Investors are still snapping up properties despite high mortgage rates—but it might surprise you where. Along with investing hotspots like Miami and New York, some of the most popular areas for real estate investors to buy—and hold—are mid-sized Midwest and Sun Belt cities.

Among the top 50 metro areas, Birmingham, AL had the highest net share of investor homebuyers in 2025, according to the Realtor.com economic research team’s latest investor report.

Known as the ‘Magic City’ for its rapid growth as an iron and steel boomtown in the late 19th century, Birmingham boasts low home prices and solid rents that make the town attractive to investors.

Around 21% of home sales in Birmingham were to investors last year, while around 14.4% of homes sold in the area were sold by investors. That put the net share of investor home purchases at +6.6%, the highest of any major metro. The top ten list includes:

• Birmingham, AL 6.60%

• Memphis, TN 6.20%

• Kansas City, MO 5.70%

• St. Louis, MO 4.60%

• Pittsburgh, PA 4.40%

• Columbus, OH 4.30%

• Miami, FL 4.20%

• New York NY 3.40%

• Cleveland, OH 3.40%

• Salt Lake City, UT 3.10%

“Seven of the metros — Memphis, Birmingham, Kansas City, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Columbus, and Cleveland — are classic cash-flow markets where affordable entry prices, climbing rents, landlord-friendly tax environments, and durable renter demand attract investors,” says Realtor.com Senior Economist Hannah Jones. “Miami and New York are outliers driven by big investors buying in because prices are expected to keep rising and it’s easy to sell later, rather than to earn steady rental income.”

What is it about Birmingham that’s made it such a popular market for investors? Well, the price is right, for one.

“In Birmingham, the money is in the rent check, not the resale,” says Cameron Walker, real estate expert at Clever Real Estate. “That’s the whole story of why investors hold.”

The median listing price for homes in Birmingham is $160,000, while the median monthly rent is $1,300.

An investor able to put 20% down on a $160,000 property would have a mortgage payment of $1,067 per month, so theoretically they could easily profit while charging a competitive rent.

“In overheated markets, investors are motivated to make purchases because they believe that this way they are going to receive a higher appreciation and then try to get decent rental yields just to pay the note,” says Walker. “However, in Birmingham it’s quite the other way around. Investors try to obtain decent yields right now, and the appreciation in their investment opportunities is a bonus which, shows up during the process of holding a deal for 5 or 10 years.” 

Birmingham’s market is slow-growing, so it doesn’t make sense to try to rapidly flip a property there, as it would in faster-growing markets like Jacksonville, FL, or Hartford, CT.

For eager investors, there’s also a glut of housing on the market in Birmingham—there are currently more than 2,100 active listings in the area (compare that to Hartford, where there are only 214 homes on the market right now).

What else makes Birmingham an attractive option for investor-buyers? Alabama has some of the lowest property taxes in the country. Plus, with the University of Alabama at Birmingham school and hospital system in the city, there’s a steady stream of potential tenants cycling through the area.

Walker says investors looking at Birmingham shouldn’t expect huge changes there over the next couple of years. Instead, they’ll see a slow appreciation in property prices.

Read on to see the top ten cities where investors are buying and holding on to properties this year.

Median Listing Price: $160,000
Investor Purchases: 5,339
Share of Investor Buyers: 21%
Investor Buyer Median Purchase Price: $206,000
Share of Investor Sellers: 14.4%
Percent of Investor Buyers Holding Properties: 6.6%

Median Listing Price: $167,000
Investor Purchases: 4,617
Share of Investor Buyers: 23.7%
Investor Buyer Median Purchase Price: $126,000
Share of Investor Sellers: 17.5%
Percent of Investor Buyers Holding Properties: 6.2%

Median Listing Price: $270,000
Investor Purchases: 9,810
Share of Investor Buyers: 21.2%
Investor Buyer Median Purchase Price: $250,000
Share of Investor Sellers: 15.50%
Percent of Investor Buyers Holding Properties: 5.7%

Median Listing Price: $210,000
Investor Purchases: 11,431
Share of Investor Buyers: 21.1%
Investor Buyer Median Purchase Price: $130,000
Share of Investor Sellers: 16.5%
Percent of Investor Buyers Holding Properties: 4.6%

Median Listing Price: $269,000
Investor Purchases: 2,940
Share of Investor Buyers: 10.1%
Investor Buyer Median Purchase Price: $110,000
Share of Investor Sellers: 5.7%
Percent of Investor Buyers Holding Properties: 4.4%

Median Listing Price: $289,000
Investor Purchases: 4,170
Share of Investor Buyers: 13.4%
Investor Buyer Median Purchase Price: $225,000
Share of Investor Sellers: 9.1%
Percent of Investor Buyers Holding Properties: 4.3%

Median Listing Price: $639,000
Investor Purchases: 13,164
Share of Investor Buyers: 14.7%
Investor Buyer Median Purchase Price: $460,000
Share of Investor Sellers: 10.5%
Percent of Investor Buyers Holding Properties: 4.2%

Median Listing Price: $950,000
Investor Purchases: 15,662
Share of Investor Buyers: 10.50%
Investor Buyer Median Purchase Price: $680,000
Share of Investor Sellers: 7.1%
Percent of Investor Buyers Holding Properties: 3.4%

Median Listing Price: $145,000
Investor Purchases: 4,192
Share of Investor Buyers: 15%
Investor Buyer Median Purchase Price: $115,000
Share of Investor Sellers: 11.6%
Percent of Investor Buyers Holding Properties: 3.4%

Median Listing Price: $575,000
Investor Purchases: 2,029
Share of Investor Buyers: 13.5%
Investor Buyer Median Purchase Price: $$500,000
Share of Investor Sellers: 10.4%
Percent of Investor Buyers Holding Properties: 3.1%

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) – A New York man has been sentenced for his role in a debit card scheme that resulted in more than $214,000 in losses, U.S. Attorney Thomas Govan for the Middle District of Alabama announced.

Eric Kendrie Shuler, 34, was sentenced Wednesday to seven years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Following his prison term, Shuler will be subject to three years of supervised release.

According to his plea agreement and other court documents, in the fall of 2024, Shuler and co-defendant Kyara Ivelisse Rosario-Berenguer, 30, from Pennsylvania, conspired to steal debit cards and associated account information belonging to members of a local credit union. They both used the stolen debit cards to make 201 unauthorized withdrawals from ATMs in and around Montgomery, Alabama, totaling $214,800.

The Prattville Police Department saw Shuler and Rosario-Berenguer and attempted to make contact with them in September 2024. They both sped off in a vehicle. During the pursuit, Shuler drove around numerous vehicles at high speeds, recklessly swapping lanes, driving on the wrong side of the road, running red lights and reaching speeds of at least 140 mph through traffic on Interstates 65 and 85.

The pursuit ended when Shuler’s vehicle collided with a guardrail near the Perry Hill Road exit on I-85 in Montgomery. Shuler continued to resist arrest following the crash but was ultimately taken into custody by law enforcement.

During their own plea hearings, both Shuler and Rosario-Berenguer admitted that on a single day in September 2024, they used the stolen debit cards and account information to make 138 ATM withdrawals totaling over $190,000.

Shuler pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and aggravated identity theft on April 28, 2026. Along with his prison term, the court ordered Shuler to pay $214,800 in restitution jointly and severally with Rosario-Berenguer, meaning the defendants are collectively responsible for the full amount. Rosario-Berenguer pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft and was sentenced on May 28, 2026, to two years in federal prison.

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