09:30 AM EST, 11/22/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Redfin (RDFN) said Friday that investors purchased 2.3% fewer homes in Q3 than a year earlier, a "much smaller" change compared with the huge swings in the past four years driven by the pandemic-era housing market.

Investor purchases are settling back to pre-pandemic levels of around 50,000 per quarter, with Q3 purchases reported at 49,380 homes, compared with 50,535 last year. In 2021, purchases surged as much as 144% year over year, with nearly 100,000 homes bought every quarter, Redfin said.

"Investors are finding a balance after several years of whiplash: They bought up homes at a frenzied pace in 2021 and the beginning of 2022, then quickly backed off when the housing market slowed as mortgage rates rose," Redfin Senior Economist Sheharyar Bokhari said in a statement. Investor purchases dropped as much as 47% last year, according to Redfin.

In Q3, investor purchases fell faster in Florida as the intensity and frequency of natural disasters increased in the area, Redfin said. The highest year-on-year decline during Q3 was 23.8% in Fort Lauderdale, Redfin added.

Meanwhile, investor purchases of condos fell 11.4% during the quarter, the biggest decline in a year, Redfin said. The market share of US condos during Q3 fell to 16%, the lowest share in three years and down from 16.8% a year earlier, Redfin added.

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