Texas had the highest percentage of homes sold to institutional buyers, such as companies and corporations, out of all states nationwide in 2021, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors. More than one-fourth (28%) of homes in the Lone Star State were sold to these buyers last year, more than double the U.S. average (13.2%).
The share of homes being sold to institutional buyers increased from 11.8% in 2020, the report shows. This percentage has more than doubled in the last two decades, increasing from 5.8% in 2000.
More than a quarter of U.S. counties (28%) had an institutional buyer share higher than the national average in 2021, according to the report. The county with the largest share of institutional buyers was Lincoln County, Mississippi with 67% of homes sold to these buyers last year. Of the 21 counties with the largest institutionally bought homes, the report shows that 10 were in Texas, including Tarrant County (52%), Rockwall County (45%), Dallas County (43%), Travis County (41%) and Harris County (39%).
Texas’ share of homes bought by institutional buyers is nine percentage points higher than the next highest state, Georgia (19%), according to NAR. Oklahoma (18%), Alabama (18%) and Mississippi (17%) rounded out the top five states with the largest share of homes bought by these buyers. The states with the lowest percentage of institutionally bought homes include Vermont (0%), Alaska (2%), New Hampshire (4%), Maine (6%) and Massachusetts and New Mexico (both at 7%).
Texas also had the highest ratio of the median single-family home purchase price of institutional buyers to all buyers at 1.7, the report said. That means institutional home buyers in Texas paid an average of 1.7 times more than the state median home price for the homes they bought. Nationwide, the median sale price for institutional buyers was 26% lower than the state median price, according to the report.
Roughly an equal number of institutional buyers offered significantly more or significantly less than what others offered for homes, according to the report. About one in five offers (21%) were at least 10% below what others offered and 25% of offers from institutional buyers were at least 10% higher than other offers. More than half of sellers sold their homes to institutional buyers they offered cash or an “as-is” sale (56%).
