Key Takeaways
→ Institutional investor home purchases fell 6% year over year in Q1 2026, their lowest level since 2020, but the retreat is concentrated in markets they already dominated
→ Spokane, WA has minimal institutional presence. Flip margins $158K, up 54%. Hold times down 57% to 105 days
→ Grand Rapids, MI has institutional ownership below 1% of the market. $107K median flip margins up 11%. 7-day median days on market
→ Rochester, NY has very little institutional activity, reinforced by New York State legislation restricting institutional home purchases. Flip margins up 40% to $130K. 73% of homes go off-market within two weeks
→ Tulsa, OK has minimal institutional ownership. $92K flip margins up 10%. Hold times down 46% to 136 days. 3,719 investor transactions in the past year
Institutional investor home purchases fell 6% year over year in Q1 2026, according to Redfin, reaching their lowest level since 2020. Large funds now account for roughly 2.2% of US housing stock and have been selling more properties than they buy for nine consecutive quarters. The retreat is has certainly been occurring, but it is not happening everywhere equally.
In Jacksonville, institutional funds control thousands of properties across dozens of organizations. Charlotte and Indianapolis tell the same story. Private investors operating in those markets are not getting a cleaner field. They are competing against the same capital that was always there.
We looked at institutional ownership data across 30 major US cities to find where that competition doesn’t exist. Most cities with low institutional presence also have weak investment data. Des Moines, Omaha and Little Rock all have minimal institutional ownership and margins that are collapsing. Low competition, as a factor on its own, isn’t a signal. In our analysis we found 4 cities that passed every filter: minimal institutional footprint, rising flip margins, manageable hold times and rental data that supports a hold strategy as an alternative exit.
Table of Contents
The Shortlist
Spokane, WA
$158K
Flip margin
+54%
Margin trend
-57%
Hold trend
Minimal institutional presence
Grand Rapids, MI
$107K
Flip margin
+11%
Margin trend
-13%
Hold trend
Below 1% institutional ownership
Rochester, NY
$130K
Flip margin
+40%
Margin trend
-8%
Hold trend
Very little institutional activity
Tulsa, OK
$92K
Flip margin
+10%
Margin trend
-46%
Hold trend
Minimal institutional ownership
Gross margins are medians and exclude renovation, financing and holding costs. Data: SFR Analytics, August 2026.
Spokane has minimal institutional presence. Grand Rapids has institutional ownership below 1% of the market. Rochester has very little institutional activity, with New York State legislation actively discouraging it further. Tulsa has minimal institutional ownership across a market of nearly 3,700 annual investor deals. In each case the institutional footprint is so small it doesn’t register as competition in any meaningful way, and the flip margins, hold times and rental data in all four are moving in the right direction at the same time. That combination is what makes them worth looking at closely.
Why Institutional Presence Matters
Why low institutional presence matters isn’t just about avoiding competition on acquisitions. In Jacksonville, institutional funds collectively control thousands of properties, generate rental comps, set exit price expectations and absorb inventory. When a fund decides to offload at a certain price, that becomes the market price. Private investors in low-institutional markets are working with a different supply and demand picture entirely, one shaped by individual sellers and owner-occupants rather than portfolio rebalancing decisions made in a corporate boardroom.
Let’s look closer at 2 cities before moving on. Chattanooga has very little institutional presence and $210K margins, but hold times hit 615 days in August. Too operationally unpredictable to feature. Nashville has strong margins and rising hold times in the same period. Both are markets worth keeping an eye on.
Spokane, WA
Spokane has minimal institutional presence. Large funds have looked at this market and largely passed, and the transaction data reflects it. 1,447 investor transactions in the past year, almost all local operators. No Pretium, no Invitation Homes, no Opendoor in meaningful volume. The top buyer in this market is a local construction LLC. That is what a market without significant institutional capital looks like in practice.
The flip data is the strongest of the four cities here. $158K median gross margin, up 54% over 12 months. Hold times fell 57% to 105 days, the fastest improvement of any city in this analysis. At a $349K median sale price, a finished property renting at $2,637 per month produces yield numbers that work for a hold strategy if the flip exit doesn’t materialize on timeline.
The $349K median is down 2.9% year over year, which is the same dynamic driving margins across several markets this year: acquisition prices compressing faster than ARV at exit. Use careful ARV methodology here. Sold comps from the prior 60 days only, and stress-test every deal against a hold time longer than planned. Washington State’s 2025 rent stabilization law also caps annual rent increases at 7% plus CPI for landlords running a hold strategy, which is worth factoring in before committing to a long-term exit.
Spokane, WA at a glance
$158K
Flip margin
+54%
Margin trend
-57%
Hold time trend
105 days
Median hold time
$2,637
Avg monthly rent
1,447
Investor transactions
Minimal institutional presence. Median sale price $349K. Buyer leverage: medium. Avg rent up 13.9% year over year.
Grand Rapids, MI
Grand Rapids has almost no institutional ownership. Large funds account for less than 1% of the market. Almost every acquisition and resale in Grand Rapids is happening between private operators, individual buyers and owner-occupants. There are no funds setting the floor price at exit, and no institutional rental portfolio is anchoring comp values. The market is basically operating on its own terms.
The absorption data is the most striking thing here. 7-day median days on market. 59% of homes go off-market within two weeks. 40.7% sell above list price. Finished, well-priced product doesn’t sit. $107K median gross margin, up 11% over 12 months. Hold times at 161 days, down 13%. Buyer leverage is low, meaning buyers are competing for sellers rather than the other way round.
At a $285K median sale price that’s risen 3.6% year over year, the ARV baseline is stable, a meaningful advantage when price direction is one of the harder variables to model in a deal. Grand Rapids was named one of Realtor.com‘s top housing markets for 2026 and has over $1 billion in planned riverfront development underway, including new housing, a stadium and mixed-use infrastructure. That pipeline creates demand around the development corridors that local operators are well placed to act on before wider attention arrives.
Rental market is solid too. $2,269 average monthly rent, up 16.4% over 12 months, the strongest rental growth trajectory of the four cities. Use the house flipping calculator to model whether the numbers work better as a flip or a hold before committing to an exit strategy.
Grand Rapids, MI at a glance
$107K
Flip margin
+11%
Margin trend
-13%
Hold time trend
161 days
Median hold time
$2,269
Avg monthly rent
1,629
Investor transactions
Institutional ownership below 1% of market. 7-day median DOM. 59% of homes go off-market within two weeks. 40.7% sell above list price. Median sale price $285K. Buyer leverage: low. Avg rent up 16.4% year over year.
Rochester, NY
Rochester has very little institutional activity, and the legislative environment is making it less likely to change. New York State enacted restrictions on institutional investors in its 2025-2026 budget, requiring a 90-day waiting period before any entity owning 10 or more one and two-family homes can make an offer, and removing key tax deductions that made institutional ownership financially attractive. The result is a market that large funds are increasingly stepping away from, and private operators are moving into.
The market absorption data here is the strongest of the four cities by a distance. 11-day median days on market. 73.4% of homes go off-market within two weeks. 76.8% of homes sell above list price, the highest figure in this entire dataset. That tells you something important about exit conditions for finished, well-priced product. When nearly three quarters of properties are gone within two weeks in the general market, a well-renovated home at the right price has real momentum behind it.
Flip margins are $130K, up 40% over 12 months. Buyer leverage is low. 2,487 investor transactions in the past year, all local operators. The honest caveat is hold time, at 249 days it is the longest of the four cities here, improving only slowly at -8%. That needs to be in the underwriting from the start. Use the hard money loan calculator to model carry costs at 249 days before making an offer. The $130K gross margin has room to absorb the carry cost on most loan sizes, but renovation scope needs to be tight.
Rental market is steady. $2,306 average monthly rent, up 5.5% year over year. At a $238K median sale price, the price-to-rent ratio is among the most workable of the four cities, which gives investors a credible hold option if the flip exit takes longer than planned.
Rochester, NY at a glance
$130K
Flip margin
+40%
Margin trend
-8%
Hold time trend
249 days
Median hold time
$2,306
Avg monthly rent
2,487
Investor transactions
Very little institutional activity. NY State legislation restricts institutional home purchases. 73.4% of homes go off-market within two weeks. 76.8% sell above list price. Median sale price $238K. Buyer leverage: low. Avg rent up 5.5% year over year.
Tulsa, OK
Tulsa has the deepest investor transaction pipeline of the four cities at 3,719 deals in the past year, almost all private operators. Institutional presence is minimal relative to that volume, their footprint is statistical noise rather than market force.
Hold times have fallen 46% to 136 days, the strongest hold time improvement of the four cities. $92K median gross margin up 10%. Medium buyer leverage. $315K median sale price up 1.6% year over year. These aren’t spectacular numbers individually, but they are consistent across every metric at the same time, which is rarer than most investors realize.
The price-to-rent ratio is where Tulsa makes the most sense for hold-focused investors. $1,783 average monthly rent on a $315K median sale price produces gross yield numbers that are more workable than most Sun Belt markets at current rates. For investors who haven’t decided between a flip and hold exit, Tulsa gives real optionality. Use FlipScout to identify target properties and the house flipping calculator to model both exit scenarios before committing to either.
Tulsa, OK at a glance
$92K
Flip margin
+10%
Margin trend
-46%
Hold time trend
136 days
Median hold time
$1,783
Avg monthly rent
3,719
Investor transactions
Minimal institutional presence. Median sale price $315K, up 1.6% year over year. Buyer leverage: medium. Avg rent up 5.8% year over year.
Will These Markets Stay This Way?
The institutional pullback is significant but it isn’t necessarily permanent. Large funds pulled back because financing costs and price levels compressed returns below their target thresholds. When rates move or prices adjust enough, they come back, and when they do, they come back fast and in volume.
Spokane, Grand Rapids, Rochester and Tulsa are four markets where private investors currently have conditions that most markets haven’t offered in years: minimal institutional competition, rising margins and real optionality between flip and hold exits. How long that window stays open depends on when the math starts working again for the funds that passed on these markets the first time.
Full 30-City Screening Table
| City | State | Inst. presence | Flip margin | Margin trend | Hold trend | Leverage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Rapids | MI | Very low | $107K | +11% | -13% | Low |
| Des Moines | IA | Very low | $20K | -56% | -34% | -- |
| Madison | WI | Very low | -- | n/a | n/a | -- |
| Buffalo | NY | Very low | -- | n/a | n/a | -- |
| Hartford | CT | Very low | -- | n/a | n/a | -- |
| El Paso | TX | Very low | -- | n/a | n/a | -- |
| Shreveport | LA | Very low | -- | n/a | n/a | -- |
| Worcester | MA | Very low | -- | n/a | n/a | -- |
| Rochester | NY | Very low | $130K | +40% | -8% | Low |
| Spokane | WA | Very low | $158K | +54% | -57% | Medium |
| Chattanooga | TN | Very low | $210K | +81% | +133% | -- |
| Baton Rouge | LA | Very low | $99K | +394% | -27% | High |
| Omaha | NE | Very low | $13K | -77% | +40% | -- |
| Lexington | KY | Low | $82K | +185% | -18% | Medium |
| Little Rock | AR | Very low | $7K | -85% | +76% | -- |
| Knoxville | TN | Very low | $39K | -47% | -49% | -- |
| Chicago | IL | Very low | $150K | +3% | -27% | Medium |
| Baltimore | MD | Very low | $124K | +514% | +68% | -- |
| Tulsa | OK | Very low | $92K | +10% | -46% | Medium |
| Akron | OH | Low | $52K | -8% | -34% | -- |
| Cleveland | OH | Low | $65K | +49% | -14% | Low |
| Louisville | KY | Low | $74K | +30% | -19% | Medium |
| Minneapolis | MN | Low | $118K | +57% | +49% | Low |
| Denver | CO | Moderate | $40K | -34% | -38% | Medium |
| Columbus | OH | Moderate | $23K | -74% | -26% | Medium |
| Nashville | TN | Moderate | $170K | +135% | +133% | -- |
| Dallas | TX | Moderate | $69K | +10% | +13% | High |
| Tampa | FL | Moderate | $73K | +73% | -14% | Medium |
| Charlotte | NC | High | $69K | +25% | -48% | Medium |
| Atlanta | GA | High | $15K | -69% | -71% | Medium |
| Houston | TX | High | $39K | -15% | +9% | High |
| Indianapolis | IN | High | $20K | -55% | +9% | Medium |
| Jacksonville | FL | High | $87K | +44% | -44% | High |
Transaction, flip and rental data sourced from SFR Analytics, drawing on public records including MLS, assessor filings, and deed records. Institutional owner counts reflect entities classified by SFR Analytics as institutional investors. Gross margin figures reflect the difference between recorded acquisition and resale prices and do not include renovation, financing, or holding costs. Data covers the 12-month period ending August 2026. Thirty cities were screened: Spokane, Grand Rapids, Lexington, Tulsa, Rochester, Chattanooga, Baton Rouge, Little Rock, Akron, Omaha, Chicago, Baltimore, Cleveland, Louisville, Minneapolis, Denver, Columbus, Nashville, Dallas, Tampa, Phoenix, Charlotte, Atlanta, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, San Antonio, Kansas City, Memphis and Philadelphia. Investor purchase data sourced from Redfin Q1 2026 Investor Home Purchases Report.
