COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Going, going... gone!
According to a new report, the Texas housing market is heating up with investors now purchasing about every one in four homes.
Indeed, investors are turning to the Lone Star State just as a new generation of Texans arrives.
Comparatively, Texas ranks No. 1 across the nation in the number of investors buying residential homes.
Areas like Bexar County, home to the Spurs and Six Flags, saw "institutional investors" purchasing 46 percent of all homes sold last year.
Institutional investors are defined as, "companies, corporations or limited liability companies," according to the report.
Meanwhile, the state's third most populated area, Tarrant County, is now reporting that 52 percent of all homes sold last year were to institutional investors as well.
As a state, 28 percent of all homes sold in 2021 were purchased by said investors.
Experts shared that one key factor may be "investor-only" listings.
Listings where properties in much need of repairs are exclusively sold to investors, before being rented out for years.
Experts noted these properties eventually re-enter the market, but at much higher costs as owners look to recuperate their investments.
Nationwide, the entire south is seeing a rise in these investors buying up residential properties.
Georgia, Oklahoma and Alabama are all nearly tied for second place, with about 18 percent of all home purchases in 2021 being done by institutional investors.
Last year, the State of Texas saw a 4.6 percent increase in the number of investors owning residential property.
Second in the nation to only Mississippi, which reported a 6.5 percent increase.
Overall, roughly 84 percent of the nation saw a jump in this type of home purchasing last year.
This news arrives as both home sales and rental markets continue to suffer from a large under-supply of both unit types.
