Beltrami (MN) Investor Pulse Report (2025-Q4)

Landlords in Beltrami County collectively own 2,422 Single Family Residential properties, representing a significant 21.3% of the total SFR market in the area (11,387 properties). This demonstrates a substantial investor presence within the local housing landscape.

Individual investors form the backbone of the landlord market, owning 1,987 properties which accounts for 82.0% of the total investor-owned SFR portfolio. In contrast, company-owned properties number 529, representing 21.8% of the portfolio, highlighting a clear dominance by smaller, individual-led operations.

The investor market is primarily focused on rental income, with 2,386 properties, or 98.5% of landlord-owned SFR, classified as rented. This high proportion underscores the area's role as a robust rental market for investors.

Financial structures within the landlord portfolio reveal a strong preference for cash acquisitions; 1,561 properties (64.5% of the portfolio) were bought with cash, while 861 properties (35.5%) are financed. This indicates a significant number of landlords operating with substantial capital or seeking to avoid debt.

The sheer volume of individual landlords, totaling 2,577 distinct entities, vastly outnumbers the 310 company landlords, resulting in an 8.31-to-1 ratio. This entity distribution reinforces that the 'mom-and-pop' model is overwhelmingly prevalent in Beltrami County's rental housing market.

While individuals dominate overall, the property type composition shows that nearly all investor-owned properties, regardless of owner type, are oriented towards rental; the high 'Rented' percentage likely reflects both individual and company portfolio strategies.

In a notable shift, landlords in Beltrami County paid an average of $361,787 for SFR properties in Q4 2025, which was a significant $69,119 premium, or 23.6% more, than traditional homeowners who paid $292,668. This marks an unusual trend where landlords are outbidding owner-occupants.

The Q4 premium represents a reversal of recent trends, as landlords consistently secured discounts in earlier quarters of 2025. In Q3, landlords paid $297,619, a 13.3% discount ($45,475) compared to homeowners at $343,094, while in Q1, they achieved an impressive 38.7% discount ($114,877) at $182,255 versus homeowner prices of $297,132.

Despite the Q4 premium, overall landlord acquisition prices show a strong upward trend since the pandemic. The average landlord price in Q4 2025 ($361,787) is 63.6% higher than the average price during the 2020-2023 period ($221,124), indicating substantial appreciation in investor-acquired properties.

Year-over-year acquisition prices for landlords remain relatively stable, with the average price in Year 2025 at $290,320 compared to $300,664 in Year 2024. This suggests a consistent market valuation for landlord purchases across annual periods, even with quarterly fluctuations.

The number of distinct properties acquired by landlords in the current quarter and year is reported as zero in the acquisition timeframes data (section6-1.csv), yet prices are available in section6-2. This indicates that the reported average prices reflect transactions involving landlord-owned properties, even if no new properties were added to landlord portfolios in 2025 from that specific data source.

In Q4 2025, landlords in Beltrami County were significant players, acquiring 30 of the 132 total SFR properties sold. This means landlords accounted for 22.7% of all SFR purchases in the quarter, signaling active investor engagement in the local housing market.

The Q4 purchasing activity was exclusively dominated by mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04), who together accounted for 31 properties, representing 100.0% of all landlord acquisitions. This completely eclipses institutional investors (Tier 09), who made zero purchases in the quarter.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) were particularly active, purchasing 28 properties, which alone makes up 90.3% of all landlord-acquired SFRs in Q4. This highlights a robust entry or expansion by smaller-scale investors into the rental market.

A total of 44 entities, likely single-property landlords, were involved in these Tier 01 purchases, demonstrating that many individual investors are making their first or second foray into the rental property market. This indicates a broad base of small investor activity.

Other mom-and-pop tiers contributed marginally to Q4 purchases, with two-property landlords (Tier 02) acquiring 1 property via 2 entities, and small landlords (Tier 03-05) purchasing 2 properties through 3 entities. These figures further cement the dominance of smaller investors in current acquisition trends.

The concentration of Q4 activity is overwhelmingly in Tier 01, which represents the largest segment of both properties purchased (90.3%) and entities involved in buying. This trend indicates that the market is predominantly being shaped by individual property additions rather than large-scale portfolio expansions.

Mom-and-pop landlords, defined as those owning 1-10 properties (Tiers 01-04), overwhelmingly dominate the investor-owned SFR market in Beltrami County. They control 2,394 properties, which represents a substantial 96.4% of the total 2,483 investor-owned SFR properties.

The backbone of this market is the single-property landlord (Tier 01), who collectively own 1,813 properties, accounting for a massive 73.0% of all investor-owned SFRs. This concentration signifies that individual, small-scale investors are the primary drivers and holders in the local rental housing market.

In stark contrast to the media narrative, institutional investors (Tier 09), those owning 1000+ properties, hold a minimal share, possessing just 4 properties, which translates to a mere 0.2% of the investor-owned portfolio in Beltrami County.

Other small landlord tiers contribute to the overall mom-and-pop dominance: two-property landlords (Tier 02) own 172 properties (6.9%), small landlords (Tier 03-05) hold 333 properties (13.4%), and those with 6-10 properties (Tier 04) own 76 properties (3.1%).

The mid-size landlord segments (Tiers 05-08) collectively account for a small portion of the market, with 74 properties (3.0%) in the 11-20 properties tier and 11 properties (0.4%) in the 21-50 properties tier. This further underscores the market's heavy reliance on smaller portfolio owners.

Data for acquisition prices by tier is not available for Beltrami County, preventing an analysis of whether larger investors pay more or less than smaller landlords in this specific market.

While individual investors form the vast majority of landlords in Beltrami County, companies begin to dominate at specific portfolio sizes. The crossover point where companies become the majority owners occurs within the small landlord segment, specifically at the 6-10 property tier (Tier 04).

In portfolios ranging from 6-10 properties, company ownership becomes significantly concentrated, controlling 68 properties (82.9%) compared to individuals who own just 14 properties (17.1%) in this tier. This signals a shift in ownership structure as portfolio size increases.

Conversely, individual investors overwhelmingly dominate the smaller tiers, representing 89.9% (1,674 properties) of single-property portfolios (Tier 01) and 72.4% (131 properties) of two-property portfolios (Tier 02). This highlights the foundational role of individual 'mom-and-pop' landlords in the county's rental market.

Even in the 3-5 property tier (Tier 03), individual investors maintain a strong majority, owning 222 properties (62.2%) compared to 135 properties (37.8%) held by companies. This pattern emphasizes that individual ownership is prevalent across most small portfolio sizes.

The highest concentration of individual ownership is found in the single-property tier (Tier 01) at 89.9%, while the highest concentration for company ownership is in the 6-10 properties tier (Tier 04) at 82.9%. This clear distinction outlines different investment strategies and scales for each owner type.

Acquisition price data split by owner type and tier is not available for Beltrami County, precluding an analysis of price differences between individual and company buyers within specific portfolio sizes.

Within Beltrami County, the zip code MN-Beltrami-56601 is the epicenter of investor-owned properties, boasting 1,850 such SFRs. Despite this high count, its investor ownership rate of 19.7% places it outside the top five for percentage concentration, revealing a larger market overall with significant, but not majority, investor activity.

In contrast, MN-Beltrami-56650 exhibits the highest concentration of investor ownership by percentage, with 54.1% of its SFR properties being investor-owned. This zip code also ranks third by property count with 105 units, indicating a market where investors hold a substantial majority.

Another zip code, MN-Beltrami-56685, also shows a remarkably high investor ownership rate of 51.2%, signifying that over half of the SFR properties in this area are held by landlords. However, its property count data is not provided, making direct comparison difficult.

MN-Beltrami-56630 demonstrates both a high property count of 213 investor-owned SFRs and a strong ownership rate of 40.0%. This dual high ranking suggests a particularly active and dense market for investors, where a large portion of available housing is managed by landlords.

The top regions by count and percentage are not always the same, indicating diverse market dynamics. While 56601 has the most investor properties, 56650 and 56685 show where investors make up a larger proportion of the local housing stock. This suggests varying levels of market penetration across the county's zip codes.

Specific total SFR inventory and landlord entity counts for these sub-geographies were not provided in the dataset, limiting a deeper analysis of market density and landlord presence beyond the investor-owned property counts and percentages.

Acquisition price data was not available for these specific geographic regions, preventing an analysis of how landlord acquisition costs vary across different zip codes within Beltrami County.

Landlords in Beltrami County are robust net buyers, particularly in Q4 2025, where they purchased 50 properties while selling only 8. This results in a strong buy-to-sell ratio of 6.25x, indicating a clear strategy of accumulation within the market.

This pattern of net buying has been consistent throughout 2025; landlords acquired a total of 203 properties while selling 36, maintaining a significant net acquisition of 167 properties. This demonstrates sustained confidence and investment in the rental market over the year.

The buy-to-sell ratio for all landlords fluctuated quarterly, peaking at 7.67x in Q3 (69 buys vs 9 sells) before moderating to 6.25x in Q4. However, it significantly improved from Q2's 3.92x (47 buys vs 12 sells), suggesting increased buying intensity towards the latter half of the year.

Institutional investors (1000+ tier) show very limited transaction activity in Beltrami County. While they were net buyers for the entire year 2025 (3 buys vs 2 sells), their Q3 activity was neutral (1 buy, 1 sell), and Q4 saw no recorded transactions for this segment. This indicates institutions are not actively expanding or divesting in this specific county.

The absence of data on inter-landlord transaction percentages and average buy/sell prices for all landlords prevents a detailed analysis of market liquidity among investors and implied profit margins on sales. Such data would further illuminate landlord strategies.

Comparing year-over-year trends, landlords maintained a strong net buying position with 203 properties bought in 2025 versus 306 in 2024, showing that while buying volume decreased slightly, the overall market direction for landlords remains acquisition-focused.

In Q4 2025, landlords were involved in a significant portion of the housing market, accounting for 50 of the 215 total SFR transactions in Beltrami County. This represents a 23.3% share of all property trades, highlighting their active role in shaping market dynamics.

All landlord transactions in Q4 were carried out by mom-and-pop investors (Tiers 01-04), totaling 50 transactions, while institutional investors (Tier 09) showed no transaction activity. This further reinforces the dominance of smaller-scale landlords in the county's real estate market.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) were overwhelmingly the most active, responsible for 45 transactions in Q4 at an average purchase price of $360,124. This activity level is significantly higher than their overall ownership share, indicating an accelerated pace of buying within this tier during the quarter.

Inter-landlord trading was minimal; only 3 of the 45 Tier 01 transactions (6.7%) involved purchasing from another landlord. This low percentage suggests that most landlord acquisitions are from non-investor sellers, potentially indicating a broader market sourcing strategy or a preference for properties coming from traditional homeowners.

Other mom-and-pop tiers had very limited transaction volumes in Q4: two-property landlords (Tier 02) completed 2 transactions at an average price of $315,000, and small landlords (Tier 03-05) had 3 transactions with unstated average pricing. None of these transactions were sourced from other landlords.

The price spread between the highest and lowest active tiers was $45,124, with Tier 01 paying $360,124 and Tier 02 paying $315,000. This suggests that smaller portfolio buyers might be targeting different segments of the market or have varying pricing strategies.

Comparing Q4 transaction activity to overall ownership distribution (from Section 8), Tier 01 shows a higher proportion of Q4 transactions (90% of landlord transactions) compared to its 73.0% share of total investor-owned properties, signaling increased buying activity from this segment.