Real Estate Investors Looking to Buy More, Higher Priced Houses

Smaller and retail residential real estate investors are continuing to adapt and thrive as the housing market rebounds, Visio Financial Services reported Wednesday.

These investors are picking up the slack as institutional investors seek to capture gains from their single-family housing portfolios, Visio said in a statement.

Visio’s annual residential real estate investor report found that investor confidence had increased in 2015.

Last year, 24% of investors told Visio they had bought four or more houses in 2013, while 38% said they planned to buy that many in 2014.

The new report found that only 25% had done so, but this year 49% planned to buy at least four houses. Moreover, 17% planned to buy 11 or more houses, up five percentage points from the number who said this in 2014.

According to the report, investors are looking for higher-priced properties than they were last year. Sixty-three percent more investors were looking at $200,000-plus properties than in 2014.

Houses in the $40,000 and lower range were a faint blip on investors’ radar. Visio said this had to do with rising prices and picked-over inventory.

The survey found that more active investors sought deals across the full spectrum of housing prices, whereas those who bought fewer than seven properties looked mostly at prices below $100,000.

Thirty-four percent of investors in the survey said they were searching for investment property outside their home states as local prospects dwindled.

For those investors who considered properties outside their home state, Florida remained the No. 1 location, followed by Georgia, Texas, North Carolina and South Carolina—Nos. 2 through 5 last year.

Tennessee jumped four spots this year to No. 6, while California fell back three to No. 9.

Ripe for Growth