Roughly one in six California houses is owned by someone who doesn\u2019t live there \u2013 but investors\u2019 market clout varies across the state.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what my trusty spreadsheet found<\/a> after reviewing a BatchData report<\/a> that found investors of all sizes own 1.28 million houses statewide \u2013 17% of California\u2019s supply of houses and townhomes.<\/p>\n Investors in this study include everything from giant companies controlling thousands of houses to folks with a small collection of rentals to short-term rental operators to people with a second home. Condo ownership was not included.<\/p>\n Where investors own<\/p>\n California\u2019s No. 1 investor spot, by the number of houses owned, is Los Angeles County, where investors controlled 179,294 homes as of the 2025 third quarter.<\/p>\n Next were San Bernardino at 123,088, Riverside at 103,183, San Diego at 79,127, and Orange at 74,663. It\u2019s a decidedly southern group.<\/p>\n Sparsely populated, remote counties had the fewest number of houses owned by investors: Alpine at 423, Inyo at 890, Modoc at 958, Glenn at 1,102, and Sierra at 1,170.<\/p>\n By the slice<\/p>\n Investors dominate housing in some of California\u2019s most lightly populated counties when contemplating the share of houses not occupied by their owners.<\/p>\n For example, in Sierra County, 72% of houses are investor-owned. Mono is No. 2 at 64%, then Plumas at 57%, Modoc at 51%, and Alpine at 50%. Most of these investments are likely vacation homes in these hidden spots.<\/p>\n Investor clout is more modest around heavily populated job hubs: San Mateo at 11%, Marin and Ventura at 12%, and Los Angeles and Alameda at 13%.<\/p>\n Where they\u2019re buying<\/p>\n It\u2019s again a southern story when you consider the number of houses investors purchased between 2020 and the third quarter of 2025.<\/p>\n Statewide, it was 471,500 purchases. No stats were available for what investors sold.<\/p>\n The counties with the most purchases were Los Angeles at 65,496, San Bernardino at 48,889, Riverside at 45,963, San Diego at 30,314, and Orange at 27,962.<\/p>\n Thinly populated counties far from city life also had the fewest purchases: Alpine at 220, Glenn at 318, Modoc at 374, Inyo at 391, and Sierra at 396.<\/p>\n How much?<\/p>\n Statewide, purchases during 2020-25 averaged $876,000. At the county level, however, you see wide variations.<\/p>\n The highest prices paid were in Bay Area counties: San Mateo and Santa Clara ($1.74 million), Marin ($1.71 million), and San Francisco ($1.66 million). No. 5 was Orange at $1.4 million.<\/p>\n Low prices weren\u2019t near metro areas: Modoc at $157,000, Lassen at $197,000, Tehama at $215,000, Imperial at $262,000, and Siskiyou at $277,000.<\/p>\n The bounty<\/p>\n Combining those purchases and prices tells you in which counties investors spent the most in 2020-25 on acquisitions that totaled $413 billion statewide.<\/p>\n The largest target was Los Angeles at $82 billion, followed by Orange at $39 billion, San Diego at $36 billion, Riverside at $35 billion, and San Bernardino at $25 billion.<\/p>\n The least? Modoc at $59 million, Glenn at $92 million, Tehama at $106 million, Colusa at $129 million, and Alpine at $132 million.<\/p>\n