Too much? 17% of California homes are owned by investors

Investors own roughly one in six of California’s single-family residences.

That’s what my trusty spreadsheet found after reviewing a BatchData report that estimates investor ownership of houses and townhomes nationwide. Investors in this study include everything from giant companies controlling thousands of houses to folks with a small collection of rentals to short-term rental operators to people with a second home.

RELATED: Gov. Newsom plans crackdown on corporate homebuying in California

According to BatchData, California has 1.3 million of these investor-owned homes. That’s the second-highest count among the states, accounting for 8% of the 15.6 million investor-controlled homes nationwide.

No. 1 is Texas at 1.4 million, while Florida is No. 3 at 1.1 million.

Yes, we’re talking about huge housing markets. Still, investor clout cannot be ignored.

California investors own 17% of the 7.6 million single-family residences statewide. That’s the 16th-smallest share among the states and slightly below the 18% nationwide.

Investors own 17.9% of Texas homes (No. 33) and 18% in Florida (No. 32).

Just so you know, investors are easiest to find in Wyoming, with a 31% share, followed by Maine at 30% and Montana at 27%.

And investor shares are lowest in Minnesota at 9%, Connecticut at 10%, and the District of Columbia at 11%.

How much is too much?

Well, investors are now prime political fodder as the Trump adminstration says it wants to make it harder for loosely defined “institutional” investors – the largest players – to buy homes.

How’d we get here?

Housing affordability was once a headache primarily in pricey and largely coastal markets.

The Great Recession of 2008-09 temporarily brought relief, but housing’s post-bubble recovery only grew the affordability challenge nationwide.

It’s a truly complex issue and one that many Americans struggle to understand.

So, the tale of a “massive housing shortage” was born. If only more houses were built, this wisdom states, prices would moderate.

Various estimates of the shortfall range as high as 6 million additional homes nationwide. Reminder: Investors control 15.6 million American houses.

Many folks looked for solutions. Others sought a culprit.

The industry and its cheerleaders pointed the collective finger of blame at the government processes that temper construction.

“Just let us build more,” and “new supply will cure everything,” they say.

Oh, by the way, construction of higher-end housing will be the industry’s focus because building more affordable residences requires government subsidies. You know, tax dollars.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for more housing construction. But it’s not the only affordability puzzle.

Meanwhile, certain industry critics blame investors. This group has been long-time buyers of single-family houses as rental investments.

An especially ripe target was a handful of large-scale investors who own sizable rental-home portfolios. Thus, “Wall Street” became a high-profile addition to the roster of affordability culprits.

That may be misguided anger. But to my jaded eye, industry cheerleaders overreacted to this noise.

Real estate data crunchers now produce numerous reports showing that big investors own a small slice of the housing pie. BatchData, for example, says owners of 1,000 or more rental houses control only 2% of all investor-owned single-family residences.

Those same reports, curiously, also revealed that smaller-scale investors own a significant share of America’s single-family homes.

Look, I have nothing against home investors – big, small or in-between.

They provide a needed service – homes for rent. These landlords are simply legally taking advantage of a misaligned financial system that rewards individuals or institutions who own real estate that others rent.

But bigger debates are emerging.

If the nation has an expensive effort underway to promote homeownership – think of all the aid programs and tax breaks – should various bureaucratic benefits also incentivize third-party ownership of any shape or size?

In many cases, investors are competing with house hunters seeking their own homes. Contemplate combining the BatchData investor figures with the Census Bureau’s homeownership levels of the past year.

My spreadsheet found that the 17 states with the lowest ownership rates accounted for 19% of their houses owned by investors. Yet it’s just 16% in the 17 states with the highest ownership.

Crazy answers

Here’s what I don’t get.

Industry gurus try to convince us that limits on investors – big or small – would be bad for housing. And they have produced plenty of reports to support that thesis.

One pro-investor argument tells us to consider all the families with house-sized needs who can’t afford to purchase. This thinking holds that investors get them out of apartments and into larger rental spaces.

On the other hand, consider a scenario with lower housing demand due to fewer investors in the market.

BatchData says investors were 34% of all U.S. home sales in 2025’s third quarter. That’s up sharply from 18.5% in 2020-23.

Less demand would lower prices, right? It’s that simple “supply and demand” line you always hear.

In fact, BatchData’s report notes that without investors, “many markets wouldexperience severe illiquidity, potentially triggering destabilizing price volatility.”

Yes, the resulting cheaper housing would likely help some of the nation’s renter families become homeowners.

Ugly truth

Unfortunately, price is an awkward hurdle in the entire affordability debate: Who truly wants falling housing values?

Certainly not property owners, whether they be landlords or call it their home. And politicians know that.

We need cheaper groceries! Pay less at the pump! Slash utility bills! Cut car prices! Ban all those nuisance fees!

That kind of “affordability” chatter makes great, consumer-friendly themes for political speechwriters.

But when did you last hear: “Let’s knock down home prices?” from anyone in authority, politicians or industry leaders?

That’s why housing policies we’re pitched are filled with dreams of construction booms or giant income boosts. Or calls for cheaper or looser mortgages. And maybe a small cash handout that helps a meager few.

The ugly truth about housing in 2026, though, is that you can’t have widespread affordability without rooting for lower prices. And what kind of leader would applaud falling home values?

On Jan. 14, a White House statement cheered a decline in home prices and included a dubious claim that tied the drop to increased immigration enforcement.

“Home prices have dropped for the first time in more than two years as housing affordability shows signs of improvement under the Trump Administration,” the statement said.

However, speaking in Switzerland a week later, President Donald Trump acknowledged the high-stakes juggling act of affordability.

“If I want to really crush the housing market, I could do that so fast that people could buy houses,” he said, according to a transcript of his speech. “But you would destroy a lot of people that already have houses.”

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com