Elliott (KY) Investor Pulse Report (2025-Q4)

Investors hold a substantial 35.5% of the single-family residential market in Elliott County, with a total of 145 properties under their control out of 409 total SFRs.

The investor landscape is overwhelmingly dominated by individuals, who own 141 of the 145 properties (97.2%). This leaves a minimal footprint for corporate investors, who own just 6 properties (4.1%).

This individual dominance is also reflected in the landlord entity count, with 190 individual landlords compared to only 6 company landlords, demonstrating the deeply local, mom-and-pop nature of the rental market.

A striking financial characteristic of this market is the preference for cash ownership. A remarkable 88.3% of investor-owned homes (128 properties) are owned outright, while only 17 properties (11.7%) are financed, suggesting low leverage and high equity among local landlords.

The portfolio is entirely focused on rentals, as 100% of the 145 investor-owned properties are classified as non-owner-occupied.

Analysis of historical acquisition prices reveals significant appreciation in Elliott County. The average price paid by landlords jumped from $80,544 between 2020-2023 to $194,173 in 2024, a 141.1% increase.

Recent market activity has been too sparse to draw meaningful conclusions on pricing. There were zero landlord purchases recorded in Q4 2025, and data for Q3 2025 showed an average price of $84,000 based on zero properties purchased, indicating a lack of transactions.

A direct comparison between landlord and traditional homeowner prices is unavailable for recent quarters due to the low transaction volume and incomplete homeowner data for the periods.

The limited data for 2025 suggests a potential cooling of prices from the 2024 peak, with a year-to-date average of $57,750, though this is based on zero properties purchased and should be interpreted with caution.

Investor acquisition activity came to a complete standstill in Elliott County during Q4 2025. Of the 2 total SFR purchases in the market, none were made by landlords, resulting in a 0% market share for investors.

The lack of activity was universal across all investor sizes. Mom-and-pop landlords, who constitute the entirety of the local investor base, made zero purchases.

Similarly, institutional investors (Tier 09) remained absent from the market, recording zero purchases, consistent with their overall 0.0% ownership share in the county.

This halt in purchasing marks a significant slowdown compared to previous years where landlords were actively acquiring properties.

Consequently, no new landlords entered the market in Q4, and there was no purchasing activity to analyze by tier for the quarter.

The investor ownership structure in Elliott County is the definition of a mom-and-pop market, with 100% of the 145 investor-owned properties held by landlords in the 1-10 property tiers (Tiers 01-04).

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) form the backbone of the market, controlling a massive 91.8% share with 134 properties. This highlights a market composed primarily of small, first-time, or single-investment landlords.

The next largest tiers are minimal in comparison: two-property landlords hold 5 properties (3.4%), and small landlords with 3-5 properties hold 7 properties (4.8%).

There is absolutely no institutional investor (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) presence in Elliott County, underscoring its isolation from large-scale corporate real estate investment trends.

Due to the lack of recent purchasing activity, pricing analysis by tier is not available for Q4 2025.

Individual investors are the sole drivers of the Elliott County rental market, maintaining a vast majority across all existing portfolio tiers. Companies have a negligible presence, owning only 6 of the 145 investor properties.

In the largest tier of single-property landlords, individuals own 131 properties (96.3%) compared to just 5 for companies (3.7%).

The individual dominance is absolute in the two-property tier, where they own 100% of the 5 properties.

Even in the small 3-5 property tier, individuals own 6 of the 7 properties (85.7%), demonstrating that company ownership does not scale with portfolio size in this market.

Consequently, there is no 'crossover point' where companies overtake individuals. The market structure is firmly rooted in small-scale, personal ownership.

Investor activity in Elliott County shows significant geographic concentration, with certain zip codes having extremely high rates of landlord ownership. The top five zip codes all exhibit investor ownership rates above 34%.

The zip code 41180 stands out with the highest penetration rate, where 70.0% of its SFR properties are investor-owned. Other areas with high concentration include 41149 (57.9%) and 40351 (47.8%).

The largest volume of investor properties is located in the 41171 zip code, which contains 80 landlord-owned homes, translating to a 31.7% ownership rate in that area.

The zip code with the highest ownership rate (41180, 70.0%) and the one with the highest count (41171, 80 properties) are different, indicating that penetration is highest in smaller sub-markets.

This data points to a market where rental properties are a dominant feature of the housing landscape in specific local communities.

Historically, landlords in Elliott County have operated as strong net buyers, consistently adding more properties to their portfolios than they sell. In 2024, investors bought 11 properties and sold only 1.

This trend of accumulation continued into 2025, with landlords purchasing 5 properties and selling only 1, resulting in a net gain of 4 properties for the year.

Combining the last two years, investors have a buy-to-sell ratio of 8-to-1 (16 buys vs. 2 sells), signaling strong confidence in the local rental market and a focus on long-term holds.

All recorded historical transactions are attributable to mom-and-pop landlords, as institutional investors have no presence or transaction history in the county.

The data does not contain information on landlord-to-landlord transaction percentages.

In Q4 2025, landlords were completely inactive in the Elliott County transaction market. Out of 3 total SFR transactions, none involved a landlord as either a buyer or seller, resulting in a 0% landlord transaction share.

This inactivity was uniform across all investor tiers. Mom-and-pop investors (Tiers 01-04), who own 100% of the rental stock, made no purchases or sales.

Institutional investors (Tier 09) also recorded zero transactions, which is consistent with their lack of ownership in the county.

As there were no landlord purchases, the average purchase price for all tiers was $0, and there was no inter-landlord trading activity to analyze.

This Q4 freeze in investor activity contrasts with the historical trend of landlords being consistent net buyers in the region.