Harrison (IA) Investor Pulse Report (2025-Q4)

In Harrison County, investors own 603 single-family residential properties, which constitutes 12.6% of the total 4,790 SFRs in the market.

The ownership landscape is overwhelmingly composed of private individuals rather than corporations. Individual investors own 488 properties, accounting for a commanding 80.9% of the investor-owned housing stock, while companies own the remaining 124 properties (20.6%).

This individual dominance extends to the entity level, where 546 of the 636 total landlords (85.8%) are individuals, compared to just 90 companies.

When it comes to financing, cash is the clear preference for local investors. A significant 77.3% of the portfolio (466 properties) was purchased with cash, while only 137 properties (22.7%) are currently financed, indicating a low-leverage, stable investment environment.

The primary strategy for these investors is providing rental housing. Of the 603 properties in their portfolios, 561 (93.0%) are classified as rented or non-owner-occupied, confirming their vital role in the local rental market.

Investors in Harrison County demonstrate a powerful ability to acquire properties at a significant discount. In Q4 2025, landlords paid an average of just $91,495, which is 62.3% less than the $242,703 paid by traditional homeowners—a staggering price gap of $151,208 per property.

This pricing advantage for investors accelerated sharply over the year. The discount widened from a mere 4.9% ($12,131) in Q1 to 40.6% ($95,473) in Q2, 47.7% ($109,741) in Q3, and culminating in the massive 62.3% gap in Q4.

The trend suggests a clear strategic divergence in the market. While homeowners are competing for market-rate properties, investors appear to be successfully targeting a different class of asset, such as distressed sales, fixer-uppers, or off-market deals.

Comparing recent activity to historical prices, the 2025 average price of $150,519 represents a notable increase from the pandemic-era (2020-2023) average of $90,650, though Q4 activity shows a return to these lower price points.

This pronounced and growing discount highlights the specialized acquisition strategies employed by local investors, allowing them to build portfolios at a much lower cost basis than the general homebuying public.

In Q4 2025, landlords purchased 6 of the 59 single-family homes sold in Harrison County, capturing 10.2% of the total market purchase activity.

The quarter's activity was exclusively driven by small-scale investors. Mom-and-pop landlords (owning 1-10 properties) were responsible for 5 of the 6 acquisitions, representing 83.3% of all investor buying.

New investors are actively entering the market. The single-property tier was the most active, with 5 new entities acquiring 4 properties, which accounted for 66.7% of all landlord purchases for the quarter.

In stark contrast, large-scale institutional investors (1,000+ properties) were completely absent from the purchasing landscape, making zero acquisitions in Q4.

This data illustrates a healthy, grassroots investor market where new, small landlords are the primary source of purchasing momentum, rather than large, corporate buyers.

The investor market in Harrison County is the domain of small, local landlords. Mom-and-pop investors, defined as those owning 1-10 properties, control a staggering 98.6% of all investor-owned SFRs.

The market structure is heavily weighted towards the smallest players. Landlords owning just a single property represent the largest cohort, holding 379 homes, or 60.6% of the entire investor portfolio.

Ownership concentration dissipates quickly as portfolio size increases. The two-property tier holds 8.5% of properties, and the 3-5 property tier holds 23.8%, with all larger tiers combined accounting for less than 2% of the market.

There is no institutional investor footprint in Harrison County. The 1,000+ property tier holds zero properties, representing 0.0% of the market and challenging the narrative of corporate landlord takeovers in this type of rural market.

This distribution underscores a stable, decentralized ownership base where the rental housing supply is provided by a wide array of community-level investors, not a handful of large corporations.

Individual investors form the bedrock of the Harrison County rental market across every active portfolio tier. In the entry-level single-property tier, individuals own 335 of the 379 properties, an 87.2% majority.

This individual dominance persists even as landlords scale their operations. Individuals own 73.6% of properties in the two-property tier and still hold a 62.9% majority in the 6-10 property tier.

Consequently, there is no crossover point where companies become the majority owners. This signals a market where personal ownership is the standard, regardless of portfolio size.

While they never reach a majority, companies do increase their presence in larger portfolios. Company ownership rises from just 12.8% for single-property landlords to 37.1% for those owning 6-10 properties.

This pattern suggests that while most landlords are individuals, incorporating as a business becomes an increasingly common strategy for those who successfully grow their portfolios beyond a few properties.

Investor ownership by volume is concentrated in a handful of key zip codes within Harrison County. The top three areas by property count are 51555 (150 properties), 51579 (122 properties), and 51529 (96 properties), which together account for over half of all investor-owned homes.

A critical distinction exists between areas with high property counts and those with high ownership rates. The zip code with the most investor properties, 51555, has a relatively modest investor ownership rate of 9.7%.

In contrast, smaller zip codes exhibit extreme market penetration. Zip code 51558 stands out dramatically, with investors owning 60.0% of the SFR properties, making it a landlord-majority housing market.

Other hotspots for investor concentration include 51523 (28.6% rate) and 51564 (21.7% rate), indicating specific towns or neighborhoods that are particularly attractive for rental investment.

This data reveals two distinct geographic strategies: one focused on achieving scale in larger population centers and another focused on market dominance in smaller, niche communities.

Landlords in Harrison County are in a phase of accumulation, consistently buying more properties than they sell. In 2025, they acquired 53 SFRs while selling only 21, resulting in a strong buy-to-sell ratio of 2.52 and a net portfolio growth of 32 homes.

This pattern of net acquisition held steady throughout the year, including in Q4 2025, where investors bought 8 properties and sold 5.

The appetite for acquisition has been robust and consistent over the last two years. The 53 purchases in 2025 marked a slight increase over the 46 properties purchased in 2024, signaling sustained confidence in the local market.

With institutional investors completely inactive in the county, this steady accumulation of housing stock is driven entirely by the area's mom-and-pop investor base.

The continuous net buying activity indicates that local landlords see long-term value in the Harrison County housing market and are actively expanding their footprint.

During Q4 2025, landlords participated in 8 of the 86 total SFR transactions in Harrison County, accounting for a 9.3% share of market activity.

The entirety of these transactions was conducted by mom-and-pop investors. Tiers 1-4 accounted for 7 of the 8 transactions, with no activity from mid-size or institutional players.

Purchase prices in Q4 varied by the buyer's portfolio size. The newest single-property landlords paid the lowest average price at $82,700, while small-medium landlords in the 11-20 property tier paid the most at $108,463.

A key finding from the quarter is the complete absence of inter-landlord trading. One hundred percent of the properties acquired by investors were purchased from non-landlord sellers, indicating that investors are sourcing their inventory from the traditional homeowner market.

This lack of landlord-to-landlord sales, combined with the dominance of small buyers, depicts a market where local investors expand by competing for homes on the open market, not by trading assets among themselves.