Clearwater (ID) Investor Pulse Report (2025-Q4)

In Clearwater County, landlords own a significant 632 Single-Family Residential properties, which constitutes 22.1% of the total 2,857 SFRs in the market.

The investor landscape is overwhelmingly dominated by individuals rather than corporations. Individual landlords own 556 properties, accounting for 88.0% of the investor-owned market, while companies own the remaining 106 properties (16.8%).

This individual dominance is also reflected in the entity count, with 714 individual landlords compared to just 87 company landlords, a ratio of more than 8-to-1.

A strong preference for all-cash holdings is evident, with 487 properties (77.1%) owned free of financing. This compares to only 145 financed properties, suggesting a well-capitalized and lower-risk investor base in the region.

The portfolio is almost entirely dedicated to rental purposes, with 615 of the 632 properties (97.3%) being non-owner-occupied. This high rental rate underscores the primary business objective of investors in Clearwater County's housing market.

In Q4 2025, landlords demonstrated a remarkable ability to secure properties below market rates, paying an average of just $175,764. This was a substantial 47.3% less than the $333,267 paid by traditional homeowners, representing a significant discount of $157,503 per property.

The pricing dynamic has been incredibly volatile throughout the year. The Q4 discount is a stark reversal from earlier in 2025, where landlords paid significant premiums. For instance, in Q1, landlords paid 90.5% more than homeowners ($583,072 vs. $306,145), and in Q2, they paid a 10.4% premium.

This dramatic swing from a $276,927 premium in Q1 to a $157,503 discount in Q4 suggests that investor purchasing is highly opportunistic and concentrated on specific types of properties or distress sales that are not representative of the broader market.

The Q4 discount of 47.3% follows a Q3 discount of 54.3%, indicating a trend of deep price advantages for investors in the second half of the year, possibly due to seasonality or shifts in available inventory.

Given the low transaction volumes, these quarterly price averages are susceptible to significant fluctuations based on the specific mix of properties sold. However, the data clearly shows investors are not competing in the same price bracket as typical homeowners in the latter part of the year.

Investors played a significant role in the Q4 2025 housing market, purchasing 7 of the 28 total SFRs sold, capturing a 25.0% market share of all transactions.

The entirety of this purchasing activity was driven by the smallest investors. Mom-and-pop landlords (1-10 properties) accounted for 100.0% of all landlord acquisitions, with no properties purchased by mid-size or institutional investors.

Activity was exclusively concentrated in the entry-level tier, with all 7 properties being acquired by single-property landlords. This signals a healthy influx of new participants into the local rental market.

In total, 8 distinct entities made up this single-property buying cohort, indicating the entry of 8 new landlords into the Clearwater County market in just one quarter.

The complete absence of purchases from institutional investors (Tier 09) underscores that the local investment landscape is driven by small, local capital, not large-scale corporate funds.

The investor ownership structure in Clearwater County is defined by the absolute dominance of small-scale operators. Mom-and-pop landlords, owning between 1 and 10 properties, control 99.2% of the entire investor-owned SFR market.

The foundation of this market is the single-property landlord. This group (Tier 01) alone owns 501 properties, which represents a staggering 75.6% of all investor-held housing in the county.

As portfolio sizes increase, ownership drops off precipitously. Two-property landlords hold 8.3% of the market, while those with 3-5 properties hold 9.0%. Combined, landlords with 1-5 properties control 92.9% of the rental stock.

There is virtually no presence of larger investors. The tiers for 11-50 properties combined represent only 0.6% of ownership, and there are no landlords with portfolios exceeding 100 properties.

Notably, there is zero presence of institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) in Clearwater County. This definitively shows that the narrative of large corporations buying up local housing does not apply here; the market is exclusively shaped by small, local investors.

Unlike larger markets, there is no crossover point in Clearwater County where companies become the dominant owner type. Individual investors maintain a strong majority across all portfolio sizes.

In the most foundational tier of single-property landlords, individuals own 457 properties (87.2%) compared to just 67 (12.8%) owned by companies. This highlights that the entry point for local real estate investment is overwhelmingly personal.

Even as portfolios grow, individuals retain control. In the two-property tier, individuals own 82.5% of properties, and in the 3-5 property tier, they own 83.3%.

The highest concentration of company ownership is found in the 6-10 property tier, but even there, they only account for 14 properties (33.3%), while individuals hold the remaining 28 properties (66.7%).

This data clearly illustrates that the growth path for real estate investment in this county, from one property to ten, remains primarily an individual-led endeavor rather than a corporate one.

Investor ownership in Clearwater County is highly concentrated geographically, with the 83544 zip code serving as the primary hub. This single area contains 351 investor-owned properties, representing 19.9% of its local SFR stock.

While 83544 leads in sheer volume, the highest rate of investor penetration is in the 83827 zip code. In this area, investors own 48 properties, accounting for a remarkable 40.7% of all single-family homes.

Several other zip codes also show significant investor presence. The 83546 area has the second-highest ownership rate at 29.4% (88 properties), and 83541 has a rate of 26.0% (59 properties).

This reveals a key pattern: the areas with the most investor properties are not always the same as those with the highest percentage of investor ownership. This suggests different investment strategies are at play across the county's micro-markets.

The top five areas by ownership rate all exceed 20%, indicating that investor activity is not just widespread but deeply embedded in the housing fabric of specific communities within Clearwater County.

Investors in Clearwater County are clearly in an accumulation phase, consistently buying far more properties than they sell. In 2025, they purchased 52 properties while only selling 4, resulting in a buy-to-sell ratio of 13-to-1.

This pattern of net acquisition was even stronger in Q4 2025, where landlords bought 9 SFR properties and sold only 1, demonstrating continued confidence in the local market heading into the new year.

The trend of strong net buying extends back through previous periods. In 2024, investors acquired a net of 58 properties (62 buys vs. 4 sells), and over the first two quarters of 2025, they had already accumulated a net of 31 properties before the second half of the year.

There is no recorded transaction activity for institutional (1000+ tier) investors, meaning this aggressive accumulation is entirely driven by small and mid-sized local landlords.

The consistent, high-volume net buying activity across multiple years indicates a long-term strategic commitment by local investors to expand their rental portfolios within Clearwater County.

Landlords accounted for one-fifth of all real estate activity in Q4, participating in 9 of the 45 total SFR transactions for a 20.0% market share.

The entirety of this landlord activity was driven by new market entrants. All 9 transactions were conducted by investors in the single-property tier, demonstrating a flow of new capital into the rental market.

These new investors paid an average price of $175,764, reinforcing the finding that landlords in Q4 were acquiring properties at a significantly lower price point than typical homeowners.

A key finding from Q4 is the source of these properties: none of the 9 investor purchases were from other landlords. This 0% inter-landlord transaction rate means that new investors are exclusively adding to the overall rental housing supply by purchasing from the homeowner market, rather than just trading assets among themselves.

The absence of transactions in any tier larger than a single property further solidifies the conclusion that Q4 market dynamics were entirely shaped by the creation of new, small-scale landlord portfolios.