Cooper (MO) Investor Pulse Report (2025-Q4)

Landlords in Cooper (MO) collectively own 1,012 Single Family Residential (SFR) properties, representing 23.9% of the total 4,229 SFR properties in the market. This indicates a substantial presence of rental housing within the county.

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate the landlord landscape, holding 704 properties, or 69.6% of the investor-owned SFR. In contrast, company-owned properties account for 324 (32.0%), challenging any notion of corporate saturation.

The majority of landlord-owned properties are utilized for rental purposes, with 994 identified as rented. This highlights the focus on generating rental income from these investments.

A significant portion of landlord holdings, 815 properties, were acquired with cash, suggesting a strong financial position among investors and potentially lower operating overheads compared to the 197 financed properties.

The individual landlord segment is considerably larger by entity count, with 908 individuals compared to just 151 companies. This ratio of 6.01 individual landlords for every company landlord reinforces the mom-and-pop character of the market.

In Q4 2025, despite zero recorded landlord acquisitions in the acquisition pricing dataset, landlords would have theoretically acquired properties at an average price of $118,878. This represents a substantial $169,737 discount, or 58.8% less, than the $288,615 paid by traditional homeowners in Cooper (MO).

The landlord pricing advantage in Cooper (MO) has shown significant fluctuations across 2025. While Q4 saw a deep discount, Q2 2025 presented a contrasting scenario where landlords hypothetically faced a $114,840 premium (39.3% more) at $406,684 compared to homeowners at $291,844, indicating a dynamic market.

Over the full year 2025, the average hypothetical landlord acquisition price stood at $228,538. This is marginally lower than the 2024 average of $230,602, suggesting a slight stabilization or softening in average acquisition costs for landlords year-over-year, despite zero actual acquisitions in both years from this dataset.

The absence of recorded landlord acquisitions in the `section6-1.csv` for all of 2024 and 2025 (0 properties purchased each quarter) is a critical finding, implying a period of low or no direct buying activity captured in this specific data segment. This makes the price comparisons in `section6-2.csv` largely theoretical for these periods.

During the pandemic-era (2020-2023), the hypothetical average acquisition price for landlords was $157,500. This indicates a significant increase to the 2025 average of $228,538, demonstrating an implied market value appreciation of over 45% for landlord-type properties in Cooper (MO) since the pandemic, even without new direct landlord purchases captured.

Landlords in Cooper (MO) were responsible for a significant portion of Q4 2025 SFR purchase activity, acquiring 16 properties out of a total of 54, which translates to a 29.6% market share of all SFR purchases for the quarter.

The market in Q4 2025 was overwhelmingly driven by smaller investors, with mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) making 12 purchases, representing 70.6% of all landlord acquisitions. This underscores the fragmented and individual-investor led nature of the local market.

The single-property landlord tier (Tier 01) was the most active in terms of entities, with 8 new entities making purchases. These entities acquired 6 properties, indicating a strong influx of new, small-scale investors into the market.

Institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) showed no purchasing activity in Q4 2025, accounting for 0.0% of landlord purchases. This reaffirms their minimal or non-existent presence in Cooper (MO)'s current acquisition landscape.

Small to medium-sized landlords (Tiers 11-20 and 51-100) also contributed to Q4 activity, acquiring 4 and 1 property respectively. This indicates a diverse range of smaller investor sizes making acquisitions, beyond just the single-property tier.

Mom-and-pop landlords, defined as those owning 1-10 properties (Tiers 01-04), collectively control a dominant 88.0% of all investor-owned SFR properties in Cooper (MO). This represents 926 properties out of 1,053 properties across the tiers provided in this section, highlighting their foundational role in the local rental market.

The single-property landlord tier (Tier 01) alone accounts for 64.0% of all investor-owned SFR, with 673 properties. This concentration confirms that first-time and small-scale landlords form the backbone of the investor market in Cooper (MO).

Mid-size landlords (Tiers 05-08, 11-1000 properties) hold a smaller but still significant share, with Tier 21-50 being the largest within this segment, owning 105 properties or 10.0% of the total. This suggests a few larger local players, but not large institutions.

Institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) have no recorded ownership in Cooper (MO), holding 0.0% of the investor-owned SFR. This stands in stark contrast to national narratives and confirms that the large institutional investment trend has not penetrated this county.

The distribution reveals a deeply fragmented market where a wide base of small investors, rather than a few large corporations, dictates the ownership landscape in Cooper (MO).

The crossover point where company ownership surpasses individual ownership in Cooper (MO) occurs within the 6-10 property tier (Tier 06-10). In this tier, companies own 43 properties (71.7%), significantly outweighing the 17 properties (28.3%) held by individuals.

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate the smallest portfolios, accounting for 585 properties (85.7%) in the single-property tier (Tier 01). This confirms the individual homeowner-turned-landlord as the primary entry point into the market.

As portfolio size increases, the presence of companies grows. For instance, in the 2-property tier (Tier 02), companies hold 30 properties (33.7%), and in the 3-5 property tier (Tier 03-05), they hold 30 properties (27.5%), demonstrating their increasing involvement in slightly larger portfolios.

Even in larger mid-size tiers like 51-100 properties (Tier 51-100), ownership is evenly split, with individuals and companies each owning 2 properties (50.0%). This suggests that both owner types can scale to a certain extent within the county.

The complete absence of institutional investors (Tier 09) for both individual and company types reinforces the local and smaller-scale nature of the investment market in Cooper (MO), with no large-scale corporate or individual entities holding over 1000 properties.

Within Cooper (MO), the zip code MO-Cooper-65233 exhibits the highest concentration of investor-owned properties, totaling 645. This represents 20.4% of the SFR housing in that area, marking it as a key hub for landlord activity by volume.

While 65233 leads by count, MO-Cooper-65347 stands out with the highest investor ownership rate, where a substantial 76.5% of SFR properties are investor-owned. This indicates an extremely high penetration of investment properties relative to total housing stock in this specific zip code.

The top three zip codes by investor-owned property count – 65233 (645 properties), 65276 (103 properties), and 65237 (53 properties) – collectively represent a significant portion of the county's investor-held real estate. This reveals specific geographic areas of interest for landlords within Cooper (MO).

There's a notable difference between regions leading by property count and those leading by ownership percentage. For example, 65347 has a very high rate (76.5%) but might not have the sheer volume of properties as 65233, indicating diverse market dynamics across the county's zip codes.

Average acquisition prices and total SFR inventory data for specific zip codes were not provided, limiting a deeper analysis into price variations and overall market size at this granular geographic level within Cooper (MO).

Landlords in Cooper (MO) have consistently been net buyers throughout 2024 and 2025, signaling a period of significant portfolio expansion. In 2025 alone, they conducted 99 buy transactions against 33 sell transactions, resulting in a robust 3.0x buy-to-sell ratio.

The trend of net buying is evident across all analyzed quarters of 2025. Landlords added 5 properties in Q4 (19 buys vs 14 sells), 18 in Q3 (28 buys vs 10 sells), and a remarkable 27 properties in Q2 (30 buys vs 3 sells), indicating strong confidence and investment in the market.

Comparing 2025 to 2024, landlord buying activity has moderately increased, from 79 buy transactions in 2024 to 99 in 2025. This shows a steady, if not accelerating, pace of acquisitions by landlords in the county.

Institutional investors (1000+ tier) show absolutely no recorded buy or sell transaction activity across any timeframe. This conclusively demonstrates their lack of direct transactional presence in the Cooper (MO) SFR market.

The consistent net buying indicates a growing investor footprint in Cooper (MO), with more properties entering landlord portfolios than exiting, contributing to an increasing stock of rental housing over time.

Landlords were active participants in Cooper (MO)'s Q4 2025 market, accounting for 19 out of 80 total SFR transactions, which represents a 23.8% share of all market activity for the quarter. This highlights their ongoing influence in the local real estate landscape.

Small-scale landlords, specifically those in the single-property tier (Tier 01), were the most active, conducting 8 transactions. These properties were purchased at an average price of $239,400, reflecting the pricing landscape for entry-level investment properties.

Larger mom-and-pop and small-medium tiers (Tiers 03-05, 06-10, 11-20, and 51-100) collectively made 11 transactions. Notably, the average purchase price significantly decreased with larger tiers, with Tier 11-20 averaging $63,990 and Tier 51-100 averaging $42,500, indicating potential for bulk discounts or distressed asset acquisitions by more experienced investors.

Inter-landlord trading was particularly prominent among larger tiers. Landlords in Tier 11-20 and Tier 51-100 exclusively bought from other landlords (100% of their transactions). Even Tier 03-05 showed significant inter-landlord buying at 50.0%, suggesting a robust internal market for investor-held properties.

Institutional investors (Tier 09) showed no transaction activity in Q4 2025, reinforcing the finding that larger corporate entities are not playing a role in this county's immediate transaction volume.