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

Investors hold a total of 282 Single-Family Residential properties in Worth County, which constitutes 11.5% of the total 2,461 SFRs in the market.

Individual investors are the definitive force in the local rental market, owning 238 properties, or 84.4% of the investor-owned portfolio. This leaves companies with a smaller share of 55 properties (19.5%).

The ownership landscape is similarly skewed by entity type, with 294 individual landlords making up 86.7% of all investors, compared to just 45 company landlords.

A strong preference for all-cash ownership is evident, with 222 properties (78.7%) held free of financing, compared to only 60 properties (21.3%) that are financed. This suggests a well-capitalized and low-leverage investor base.

The portfolio is overwhelmingly focused on generating rental income, as demonstrated by the 271 properties classified as rented, representing 96.1% of all investor-owned homes.

Investors in Worth County demonstrated an ability to secure properties at a significant discount in Q4 2025, paying an average price of just $50,000.

This price point represents a staggering 65.4% discount compared to the $144,621 average paid by traditional homeowners in the same quarter, a savings of $94,621 per property.

The Q4 discount marks a dramatic widening of the price gap from previous quarters. In Q3 2025, the discount was 59.0% ($105,435), while in Q2 investors surprisingly paid a 9.5% premium, indicating significant volatility in the types of properties being acquired.

Looking at longer-term trends, the average landlord acquisition price in 2025 ($129,947) reflects a notable decrease from the 2024 average of $186,281, suggesting a market correction or a strategic shift towards lower-cost assets.

The pandemic-era (2020-2023) average price of $86,673 establishes a baseline from which prices escalated significantly in 2024 before beginning to recede in 2025.

Investor purchasing activity constituted a small portion of the market in Q4 2025, with landlords acquiring 2 of the 27 total SFRs sold, a market share of 7.4%.

The acquisitions were entirely driven by smaller investors, with mom-and-pop landlords (1-10 properties) and mid-size landlords making up 100% of the buying activity.

One new landlord entered the Worth County market, acquiring their first rental property and accounting for 50.0% of all investor purchases in the quarter.

The other half of the activity came from a single mid-size investor in the 21-50 property tier, demonstrating that purchasing power is not exclusively held by new entrants.

In stark contrast, large and institutional investors (1,000+ properties) were completely inactive, making zero purchases and reinforcing their absence from the local market.

The investor landscape in Worth County is defined by its reliance on small-scale landlords. Mom-and-pop investors (owning 1-10 properties) control a commanding 96.2% of all investor-owned SFRs.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) are the backbone of the rental market, owning 205 properties, which accounts for 70.9% of the entire investor portfolio on their own.

The ownership concentration drops off sharply in larger tiers. Investors with 2 properties hold 6.6%, those with 3-5 properties hold 9.7%, and those with 6-10 properties hold 9.0%.

Mid-size landlords (11-100 properties) represent a negligible slice of the market, collectively owning just 3.5% of investor-held homes.

Institutional-scale investors with portfolios exceeding 1,000 properties have no ownership stake in Worth County, indicating the market is entirely served by local and regional players.

Individual investors form the foundation of Worth County's rental market, overwhelmingly owning properties in smaller portfolio tiers. Individuals own 87.9% of single-property portfolios and 89.5% of two-property portfolios.

As portfolios grow, company ownership becomes more prevalent. The 6-10 property tier represents a transition zone, with ownership nearly split between individuals (53.8%) and companies (46.2%).

The definitive crossover to corporate dominance occurs in the 11-20 property tier, where companies own a commanding 83.3% of the properties, suggesting this is the scale at which professionalization and incorporation become standard practice.

This trend highlights a clear life cycle: investors typically start as individuals and incorporate as they scale their operations beyond about 10 properties.

An interesting anomaly exists in the 101-1,000 property tier, where a single property is held by an individual, running counter to the broader trend of corporate ownership at scale.

The largest volume of investor-owned properties in Worth County is located in the 50459 zip code (Northwood), with a total of 89 properties held by investors.

However, the highest rate of investor ownership is found elsewhere. The 50440 zip code (Grafton) leads the county with a 17.1% investor ownership rate, indicating a high saturation of rental properties in that community.

High investor concentration is also seen in 50448 (Kensett) and 50446 (Joice), which share the second-highest ownership rate at 15.5% each.

This reveals a key geographic pattern: while the largest town, Northwood, has the most rental units by count, smaller surrounding communities have a significantly higher percentage of their housing stock controlled by investors.

The investor ownership rate in Northwood (50459), the volume leader, is a more moderate 9.0%, well below the rates seen in several smaller zip codes.

Landlords in Worth County are consistently expanding their portfolios, acting as strong net buyers. In 2025, investors acquired 20 properties while only selling 3, resulting in a net gain of 17 properties.

The buy-to-sell ratio accelerated significantly in 2025 to 6.67x, meaning nearly seven properties were bought for every one sold. This is a substantial increase from the 2.78x ratio seen in 2024 (25 buys vs. 9 sells).

The intensified net-buyer stance is primarily driven by a sharp reduction in selling. The number of properties sold by landlords dropped by 66.7%, from 9 in 2024 to just 3 in 2025.

Acquisition volumes have remained relatively steady, with 20 purchases in 2025 compared to 25 in 2024, indicating a sustained appetite for new properties.

This combination of steady buying and decreased selling points to a strong 'hold' sentiment among existing landlords, who appear confident in the long-term value of their assets.

Investor activity represented 5.1% of the total real estate transactions in Worth County during Q4 2025, with landlords making 2 purchases out of 39 total market transactions.

The activity was split between opposite ends of the small-investor spectrum: one transaction was by a new single-property landlord, and the other was by an established investor in the 21-50 property tier.

A significant price disparity existed between the two transactions. The new landlord (Tier 01) purchased a property for $79,000, while the mid-size landlord (Tier 06) acquired one for just $21,000, suggesting highly divergent investment strategies or asset qualities.

None of the landlord acquisitions in Q4 were sourced from other landlords. This 0% inter-landlord transaction rate indicates that investors are buying properties from the traditional market (i.e., homeowners) rather than trading assets among themselves.

Institutional investors logged zero transactions, continuing a pattern of complete inactivity in the county's transaction market.