I’m speaking mostly from memory of it when it occurred in the US , was Covid era housing market 2020-2021 is when prices surged the most and was when they had a marked increase in their activity. Again, it seems small overall but they were the cash offer 50k over ask that everyone trying to buy a house was competing with. It doesn’t take much to move a market this size as it’s relatively low inventory and volume. It’s like how a whale could transact move bitcoin price so easily because so much of it is illiquid. It’s gotten more difficult as the price is much higher, but still possible. Also, prices tend to correct faster in that market than they would in housing market.

Googles AI overview of my search for “ covid era corporate home purchases”, also plenty of substantiating references in those search results;

> Corporate home purchases surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, driven by factors like low mortgage rates and increased demand for single-family homes. While this trend has plateaued since the peak, investor activity remains above pre-pandemic levels and has sparked significant public debate and legislative action.

A tidbit from an article indicates they doubled their prior investment activity. Probably more than double because investors bought homes increased and their share of that metric doubled.

> Prior to the pandemic, mega investors averaged about 7% of overall investor purchases and their share increased to 14% during the pandemic — it has now slowed