Authors:

Elizabeth Park

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About Paper:

For many aspiring first-time homebuyers, the single-family home has shifted from a pathway to stability to a contested financial asset, as indicated by the changing age of first-time buyers and shrinking supply of starter homes. This project examines how the post-2008 rise of institutional investors in the single-family rental market has reshaped access to homeownership, investigating whether large-scale investor ownership reflects a long-term structural shift or a cyclical response to crisis-era conditions and unusually low interest rates. This study draws on CoreLogic property-level data to construct a longitudinal, spatial dataset of single-family transactions, foreclosures, tenure status, and owner types across three metropolitan areas — Atlanta, Charlotte, Jacksonville — with substantial institutional investor activity. Institutional ownership is identified using CoreLogic classifications and name-matching to major investor portfolios, aggregated to census-tract and ZIP-code units. Using GIS mapping and descriptive statistics, the analysis traces changes from the foreclosure wave to the present, supplemented by spatial correlations and regression models relating investor presence to prices, tenure, and owner-occupancy rates. Preliminary descriptive patterns align with existing research to suggest that institutional investors acquired large volumes of distressed properties in targeted markets, with some neighborhoods seeing investor ownership reach 5% — 8% of the housing stock. These purchases appear concentrated in relatively affordable, high-foreclosure areas in which cash-based investors offer outcompeted mortgage-dependent buyers. Early evidence suggests that these holdings have generally been maintained rather than quickly unwound, contributing to durable shifts in local tenure structures and the availability of entry-level homes for owner-occupants. In the neighborhoods where investors gained early traction, it has become significantly more difficult for first-time buyers to secure an affordable single-family home. By mapping institutional portfolio intersections with historically accessible ownership opportunities, this project contributes to debates about financialization, intergenerational wealth-building, and housing equity.

Source:

Northwestern University

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Co-authors:

Elizabeth Park