Hedge Funds Drive up Atlanta Prices | Armonk NY Homes

A new analysis of institutional investor purchases in Atlanta over the past year found that hedge funds are driving up prices and depleting inventories, yet they are still able to buy properties for less than the market rate.

An analysis of hedge funds’ impact by Radar Logic, a real estate data and analytics company that tracks housing values for major U.S. metropolitan areas and publishes the Residential Property Index^TM (RPX^TM) to enable real estate to be traded as a liquid asset, via property derivatives marketed by major financial institutions, found that hedge funds’ impact on the Atlanta market over the past year has increased substantially.

Some key findings from the study:

• Institutional investors are paying less for homes than non-investors. While 90 percent of all Atlanta home buyers paid between $45K and $499.4K in February, 90 percent of institutional investors paid between $39.3K and $232.1K.
• Institutional investors are also paying less on a price per square foot basis. While 90% of all Atlanta home buyers paid between $28.19/SF and $196.92/SF, 90 percent of institutional investors paid between $24.18/SF and $108.24/SF.
• Institutional investors are purchasing smaller homes than non-investors. While 90 percent of all homes purchased in Atlanta in February were between 1,029 SF and 4,233 SF, 90% of homes purchased by institutional investors were between 1,054 SF and 2,901 SF.

Also, institutional investors are paying up and moving up in size relative to a year ago. In the past year, monthly hedge fund purchases have increased 148 percent in the Atlanta market.  Even more interesting is the finding that average investor price per transaction has increased by 65 percent over the past year compared to 15 percent for the market as a whole.

Hedge Funds Drive up Atlanta Prices | RealEstateEconomyWatch.com.