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by G. Steven Bray
RealtyTrac released an interesting report recently that showed the share of homes purchased by owner occupants dropped to 63.2% in the first quarter, the lowest level since 2011 when they started tracking the data. This is down from 65.8% last quarter and 68.6% a year ago.
RealtyTrac considers anyone who has the property tax bill mailed somewhere other than the property address to be a non-owner occupant, so it could include vacation home buyers in addition to investors.
Among non-owner occupants, a much smaller 44.7% were cash buyers, down from 61% a year ago. Institutional investors represented 3.4% of all buyers, down from 6.1% last year and the lowest share in 4 years.
This suggests that smaller, more traditional real estate investors are becoming more active in the market. It also suggests that buyers are taking advantage of relatively easier credit requirements to use mortgage money to complete their purchases.
Three of the top 5 metro areas for investor activity were in FL, and no TX cities made that list, which makes sense given that FL cities led the nation in REO sales. More interesting, I think, is the shifting focus of institutional investors. Memphis and Charlotte topped the list of markets having the most institutional investor activity.
Click here for the full report.