Investors bought nearly half of the homes for sale in Bexar County last year, according to report

Investors bought nearly half of all homes sold in Bexar County last year, according to a new report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

Of all homes sold in the county in 2021, 46% were purchased by “institutional investors,” which NAR defines as companies, corporations or limited liability companies. In contrast, institutional speculators rolled up just 35% of properties for sale here in 2020.

NAR's study, based on deed records, was first reported on locally by the Express-News.

Bexar County's 2021 percentage of investor-purchased homes was higher than the share in Austin's Travis County, where investors snapped up 41% of homes during that period.

Even so, both Bexar and Travis fell short of Fort Worth's Tarrant County, where speculators bought 52% of homes for sale last year.

Around 28% of all homes sold across the Lone Star State were picked up by institutional investors in 2021, according to NAR's study. That's the highest statewide ratio in the nation and more than double the national average of 13.2%.

Nationally, homes bought by investors sold for 26% lower than states' median sales price, according to NAR's analysis. The organization attributed the lower prices to institutional investors being willing to buy properties in need of repair.

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