The latest data exposes a troubling trend: nearly one in five homes across California—19%—is now owned by outside investors, according to BatchData analysis reported by the Orange County Register and summarized on Planetizen (July 2025). This figure sits just below the national average of 20%, yet it means Wall Street-backed firms and corporate speculators control a massive chunk of our local housing stock, turning neighborhoods into profit machines rather than family communities.

While California’s overall rate ranks middling (No. 36 among states), the impact hits hard amid our severe affordability crisis. High costs and flat population growth have somewhat slowed the frenzy compared to vacation-heavy states, but investors still gobble up properties that should go to everyday residents. This fuels higher rents, pricing out working families, and erodes local control over our communities.

The YIMBY crowd must be happy: Investors added over 143,000 houses to their portfolios in California since 2020 alone. State Legislators that are fed political donations from the YIMBY groups are having the best payoff ever for their campaign donations. This line summarizes the situation the best:

“This has all created a cycle that feeds itself. The more homes Wall Street owns, the fewer opportunities there are for families to buy. The fewer families who buy, the more renters the market produces. Each new lease signed is another reminder of how much the goalposts have moved.”

Sacramento must stop enabling this takeover—we need strong local zoning authority to protect neighborhoods from Wall Street dominance and keep homes in the hands of Californians, not distant corporations. Our neighborhoods deserve better than becoming investment portfolios.