Screven (GA) Investor Pulse Report (2025-Q4)

Investors hold a significant 28.0% share of the SFR market in Screven County, GA, with a total of 1,087 properties.

The market is dominated by individual investors, who own 964 properties, constituting 88.7% of the investor-owned portfolio, compared to 125 properties (11.5%) owned by companies.

This individual dominance extends to the entity level, where 1,034 of the 1,147 total landlords (90.1%) are individuals, reinforcing the 'mom-and-pop' character of the local market.

A striking financial characteristic of this market is the preference for cash ownership. Landlords own 973 properties free of financing, a figure that dwarfs the 114 financed properties, indicating a low reliance on leverage.

The portfolio is clearly geared towards rental income, with 1,069 of the 1,087 properties being rented, representing a massive 98.3% of all investor-owned homes.

In a striking Q4 pricing anomaly, landlords paid an average of $666,000 per property, a $362,700 premium over the traditional homeowner price of $303,300. This represents a 119.6% markup, a significant deviation from typical purchasing behavior.

This Q4 premium marks a dramatic reversal from the prior quarter. In Q3 2025, landlords achieved a deep 56.3% discount, paying just $99,763 compared to the homeowner average of $228,521.

Pricing behavior throughout the year has been exceptionally volatile. Landlords also paid a premium in Q2 (33.9%), but secured a large discount in Q1 (53.1%), showing no consistent strategy.

The extreme fluctuations suggest that Screven County's landlord acquisition market is characterized by a very small number of transactions each quarter, where one or two outlier sales can heavily skew the average price.

Historical data shows average acquisition prices during the 2020-2023 period were $103,065, indicating that recent quarterly prices, whether high or low, are part of a highly dynamic and unpredictable local market.

Landlords captured a substantial 43.8% share of the market in Q4, purchasing 7 of the 16 total SFR properties sold in Screven County.

Activity was exclusively driven by small-scale investors, with 100% of landlord acquisitions made by mom-and-pop landlords who own between 1 and 10 properties.

The market is attracting new entrants, as the single-property tier was the most active segment. A total of 8 new landlord entities entered the market, acquiring 6 of the 7 properties purchased by investors.

In stark contrast to the active small investors, institutional firms with over 1,000 properties were completely absent from the purchasing market this quarter, making zero acquisitions.

The data reinforces the notion of a market fueled by local, small-scale capital, not large corporate investment, with activity concentrated at the entry level of property investment.

The investor landscape in Screven County is overwhelmingly dominated by mom-and-pop landlords (1-10 properties), who collectively own 99.5% of all investor-held SFRs.

Single-property landlords form the bedrock of this market, holding 914 properties. This single tier accounts for 82.3% of all investor-owned housing, highlighting the fragmented nature of ownership.

The scale of ownership drops off sharply after the smallest tiers. Landlords with 2 properties hold 7.0%, and those with 3-5 properties hold 8.1%, with all larger tiers falling below 3% market share.

Institutional investors (1,000+ properties) have a virtually non-existent presence, owning just 2 properties in the entire county, which represents a mere 0.2% of the investor-owned market.

This distribution firmly establishes that the rental market in Screven County is supplied by a large number of very small, local investors rather than a few large, professionalized firms.

Individual investors form the foundation of the market, overwhelmingly owning properties in the smaller portfolio tiers. They hold 90.7% of single-property investments (830 properties) and 81.0% of two-property portfolios.

A clear trend emerges as portfolios grow: the share of company ownership steadily increases with portfolio size, rising from just 9.3% in the single-property tier to 39.1% in the 6-10 property tier.

The critical crossover point where companies become the dominant owner type is in the 11-20 property tier. In this segment, companies own 66.7% of the properties, signaling a threshold for professionalization and incorporation.

Even with this crossover, the vast quantity of investor properties remains in the smaller, individual-dominated tiers, underscoring their overall market control.

This pattern suggests that while landlords in Screven County typically start as individuals, there is a clear motivation to adopt a corporate structure once their portfolio reaches a certain scale.

Investor ownership in Screven County is highly concentrated in the 30467 zip code, which alone accounts for 914 landlord-owned properties, an area with a 27.7% investor ownership rate.

There is a clear distinction between areas with high property counts and those with high ownership rates. The 30449 zip code has the highest possible concentration with a 100.0% investor ownership rate.

Another pocket of high saturation is the 30426 zip code, where investors own 12 properties, representing a significant 63.2% of the housing stock in that area.

The zip code with the second-highest count of investor properties, 30446 (102 properties), also boasts a high ownership rate of 29.9%, making it a significant secondary hub for investment.

This geographic distribution reveals a market with one primary volume center (30467) and several smaller, highly saturated sub-markets where investors own a majority or super-majority of the homes.

Landlords in Screven County are actively and consistently growing their portfolios, maintaining a strong net buyer position over the last two years.

In 2025, investors demonstrated a clear accumulation strategy by purchasing 46 properties while selling only 6, resulting in a powerful 7.67-to-1 buy-to-sell ratio.

This behavior is not new; in 2024, landlords also acted as net buyers, acquiring 62 properties and selling 10, for a ratio of 6.2-to-1.

While the net buying trend continues, the overall velocity of acquisitions has moderated slightly, with total purchases decreasing from 62 in 2024 to 46 in 2025.

The most recent quarterly data from Q3 2025 reinforces this pattern, with landlords buying 10 homes and selling just 4, further cementing their role as accumulators of local housing stock.

In Q4, landlords were a significant force in the market, participating in 9 of the 24 total SFR transactions for a 37.5% share.

All Q4 investor transaction activity was driven by mom-and-pop investors, with 8 transactions coming from the single-property tier and one from the small landlord (3-5 properties) tier.

A critical finding is the source of these acquisitions: 0% of landlord purchases were from other landlords. This indicates that investors are acquiring their properties from the traditional homeownership market rather than trading assets among themselves.

Pricing data reveals a potential strategy difference by tier. The newest investors (Tier 1) paid an average of $184,500, whereas the single transaction in the 3-5 property tier was for a higher-priced property at $245,000.

Consistent with other metrics, institutional investors were completely inactive in the Q4 transaction market, reinforcing the small-investor character of Screven County.