Housing markets where institutional landlords own the most homes, according to Parcl Labs

Back in September, I booked a last-minute flight to New York to inform Fortune Magazine that I was quitting, taking a leap of faith, and launching a media startup I wanted to name ResiClub. Following that morning meeting, I walked up to visit Jason Lewris at the Parcl Labs office in the Flatiron District.

To achieve my vision with ResiClub—I aim to be your data-driven gateway to the U.S. housing market—I knew I would require access to more granular data.

Jason’s team at Parcl Labs, a residential real estate data startup, has delivered. Over the past 7 months, they've helped me tell stories that I couldn't have otherwise. Everything from analyzing where institutional firms are buying and selling, to builder square footage, and more.

This month, Parcl Labs released a new product that provides anyone direct access to their API. For today’s issue, I utilized the Parcl Labs API directly to showcase which markets have the most institutional homeowners.

According to Parcl Labs, institutional operators (those owning at least 1,000 single-family homes) have the highest percentage of ownership in these five markets:

1. Atlanta (4.33%)

2. Jacksonville (3.77%)

3. Charlotte (3.23%)

4. Memphis (3.11%)

5. Tampa (2.85%)

As ResiClub has previously reported, when institutions push into a market, they often concentrate in the same neighborhoods. For evidence, look at the map below, which shows the share of single-family homes owned by institutional homebuyers by ZIP code in the Atlanta market.

Keep in mind, this analysis is on a percentage basis. If we were going based purely on total homes owned, Atlanta would’ve still been No. 1, however, major markets like Phoenix and Dallas would’ve also climbed into the top 5.

When it comes to investor ownership, small players with 2 to 9 homes in their total portfolios are still the biggest players in the national housing market.