20% of real estate purchased in April bought by investors?

[Scott R.]

Never seen my online stock trading company post stuff about real estate, but theyre facebook had a link to this site..
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-investing-in-rentals-could-be-a-good-move-2011-06-13
it made me wonder, do you believe that is an accurate number, and what do you believe was an accurate number, say in 2005? 2000? how much of the market is influenced by investors?

[Joshua Dorkin]

Lots of companies have been touting that investors are taking over the market (many of whom have an agenda, of course), but no one seems to have data from past years of how many investors there were in years past.

Before making statements about how much more impact investors have today, the reporters and commentators out there need to get solid evidence and make conclusions based on real data.

Certainly it is in my interest to make claims like there are more investors today than ever before, but since I have absolutely nothing to base that on, I'd never make such a statement.