National investment groups have continued their appetites
for distressed and entry level homes across the country, with the resulting
mixed blessing for the housing market.
But investor
housing capital also appears to be shifting among markets across the country as
prices rise in previously hard hit regions.
In the Seattle area, three large investment buyers have
acquired nearly 2,000 homes in the three county Seattle metro area in 2013,
according to a report in the Seattle Times based on statistics from RealtyTrac
which provides information on distressed properties nationwide.
Most
activity in the greater Seattle area has been in suburban King County towns and
in Snohomish County to the north and Pierce County (Tacoma) to the south
according to RealtyTrac.
The
three largest investors in the Seattle bulk buying trend are Invitation Homes,
a subsidiary of The Blackstone Group,
which purchased 1,585 homes in 2013; Premium Partners of New York, 272 homes;
and American Homes 4 Rent of the Los Angeles area, 188 homes.
Blackstone
has reportedly spent nearly $8 billion on 43,000 single family homes, while the
total acquistions of investment groups nationwide in the past two years has
reached $20 billion in the purchase of 130,000 homes.
On
the positive side, investor purchases have served to reduce the overhang of
distressed properties in the real estate market. But the acquisitions also tend
to remove from the market homes in price ranges accessible to entry-level
buyers.
Many
of the purchased homes also flood the rental market, which can have the effect
of changing the character of mostly owner-occupied neighborhoods when multiple
tenants occupy a single property.
