FICO just flipped the script

(from CNBC.com)

Investors really are everywhere. In fact, they made up ONE THIRD of all single-family home purchases in Q2 2025, the biggest share in five years. That’s up from 27% in the first quarter, according to CJ Patrick Co., using BatchData figures.

But here’s the twist: while their share is up, their actual number of homes bought is down by 16,000 compared to last year. Why?

Overall home sales have slowed to a crawl, so investors now make up a bigger slice of a smaller pie. Still, they own roughly 20% of the 86 million single-family homes in the U.S., solidifying their influence in an already tight market.

Most of these investors aren’t mega-landlords with skyscraper offices, they’re small players, owning 10 homes or fewer, making up more than 90% of the investor market.

The big names like Invitation Homes and American Homes 4 Rent are actually selling more than they buy, shifting capital toward build-to-rent communities instead. That’s easing competition for first-time buyers while quietly boosting rental supply for those priced out of ownership.

Regionally, the investment hotspots are Texas, California, and Florida, with smaller states like Hawaii and Montana topping the charts for investor share thanks to tourism-heavy economies.

Average investor purchase? $455,000. Below the national median but still climbing as prices refuse to cool.

Whether it’s a Wall Street fund or your neighbor with two rentals, investors are reshaping how “homeownership” looks, and who gets to have it.

Read more here

President Trump Pushes Fannie & Freddie to Fire Up Homebuilding

(from Housingwire.com)

President Trump wants America’s homebuilders to step on the gas, and he’s calling in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to make it happen.

In a Truth Social post Sunday night, Trump compared big builders to OPEC, saying they’re “sitting on 2 million empty lots” while housing supply remains tight. His message: the nation’s top builders “can get financing” now and need to “start building homes” to help restore the American Dream.

The problem? Fannie and Freddie don’t actually fund builders… they buy and bundle mortgage loans to keep liquidity flowing for buyers and lenders. So while Trump’s push grabbed headlines, it’s unclear what levers the GSEs could pull to directly motivate construction. They already offer construction loan products for lenders and buyers, but not for builders themselves.

Experts like HousingWire’s Logan Mohtashami say the real roadblock isn’t motivation, it’s math. Builders already have a glut of completed homes for sale (over 120,000 nationwide) and plenty of unstarted inventory. Until those move, new permits won’t surge. “The best thing Trump and Pulte could do,” Mohtashami wrote, “is get lower rates — the rest will take care of itself.”

Housing inventory has rebounded from record lows in 2022, but growth is fragile: around 864,000 existing homes are on the market and 490,000 new ones sit unsold. Meanwhile, Trump’s broader housing agenda has been aggressive, firing top GSE execs, adopting VantageScore 4.0, even greenlighting crypto-backed mortgages.

His latest demand to “get big homebuilders going” might sound simple, but the fix likely isn’t more pressure, it’s policy. Without lower borrowing costs or demand-side relief, those 2 million lots may stay right where they are.

Read more here