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Institutional investor sales comprised 4.3 percent of all single-family residential home and condo sales in the third quarter of 2014, down from 5 percent in the second quarter and from 5.3 percent in Q3 2013, according to RealtyTrac's Q3 2014 Institutional Investor and Cash Sales Report released today. The share of sales to institutional investors, which are defined as entities that purchase at least 10 properties in a calendar year, fell to its lowest level since the fourth quarter of 2010.
Out of metropolitan statistical areas with a population greater than 500,000, Memphis, Tennessee had the highest share of institutional investor purchases in Q3 at 16.4 percent. Despite the overall nationwide decline, eight states still saw a year-over-year increase in share of institutional investor purchases in Q3, led by Iowa, where the share jumped from 3.6 percent to 8.4 percent. The MSA that saw the largest year-over-year increase in Q3 was Columbus, Ohio, where the share shot up from 4.5 percent to 12.6 percent.
U.S. Senator Richard Shelby, a Republican from Alabama, is expected to become the new chair of the Senate's Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee following Tuesday's election in which Republicans retained control of the House and won enough seats to gain a majority in the Senate as well. Shelby will have just two years to lead the committee under GOP party rules after he takes the gavel in January. Despite working against the clock, many analysts and observers believe that his experience and long involvement with the committee will allow him to speed up the committee's activity.
