, it’s still (for now) below the level historically correlated with falling home prices.

2. We're currently passing through the seasonally strong reporting window (see chart above).

3. Many housing markets where active listings are still far below pre-pandemic levels, are seeing greater appreciation this spring. In particular, parts of the Northeast, Midwest, and California.

4. It will be interesting to see how regional housing markets, where inventory has quickly spiked above 2019 levels, fare in the second half of the year, i.e., during the seasonally softer window. There are a few pockets in Texas and Florida that I'll be watching closely.

Fannie Mae just revised up its outlook for the 30-year fixed mortgage rate:

Forecast issued in April ——> Forecast issued in May

Q2 2024: 6.7% ——> 7.1%

Q3 2024: 6.6% ——> 7.1%

Q4 2024: 6.4% ——> 7.0%

Q1 2025: 6.2% ——> 6.9%

Q2 2025: 6.1% ——> 6.8%

Q3 2025: 6.0% ——> 6.7%

Q4 2025: 6.0% ——> 6.6%

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ResiClub PRO members got these additional research articles over the past week:

We're in the midst of an Airbnb hangover—just look at these 2 charts

Florida's housing market under the microscope: is the surge in inventory a prelude to price corrections?

Map: U.S. home prices have increased by 494% over the past 40 years