Marion (KS) Investor Pulse Report (2025-Q4)

Investors hold a significant footprint in Marion County, owning 999 single-family residential properties, which constitutes 28.5% of the total 3,503 SFRs in the market.

The market is overwhelmingly dominated by individual investors, who own 866 properties, making up 86.7% of the investor-owned portfolio. Company-owned properties account for the remaining 14.0%, or 140 homes.

A striking financial characteristic of this market is the complete absence of financing; all 999 investor-owned properties are held as cash assets. This suggests a fiscally conservative or debt-averse investor base.

The portfolio is heavily utilized for rental purposes, with 977 properties classified as rented. This high rental penetration underscores the primary strategy of local investors as income-generating landlords.

By entity count, the dominance of small-scale landlords is even more pronounced. There are 1,074 individual landlords compared to just 108 company landlords, a ratio of nearly 10 to 1.

The real estate market in Marion County, KS, experienced a complete lack of sales activity in Q4 2025, with zero purchases recorded for either landlords or traditional homeowners. This market paralysis makes any current price analysis or comparison impossible.

The absence of transactions prevents the calculation of the typical price gap often seen between landlords and homeowners, a key metric for understanding investor acquisition strategy.

No quarter-over-quarter price trend can be established due to the lack of sales data across all recent timeframes.

Historical data lists an average acquisition price of $77,599 for landlords during the 2020-2023 period, but this figure is based on zero recorded properties, indicating it is a placeholder and not reflective of actual market activity.

The lack of sales data points to extreme illiquidity in the Marion County market during the last quarter, a significant finding for any potential buyers or sellers.

The investor acquisition market in Marion County came to a complete standstill in Q4 2025, with landlords purchasing zero of the zero total SFRs sold during the period. This represents a 0.0% market share and signals a total pause in new investment.

This lack of activity was universal across all investor sizes. Mom-and-pop landlords (1-10 properties) acquired zero properties, mirroring the inactivity of larger investors.

Institutional investors (1,000+ properties) also recorded zero purchases, though their presence in the county's overall holdings is already nil.

Reflecting the broader market freeze, there was no entry of new landlords into the market, as the single-property (Tier 01) category saw zero new entities making purchases.

The data indicates a period of extreme market inactivity, where neither new nor existing investors expanded their portfolios in Marion County during Q4 2025.

The investor landscape in Marion County is defined by small-scale owners, with mom-and-pop landlords (owning 1-10 properties) controlling a commanding 96.4% of all investor-owned SFRs.

Single-property landlords are the single largest group, holding 744 properties, which represents 72.2% of the entire investor portfolio. This highlights the highly fragmented and localized nature of rental ownership.

Mid-size landlords (11-1,000 properties) have a very small footprint, owning a combined 3.6% of the portfolio, while institutional investors with over 1,000 properties have no presence at all (0.0%).

The ownership distribution is heavily skewed towards the smallest tiers, with landlords owning 1-5 properties controlling a combined 92.2% of the inventory (72.2% for Tier 1, 8.3% for Tier 2, and 11.7% for Tier 3-5).

Due to the complete lack of recent transactions, no analysis of acquisition prices by tier is possible, but the ownership structure clearly shows a market operating without the influence of large-scale investors.

Individual investors are the dominant ownership type across the entire spectrum of portfolio sizes in Marion County. In the largest single-property tier, individuals own 672 of the 744 homes (90.2%).

Unlike in many other markets, there is no crossover point where corporate ownership becomes the majority. Even among the largest landlords in the county (the 21-50 property tier), individuals own 71.4% of the properties.

Company ownership, while present, remains a minority stake in every tier. Their highest level of penetration is in the 3-5 property tier, where they own 34 properties, representing a 28.3% share.

This persistent dominance by individuals, even as portfolio sizes increase, suggests that local rental housing growth is driven by successful local investors scaling up personally rather than by the entry of larger corporate entities.

In the two-property tier, individuals own 70 properties (82.4%), while companies own 15 (17.6%), reinforcing the trend of individual control from the earliest stages of portfolio building.

Investor ownership in Marion County shows significant geographic concentration. The zip code 67053 stands out with an exceptionally high investor ownership rate of 72.0%, indicating that nearly three out of every four SFRs there are investor-owned.

While 67053 leads by rate, the zip code 66861 holds the highest absolute number of investor properties at 246, followed closely by 67063 with 221 properties.

There are several pockets of high investor penetration. Five zip codes in the county have ownership rates above 30%: 67053 (72.0%), 66859 (59.3%), 66840 (48.5%), 66858 (46.7%), and 67073 (33.8%).

This pattern reveals that while investor presence is significant county-wide (28.5%), their strategy involves deep saturation in very specific communities rather than a uniform distribution.

The top five zip codes by property count alone (66861, 67063, 66866, 67053, and 66851) collectively account for 790 of the 999 investor-owned properties, representing 79.1% of the entire investor portfolio.

A complete lack of historical transaction data for Marion County makes it impossible to analyze long-term investor behavior. There is no information available on buy or sell volumes across different timeframes.

Consequently, the net position of landlords—whether they have been accumulating or divesting properties over time—cannot be determined. The buy/sell ratio, a key indicator of market sentiment, is unknown.

Analysis of inter-landlord trading is also not possible. The data does not show what percentage of transactions occur between investors, which would otherwise provide insight into market maturity and liquidity.

It is not possible to compare average buy prices to average sell prices over time. This prevents any analysis of potential appreciation or the typical profit margins investors might realize upon selling a property.

Similarly, the transaction patterns for institutional investors cannot be assessed, although their absence in the county's holdings suggests their historical transaction activity would be zero.

In Q4 2025, landlord-involved transactions represented 0.0% of the market, as the total number of transactions in Marion County was zero. This indicates a complete halt in market activity.

Transaction volume was zero across all investor tiers. From single-property owners to the largest landlords in the county, no one either bought or sold an SFR property during the quarter.

Consequently, the average purchase price for all tiers was $0. This lack of pricing data underscores the severity of the market's inactivity.

Inter-landlord trading activity was non-existent. The percentage of properties bought from other landlords was 0%, as no acquisitions of any kind occurred.

The transactional inactivity in Q4 stands in stark contrast to the significant existing holdings of investors, suggesting a potential disconnect between long-term holding strategies and the current market's lack of liquidity.