There’s no doubt that housing is recovering. Existing home sales—which account for the bulk of the market—have topped year-ago levels for 20 months in a row and existing home prices have bested year-ago levels for 12 consecutive months. In addition, inventories of those homes have dropped to a 4.7 month supply — far below the more normal 6 months.
But unlike past housing recoveries, this one is heavily supported by investors — big and small. They account for about a third of home purchases in the existing housing market, according to the National Association of Realtors. Among those big investors are the Blackstone Group (BX) which has been buying $100 million worth of single family homes a week since early last year, spending a total $3.5 billion to date, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Invest In the Upper Valley with Celina Barton 