Calhoun (AL) Investor Pulse Report (2025-Q4)

In Calhoun County, landlords own a significant 18.5% of the single-family residential market, totaling 6,872 properties.

The investor landscape is dominated by 5,516 individual landlords who control 5,262 properties, representing 76.6% of the investor-owned housing stock. In contrast, 802 company landlords own the remaining 1,674 properties (24.4%).

A striking financial pattern emerges from the data, showing a heavy reliance on cash acquisitions. Landlords hold 6,438 properties purchased with cash, a figure nearly 15 times greater than the 434 properties that are financed.

The portfolio is heavily geared towards rental income, with 6,626 properties classified as rented, which accounts for 96.4% of all investor-owned SFRs in the county.

This composition highlights a market characterized by smaller, independent investors who prefer outright ownership and focus squarely on rental operations rather than speculative, leveraged investments.

The most significant finding for Q4 2025 is the complete absence of purchasing activity from investors in Calhoun County, with zero properties acquired. This halt prevents any meaningful price comparison between landlords and traditional homeowners for the quarter.

This market freeze contrasts with previous periods. In 2024, investors acquired properties at an average price of $126,471.

Looking further back, properties acquired during the 2020-2023 period had an average price of $108,036, indicating a trend of price appreciation leading up to the recent market pause.

The lack of Q4 transactions suggests a 'wait-and-see' approach from investors, possibly due to market conditions, interest rates, or a lack of desirable inventory.

Without new purchases, it's impossible to gauge current investor sentiment on pricing or determine if they would have maintained a price advantage over homeowners in the current market.

In a clear signal of a market pause, landlords made zero SFR purchases in Calhoun County during Q4 2025, representing 0.0% of all acquisitions.

This lack of activity was universal across all investor sizes. Mom-and-pop landlords (1-10 properties), who constitute the vast majority of owners, acquired no new properties.

Similarly, institutional investors (1,000+ properties) also recorded zero purchases, indicating the purchasing freeze affected the entire spectrum of investors.

Consequently, there were no new entrants into the landlord market in Q4, as the single-property (Tier 01) category saw no new entities making purchases.

This halt in acquisitions points to a significant shift in market dynamics, where investors collectively stepped back from the market, leading to a quarter of zero growth in investor-owned inventory.

The ownership structure in Calhoun County is overwhelmingly dominated by small-scale investors. Mom-and-pop landlords, owning between 1 and 10 properties, collectively hold 6,229 SFRs, or 88.2% of the entire investor portfolio.

Single-property landlords are the bedrock of this market, with 4,101 individuals and companies in this tier alone owning 57.2% of all investor-held homes.

Mid-size landlords (11-100 properties) represent a smaller segment, controlling a combined 786 properties or 11.0% of the investor market.

The presence of large-scale investors is minimal. The 'Large' tier (101-1,000 properties) holds just 45 properties (0.6%), while institutional investors with over 1,000 properties have a fractional footprint of only 14 properties (0.2%).

This distribution reveals a highly fragmented market, built on small, local investment rather than large, corporate consolidation.

A clear pattern emerges when analyzing ownership by entity type across different portfolio sizes. Individual investors form the backbone of smaller portfolios, owning 88.7% of single-property holdings and 81.4% of two-property portfolios.

The transition to corporate ownership begins as portfolios grow. While individuals still hold a majority in the 3-10 property range, the balance shifts decisively in the small-medium tiers.

The crossover point occurs in the 11-20 property tier, where companies own 263 properties, a dominant 71.1% share, indicating a strategic shift to formal business structures for larger-scale operations.

This trend intensifies in larger tiers. Companies own 74.5% of properties in the 21-50 tier and a near-total 98.9% in the 51-100 property tier.

This data illustrates that while the market is founded on individual investment, scaling operations is strongly correlated with incorporation.

The geographic distribution of investor-owned properties in Calhoun County is highly concentrated, with the 36201 zip code serving as the clear hub of activity. This single area contains 1,845 investor-owned SFRs.

Not only does 36201 lead by volume, but it also has the highest rate of investor ownership, with 30.1% of its SFR properties held by landlords. This indicates a deep market penetration in this specific community.

Other significant areas of investor ownership include the 36207 zip code, with 1,113 properties (15.7% rate), and the 36203 zip code, with 863 properties (18.9% rate).

The zip code 36206 also shows notable investor presence, with 637 properties and a 17.4% ownership rate.

This analysis reveals that investor strategy is not evenly spread across the county but is instead focused on specific, high-concentration submarkets like 36201.

The historical transaction data for Q4 2025 is defined by a complete lack of activity. There were zero properties bought and zero properties sold by landlords in Calhoun County during this period.

This halt in trading means that the buy-to-sell ratio is undefined, and it is impossible to determine whether landlords were positioned as net buyers or net sellers.

Consequently, there were no landlord-to-landlord transactions, bringing a key segment of market liquidity to a standstill.

The institutional tier (1,000+ properties) mirrored this trend, also recording zero buy or sell transactions, indicating the market-wide nature of the pause.

Without any transactions, analysis of price margins between buying and selling is not possible, highlighting a quarter where the investor market effectively went dormant.

The final quarter of 2025 saw a complete freeze in the investor transaction market in Calhoun County, with landlords involved in zero deals. This resulted in a 0.0% share of the county's total SFR transactions.

Activity was nonexistent across all investor sizes. The typically active mom-and-pop tiers (01-04) recorded zero transactions.

Likewise, the institutional tier (09) also logged zero transactions, confirming the market-wide nature of the inactivity.

Because no properties were purchased, there is no data on the average purchase price for any tier, and no way to compare the buying strategies of small versus large investors.

The data on transaction sources is also null, with 0% of purchases coming from other landlords, further underscoring the complete lack of market churn and liquidity in Q4.