Which firms are buying most single-family homes in the United States in 2023 and 2024?
Executive summary
Public reporting suggests institutional single-family rental (SFR) funds and private investors were active buyers in 2023–2024, but available sources here do not provide a definitive, sourced ranked list of the exact firms buying the most single-family homes; one secondary compilation cites SFR Analytics data but the full details are not present in the materials provided [1]. Multiple industry reports and analysts emphasize that while concern about big “Wall Street” buyers persists, those funds accounted for a small fraction of the roughly 4+ million existing-home transactions, meaning large investors were far from dominating the market [1].
1. The short answer: reporting shows big investors were active, but names and precise rankings aren’t fully documented in supplied sources
Coverage referenced a March 2025 breakdown by an industry blogger using SFR Analytics to name the 10 largest buyers in 2024, but the document set supplied here does not include that ranked list itself, so this review cannot independently verify or reproduce a firm-by-firm ranking from 2023–2024 [1]. The available summary material therefore supports the general claim that institutional buyers were among notable purchasers, but does not let this reporter assert, with primary-source citation, which specific firms bought the most homes in those years.
2. Scale and context: institutional buying was visible but small relative to total transactions
Analysts and the SFR-focused recap highlighted that the absolute counts for the largest institutional buyers remained relatively small compared with total U.S. home sales—over four million existing homes trade hands in a typical year—so even the biggest corporate buyers represented only a sliver of total transactions [1]. That finding undercuts the popular narrative that investors purchased a majority of single-family inventory in 2023–2024 and aligns with broader industry data showing constrained inventory and pockets of strong local demand rather than wholesale market capture [2].
3. Why the story feels larger than the numbers: cash, concentrated markets and narrative momentum
Observers point to a rise in all-cash purchases—reported at a nine‑year high in some markets in 2023 and above 20% in several major locales—which amplifies the visibility of investor purchases and fuels public concern, even when investor totals are modest versus aggregate sales [2]. Local market reports, such as Miami‑Dade’s robust 2024 single‑family sales and a higher share of cash transactions, further concentrate attention on investor activity where it is most visible [3].
4. Conflicting views and the evidence gap: watchdog claims vs. aggregated data
The prevailing alternative viewpoint—spearheaded by housing advocates and some journalists—that “Wall Street” is buying up neighborhoods is grounded in selective market anecdotes and high-profile acquisitions, but the SFR Analytics summary and other industry sources caution that institutional funds are not as dominant as often portrayed [1]. At the same time, national datasets used by associations like NAHB and NAR underscore structural affordability issues and low inventory that create the conditions for investor activity to have outsized local impact even if national shares remain modest [4] [5].
5. Bottom line and what’s still unknown
It is accurate to say institutional SFR funds and private investors were among the most-discussed buyer types in 2023–2024, and secondary reporting points to specific large buyers in 2024 via SFR Analytics [1], yet the materials provided here do not include a primary-source, verifiable ranked list enabling a definitive statement of “which firms bought the most” across those years; obtaining that answer requires the underlying SFR Analytics dataset, corporate SEC/financial disclosures, or comprehensive transaction-level MLS/county-record aggregation not present in this packet [1] [2].