Calhoun (MS) Investor Pulse Report (2025-Q4)

Landlords in Calhoun County, Mississippi, control a significant portion of the housing market, owning 1,903 Single Family Residential (SFR) properties, which accounts for 41.4% of all SFR properties in the county.

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate the landlord landscape, holding 1,533 properties (80.6%) compared to companies owning 375 properties (19.7%). This highlights the prevalence of mom-and-pop operations in the local rental market.

The vast majority of investor-owned properties are utilized as rentals, with 1,885 properties designated as rented, closely aligning with the total investor-owned portfolio of 1,903 SFRs.

Regarding acquisition methods, 1,788 (93.9%) of landlord-owned properties were purchased with cash, while 115 (6.0%) were financed, indicating a strong preference for cash transactions among investors in the county.

At the entity level, individual landlords significantly outnumber company landlords, with 1,578 individual entities comprising 85.0% of all landlords, versus 278 company entities (15.0%). This further underscores the market's reliance on smaller-scale investors.

In Q4 2025, landlords demonstrated a significant pricing advantage in Calhoun County, acquiring properties at an average of $105,202—a substantial 53.2% less than traditional homeowners who paid $224,605, representing a $119,403 discount per property.

The pricing dynamics between landlords and homeowners have been markedly inconsistent throughout 2025, with landlords paying a 67.1% premium in Q2 ($292,695 vs $175,131), followed by discounts of 41.0% in Q3 and 53.2% in Q4. This extreme volatility suggests opportunistic buying rather than a consistent price advantage.

Landlord acquisition prices saw a notable increase year-over-year, with the average price for 2025 reaching $163,793, a 76.2% jump from the 2024 average of $92,974, signaling a rapidly appreciating market or shifting purchase strategies.

Comparing Q4 2025 to Q1 2025, the landlord discount expanded dramatically from 19.9% ($24,576) to 53.2% ($119,403), highlighting a widening gap and improved buying conditions for investors towards the end of the year.

Despite the overall trend of landlords securing discounts, the Q2 2025 anomaly where landlords paid a $117,564 premium (67.1%) suggests that certain types of properties or market conditions occasionally lead investors to outbid traditional buyers.

Landlords significantly influenced the Calhoun County housing market in Q4 2025, acquiring 25 SFR properties, which constituted a dominant 58.1% of the total 43 SFR purchases made in the quarter.

The Q4 acquisition landscape was exclusively driven by smaller investors, as mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) accounted for all 25 landlord purchases (100.0%), underscoring their critical role in the local market dynamics.

Institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) remained entirely absent from the Q4 purchase activity in Calhoun County, registering 0 acquisitions, further emphasizing the market's reliance on smaller-scale investors.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) were the most active segment, with 25 entities acquiring 18 properties, representing 72.0% of all landlord purchases this quarter, indicating strong entry-level investment or expansion by small-scale operators.

The distribution of Q4 landlord purchases reveals a clear concentration in smaller tiers: Tier 01 (18 properties), Tier 02 (6 properties), and Tier 06-10 (1 property), collectively forming the entire landlord purchasing activity for the quarter.

Mom-and-pop landlords (1-10 properties) overwhelmingly dominate the investor-owned housing market in Calhoun County, controlling a remarkable 95.0% of all landlord-held SFR properties.

This market structure is further cemented by single-property landlords (Tier 01), who alone account for 77.0% of the total 1,903 investor-owned SFR properties, totaling 1,475 holdings, signaling a highly fragmented and accessible market.

Institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) have no presence in Calhoun County, owning 0 properties. This complete absence challenges common narratives about large corporate dominance, at least at the county level in Mississippi.

The distribution across tiers reveals a steep drop-off after the smallest landlords: while Tier 01 holds 1,475 properties, Tier 02 holds 151 (7.9%), Tier 03-05 holds 130 (6.8%), and tiers above 10 properties combined account for only 5.0% of the total portfolio.

The lack of data on acquisition prices by tier for Calhoun County prevents an analysis of whether larger investors secure better deals, but the ownership concentration strongly suggests that the local market thrives on small-scale investment rather than high-volume purchasing strategies from larger entities.

A clear shift in ownership structure occurs as portfolio size increases in Calhoun County: individual investors dominate smaller tiers, but companies emerge as majority owners in the 11-20 property tier, holding 53.6% of properties compared to individuals' 46.4%.

Individual investors are the primary force in the mom-and-pop segment, owning 85.1% of single-property portfolios (1,258 properties) and 84.1% of two-property portfolios (127 properties), reinforcing their foundational role in the market.

Even in larger mom-and-pop tiers like 6-10 properties, individuals still maintain a significant majority, controlling 67.2% of properties (43 holdings) compared to companies at 32.8% (21 holdings).

The inverse relationship between individual and company ownership by tier is a critical pattern, indicating that while individuals drive market entry and small-scale investment, companies become more prevalent as portfolio management scales beyond a certain point.

This data highlights that Calhoun County's investor market is not monolithic; individual investors are the prevalent face of small-scale landlording, while companies are focused on accumulating larger, albeit still mid-sized, portfolios, particularly from the 11-20 property range upwards.

Within Calhoun County, MS-Calhoun-38839 stands out with an exceptionally high investor ownership rate of 81.9%, indicating that nearly four out of every five SFR properties in this zip code are owned by landlords.

MS-Calhoun-38915 and MS-Calhoun-38916 collectively account for a substantial portion of the county's investor-owned properties, with 675 and 596 properties respectively, totaling 1,271 properties or 66.8% of all investor-owned SFRs in Calhoun County.

While MS-Calhoun-38839 leads in investor ownership *rate*, MS-Calhoun-38915 leads in the sheer *count* of investor-owned properties (675), demonstrating different aspects of geographic concentration for investors within the county.

Other notable zip codes for investor activity include MS-Calhoun-38878 with 208 properties (27.2% rate) and MS-Calhoun-38951 with 111 properties (33.9% rate), showing a distributed but regionally concentrated landlord presence.

The discrepancy between leading by count and leading by percentage highlights that some zip codes, like 38839, have a smaller overall housing stock but a very high proportion of investor ownership, suggesting unique market dynamics or investment appeal in those specific areas.

Landlords in Calhoun County are aggressively expanding their portfolios, evidenced by a robust net buyer position in 2025 with an 8.1x buy-to-sell ratio, translating to 170 property acquisitions against only 21 dispositions.

This buying momentum has been consistently strong across all quarters of 2025, reaching a peak in Q2 with 44 buys versus just 3 sells, signifying a highly acquisitive period for investors.

In sharp contrast to the overall landlord trend, institutional investors (1000+ tier) have been net sellers, divesting 3 properties while only acquiring 1 in both 2024 and 2025. This indicates a strategic withdrawal or market exit by larger entities in Calhoun County.

The year 2025 saw a substantial increase in landlord acquisition activity compared to 2024, with 170 buys in 2025 versus 115 in 2024, demonstrating accelerating market participation from investors.

The persistent high buy/sell ratios across multiple timeframes suggest a resilient and growing demand for SFR properties among individual and mid-size landlords in Calhoun County, despite any broader market uncertainties.

Landlords were the dominant force in Q4 2025 transactions in Calhoun County, participating in 33 out of 60 total SFR transactions, representing a significant 55.0% share of the market activity.

Transaction volume was heavily concentrated in the smaller tiers, with single-property landlords (Tier 01) leading with 25 transactions at an average purchase price of $112,898, demonstrating strong activity at the entry level of investment.

Tier 02 landlords also contributed to the Q4 transaction volume with 7 transactions, though at a significantly lower average purchase price of $28,239, indicating diverse property values or investment strategies within smaller portfolios.

Institutional investors (Tier 09) had no recorded transactions in Q4 2025, further solidifying the trend of smaller, local investors driving the market activity in Calhoun County.

Inter-landlord trading was present but limited, with 16.0% (4 transactions) of Tier 01 purchases coming from other landlords, suggesting that while the market is active, a large portion of acquisitions are still from traditional sellers.

The substantial price difference between Tier 01 ($112,898) and Tier 02 ($28,239) transactions in Q4 indicates that single-property landlords are acquiring more valuable or higher-priced assets compared to those expanding their portfolios to two properties.