Livingston (IL) Investor Pulse Report (2025-Q4)

Investors hold 1,278 single-family residential properties in Livingston County, accounting for 11.4% of the 11,212 total SFRs in the market.

The ownership structure is heavily skewed towards private individuals over corporations. Individual landlords own 1,127 properties, representing an 88.2% majority, while companies own the remaining 164 properties (12.8%).

This individual dominance is also reflected in the entity count, where 1,076 of the 1,196 landlords (89.9%) are individuals, reinforcing the 'mom-and-pop' nature of the local rental market.

A striking financial characteristic of this portfolio is the low reliance on debt. A total of 1,096 properties (85.8%) are owned outright with cash, compared to just 182 properties (14.2%) that are financed.

The portfolio is clearly investment-focused, with 1,183 properties classified as rented, which constitutes 92.6% of all investor-owned homes in the county.

In Q4 2025, landlords purchased properties at an average price of $151,893, which is 5.2% less than the $160,292 paid by traditional homeowners. This represents a savings of $8,399 per home.

This pricing advantage for landlords has significantly compressed over the past year. The 5.2% Q4 discount is a sharp reduction from the massive discounts observed earlier in 2025, which were 28.6% in Q3, 34.4% in Q2, and an extraordinary 66.7% in Q1.

This trend suggests a tightening market where the price gap between investor and homeowner purchases is closing, potentially indicating increased competition for available housing stock.

Reflecting broader market trends, acquisition prices have shown dramatic appreciation. The average Q4 2025 price of $151,893 is more than double the average price of $73,528 that landlords paid during the 2020-2023 period.

Despite the tightening discount, landlords have consistently paid less than homeowners every quarter in 2025, demonstrating an ongoing ability to acquire properties below the typical market rate.

Investor activity accounted for 16.4% of the market in Q4 2025, with landlords purchasing 10 of the 61 total SFR properties sold in Livingston County.

The entirety of this purchasing activity was driven by small-scale 'mom-and-pop' landlords. Investors in Tiers 01-04 (1-10 properties) made 100% of the landlord acquisitions, highlighting the grassroots nature of market growth.

Institutional investors (1,000+ properties) were completely inactive, making zero purchases in the county during the fourth quarter.

The market continues to attract new entrants, as 9 new single-property landlords made their first investment, collectively purchasing 6 homes. This group represented 50% of all properties bought by investors in Q4.

Landlords in the small (3-5 properties) tier were also active, with 6 entities purchasing 5 properties, making up 41.7% of investor acquisitions for the quarter.

The investor landscape in Livingston County is unequivocally dominated by small-scale operators. 'Mom-and-pop' landlords, defined as those owning 1-10 properties (Tiers 01-04), control a massive 94.8% of all investor-owned SFRs.

In stark contrast, institutional investors (Tier 09, 1,000+ properties) have a minimal presence, owning just 3 properties, which amounts to only 0.2% of the investor portfolio in the county.

The single-property landlord tier is the bedrock of the market. This group alone accounts for 730 properties, representing 53.9% of all investor-held homes, demonstrating that first-time and small investors are the primary providers of rental housing.

Mid-size landlords (11-1,000 properties) also constitute a small fraction of the market, collectively owning just 67 properties or 5.0% of the investor portfolio.

This distribution reveals a highly fragmented market structure, far from the narrative of corporate consolidation, with ownership spread across a large number of small, local investors.

A distinct crossover point exists where company ownership surpasses individual ownership in Livingston County. Individuals are the majority owners across all smaller portfolio tiers, but companies assume control in the 21-50 property tier, owning 30 of 31 properties (96.8%).

Individual investors form the backbone of the small-portfolio market. They own 90.0% of single-property landlord homes (663 properties) and 89.8% of homes in the 6-10 property tier (114 properties).

Even as portfolio sizes grow, individuals maintain a strong presence. In the 11-20 property tier, individuals still own 97.0% of the properties, indicating that private investors, not just small LLCs, scale up their holdings.

Company ownership is most concentrated at the smaller end in the two-property tier, where they hold a 15.3% share (17 properties), suggesting a common structure for investors beginning to formalize their holdings.

This pattern illustrates a clear lifecycle: the market is entered by individuals, who dominate ownership up to 20 properties, after which a more corporate structure becomes the standard for managing larger portfolios.

Geographic analysis shows that investor ownership in Livingston County is heavily concentrated in specific areas. The 60420 zip code, which includes Dwight, is the primary hub with 157 investor-owned SFR properties.

While 60420 leads by sheer volume, the 60921 zip code (Chatsworth) exhibits the highest rate of investor ownership among areas with available data. In this zip code, 17.0% of all single-family homes are investor-owned, well above the county average of 11.4%.

The second-largest concentration of investor properties is in 60921, which holds 88 investor-owned homes, making it a significant secondary node of activity.

This data highlights a pattern where investor activity is not evenly distributed but clustered in key towns and communities within the county.

A complete county-wide comparison is limited, as ownership data for several zip codes, including 60470, 60946, and 60952, was unavailable for this report.

A full analysis of historical transaction trends for Livingston County could not be completed, as the dataset for this section was not provided.

Consequently, key performance indicators such as the long-term buy/sell ratio for all landlords cannot be calculated. This prevents a definitive conclusion on whether investors have been historically accumulating or divesting properties.

Similarly, data on institutional investor (1,000+ property tier) transactions is unavailable, making it impossible to assess their specific market behavior over time.

Insights into market liquidity, such as the percentage of transactions that occur between landlords, could not be generated.

Analysis of historical profit margins, typically derived by comparing average buy and sell prices over time, is also not possible with the available data.

In Q4 2025, landlords participated in 16 of the 87 total SFR transactions, capturing an 18.4% share of all market activity in Livingston County.

A distinct pricing pattern emerged among different investor tiers. The newest entrants, single-property landlords, paid the highest average purchase price at $190,143 across 9 transactions.

In contrast, more established small landlords in the 3-5 property tier paid considerably less, averaging $120,917 per property, suggesting they may be more experienced at identifying value or are targeting different types of assets.

The two-property tier investors paid the least, with a single transaction recorded at $70,000.

The market for investor-to-investor sales was non-existent this quarter. One hundred percent of landlord acquisitions came from the open market or non-investor sellers, with 0% of transactions being deals between landlords.