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

Investors hold a significant 17.4% share of the single-family residential market in Union County, with a total portfolio of 661 properties.

The market is overwhelmingly characterized by individual ownership, with 'mom-and-pop' landlords owning 508 properties, which accounts for 76.9% of all investor-owned SFRs. Company-owned properties total 172, or 26.0% of the portfolio.

By entity count, individual landlords (550) outnumber company landlords (74) by more than a 7-to-1 ratio, underscoring the grassroots nature of the local rental market.

Investors in this market display a preference for low leverage, with 511 properties (77.3%) owned free-and-clear as cash holdings, more than triple the 150 properties that are financed.

The portfolio's purpose is clear, with 95.2% of investor-owned homes (629 properties) being utilized as rentals, demonstrating a strong focus on generating rental income.

Investors in Union County demonstrate an exceptional ability to acquire properties at a deep discount, paying an average of just $76,833 in Q4 2025—a staggering 58.2% less than the $183,622 average for traditional homeowners.

This price advantage translates to an average savings of $106,789 on every property purchased, indicating that investors are likely targeting distressed assets or utilizing off-market acquisition channels not available to the general public.

The significant price gap is not an anomaly but a persistent market feature throughout 2025. Landlord discounts were even more pronounced in previous quarters, reaching 69.4% in Q3 and an astonishing 72.3% in Q1.

This consistent, wide pricing disparity suggests the existence of a dual market: a standard retail market for traditional homebuyers and a separate, wholesale-priced market accessible primarily to savvy investors.

The data reveals a clear and sustained strategy among local landlords to build equity instantly upon purchase by avoiding retail prices entirely.

Investors were a powerful force in the Q4 2025 market, purchasing 10 of the 46 total SFRs sold, which represents a 21.7% market share of all transactions.

The entirety of this purchasing activity came from small-scale landlords, with 100% of acquisitions made by mom-and-pop investors (owning 1-10 properties). Institutional investors with portfolios over 1,000 properties were completely inactive.

New entrants are the primary driver of market growth. The single-property tier was the most active, with 8 new landlord entities entering the market and acquiring 6 of the 10 investor-purchased properties.

This demonstrates a healthy, grassroots market where new investors are continually being created, rather than a market consolidating under large, existing players.

The data clearly shows that the story of Q4 investment in Union County is one of small, local buyers expanding their footprint one or two properties at a time.

The investor landscape in Union County is defined by small, local ownership, with mom-and-pop landlords (1-10 properties) controlling a commanding 88.1% share of all investor-held SFRs.

Single-property landlords form the very foundation of the rental market, alone accounting for 372 properties. This represents 54.0% of all investor holdings, making first-time and small-scale investors the most significant group.

In a direct challenge to the narrative of corporate dominance in housing, institutional-scale investors (1,000+ properties) have a 0.0% market share, holding no properties in the county.

Mid-size landlords (11-100 properties) represent a small but distinct segment, collectively owning 11.9% of the investor-owned properties.

This ownership distribution reveals a highly fragmented and decentralized market, where the rental housing supply is provided by hundreds of small operators rather than a handful of large corporations.

A distinct pattern emerges in ownership structure based on portfolio size. Individual investors are the dominant force in smaller tiers, holding 89.2% of single-property portfolios and 77.0% of properties in the 3-5 unit tier.

The clear crossover point from individual to corporate majority ownership happens when a portfolio grows to 11-20 properties. In this tier, companies own 58.1% of the assets, marking a strategic shift toward formal incorporation.

This trend suggests that as investors scale their operations beyond 10 properties, the complexities of management, financing, and liability protection prompt a move to a more formal corporate structure.

Even before this crossover, the increasing presence of companies is visible in the 6-10 property tier, where corporations own a significant 35.1% of properties.

The data illustrates a typical investor lifecycle in Union County: begin as an individual and incorporate for growth as the portfolio matures.

Investor ownership in Union County is highly concentrated geographically, with the 50801 zip code serving as the epicenter, containing 517 investor-owned SFRs.

However, the highest market saturation occurs in smaller zip codes. The 50831 zip code leads with a 37.5% investor ownership rate, meaning more than one in every three homes there is investor-owned.

This reveals a key strategic distinction: investors concentrate their total number of properties in the largest population center (50801) but achieve their highest market share in smaller, surrounding communities.

Other areas with high investor penetration include 50254 (24.6%) and 50149 (22.0%), indicating that specific neighborhoods or towns are heavily targeted investment zones.

This geographic pattern suggests investors are employing a dual strategy of building volume in core areas while seeking to control a larger share of housing in less competitive, peripheral markets.

Investors in Union County are in a distinct and sustained accumulation phase, consistently buying far more properties than they sell.

Throughout 2025, landlords demonstrated strong bullish sentiment, purchasing 55 SFRs while divesting only 15. This activity resulted in a net portfolio growth of 40 properties county-wide.

The buy-to-sell ratio for 2025 stands at an aggressive 3.67, meaning nearly four properties were bought for every one sold, signaling long-term confidence in the local market.

This is not a recent shift; the trend was also evident in 2024, when investors recorded 46 purchases against 17 sales for a net gain of 29 properties.

The most recent quarterly data from Q3 2025 confirms this ongoing momentum, with 22 buys and only 8 sells, indicating that the appetite for acquisition remains high.

In Q4 2025, investors were involved in 14 of the 73 total SFR transactions, capturing a 19.2% share of all market activity.

This activity was exclusively driven by mom-and-pop investors, with no transactions recorded by institutional-scale landlords.

Notably, none of the investor purchases in Q4 were acquired from other landlords. This 0% inter-landlord transaction rate suggests investors are sourcing inventory from the traditional homeowner market rather than trading existing rental stock among themselves.

A fascinating price disparity emerged among tiers. New investors in the single-property tier paid the most, at an average of $102,667 per property.

In contrast, more established small landlords in the 3-5 property tier paid significantly less, averaging just $26,333. This suggests new entrants may be paying a premium for turn-key properties, while experienced investors target properties requiring substantial repairs at a lower cost basis.