As reported in the August 2014 REALTORS® Confidence Index (RCI) Report, the share of sales for investment purposes in August 2014 was estimated at 12 percent, down from the average of about 18-20 percent in 2010-2013.
The chart below shows the share of sales for investment purposes to total existing home sales based on RCI data for which there was a large enough sample of REALTOR® respondents [1]. The smaller the circle, the fewer the incidence. The share of sales to investors declined in August 2014 in most states (red) compared to the shares in July 2013-July 2014 (blue). Among the states, the highest share of investor sales are TX (21 percent), CT (21 percent), FL (18 percent), AZ (17 percent), CA (15 percent), and NV (15 percent). Prices in CT, FL, AZ, and NV still generally remain significantly below peak prices, creating profit opportunities for investors. In CA and TX, strong economic growth is fueling the demand for investor interest in homes and rentals.
[1] The combined sample size for the period July 2013-July 2014 was large enough for all states, but we included in the charts only states that had at least 30 respondents in the August 2014 survey.