Institutional investors fuel Charlotte housing market
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More houses in the Charlotte area are getting snatched up by institutional investors compared with a year ago, according to real estate data firm ATTOM.
Why it matters: Investors often compete with first-time buyers, adding strain to the already pricey local real estate market.
By the numbers: In the Charlotte metro area, which includes Gastonia and Concord, the share of homes sold to institutional investors rose from 8.2% in the first quarter of 2024 to 9.5% in the same period this year, per ATTOM data shared with Axios.
- North Carolina as a whole saw only a slight increase: from 7.3% of homes sold to investors last year to 7.4% this year.
The fine print: ATTOM defined an institutional investor as a non-lending entity that bought at least 10 properties in a calendar year.
Zoom out: Nationwide, the total number of homes sold to institutional investors in the first quarter of 2025 was the lowest since 2020.