Billings (ND) Investor Pulse Report (2025-Q4)

Investors hold a significant footprint in Billings County, owning 56 of the 141 available Single-Family Residential properties, which constitutes a high 39.7% market penetration rate.

Individual, or 'mom-and-pop', investors are the overwhelming majority, controlling 46 properties (82.1% of the investor portfolio). In contrast, company-owned entities hold just 10 properties (17.9%), underscoring the small-scale nature of the local rental market.

The financing profile of these holdings reveals a strong preference for cash acquisitions. An overwhelming 91.1% of the portfolio (51 properties) is owned free and clear, with only 5 properties currently financed. This suggests investors in this market are well-capitalized and risk-averse.

Every single investor-owned property (56 total) is classified as rented, demonstrating a 100% focus on generating rental income rather than other investment strategies like flipping or holding vacant land.

By entity count, the market structure further confirms individual dominance. There are 67 individual landlords compared to just 10 company landlords, a ratio of nearly 7-to-1.

Analysis of acquisition pricing is impossible due to a complete lack of sales transactions in Billings County during Q4 2025. Neither landlords nor traditional homeowners purchased any SFR properties in the quarter.

This market inactivity extends historically, with zero landlord purchases recorded in all of 2024 and the 2020-2023 period. This prevents any analysis of price appreciation or changes in buying behavior over time.

Without transaction data, it is not possible to calculate the typical price gap between what landlords and traditional homeowners pay. This lack of data itself is a key finding, pointing to an extremely low-velocity real estate market.

The absence of sales prevents any comparison between individual and company investor pricing strategies, as there were no acquisitions by either group to analyze.

The market's stagnation means there is no data to assess price appreciation from the pandemic-era housing boom (2020-2023) to the current quarter, as no properties were transacted by investors in either period.

Investor purchasing activity in Billings County was non-existent in Q4 2025, with landlords acquiring 0 of the 0 total SFRs sold. This 0.0% market share is a direct result of a completely frozen local real estate market.

The inactivity was universal across all investor sizes. Mom-and-pop landlords (1-10 properties) made up 0.0% of the quarter's landlord purchases, as there were no transactions to account for.

Similarly, institutional investors (1,000+ properties) also recorded zero purchases, maintaining their 0.0% share of an inactive market. There is no large-scale investor activity in this region.

The lack of purchasing by single-property investors (Tier 01) signifies that no new landlords entered the Billings County market in Q4 2025.

This complete halt in transactional activity highlights extreme illiquidity and a lack of both supply and demand in the local SFR market for the period.

The investor landscape in Billings County is defined by extreme concentration at the smallest scale. Mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04, holding 1-10 properties) command 100% of the entire investor-owned SFR market.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) alone account for a staggering 96.4% of all investor-owned housing, with 54 of the 56 properties. This demonstrates that the local rental market is overwhelmingly supported by first-time or small-scale investors.

The next tier, two-property landlords (Tier 02), holds the remaining 2 properties, making up just 3.6% of the market. There are no investors who own more than two properties in the county.

Mid-size landlords (11-1,000 properties) and institutional investors (1,000+ properties) have zero presence, each holding a 0.0% share. This market completely lacks the scale and corporate ownership seen in larger metropolitan areas.

Due to the lack of recent transactions, it is not possible to analyze how acquisition prices vary by tier. The existing ownership structure, however, is firmly entrenched with the smallest investors.

Individual investors form the backbone of ownership in Billings County. In the largest existing tier (two-property owners), individuals own 100% of the 2 properties.

Even within the single-property tier, individuals are the clear majority, owning 44 of the 54 properties, an 81.5% share. Companies hold the remaining 10 properties, or 18.5%.

The crossover point where companies typically become majority owners in larger markets is non-existent here. Individual ownership is dominant across the board, with companies only participating at the smallest scale.

The lack of any recent buying activity means there is no data to compare acquisition prices or growth patterns between individual and company investors in Q4.

The current ownership structure shows that the market is comprised of 44 individual single-property landlords, 10 company single-property landlords, and 1 individual two-property landlord, highlighting the granular nature of local ownership.

Geographic analysis reveals that investor activity in Billings County is not evenly distributed but is instead hyper-concentrated. The zip code 58645 is the undisputed hub, containing 34 of the 56 total investor-owned properties.

This concentration in 58645 translates to a staggering 64.2% investor ownership rate, meaning nearly two out of every three SFRs in that area are investor-owned.

The second most active area by count is the 58622 zip code, with 17 investor properties, though its ownership rate of 24.3% is significantly lower than that of 58645.

Several other zip codes exhibit high investor penetration despite low property counts. For example, 58634 has a 50.0% investor ownership rate from just one property, and 58642 has a 33.3% rate, also from a single property.

The data shows a clear pattern where the area with the highest count of investor properties (58645) is also the leader in ownership percentage, indicating a deeply penetrated rental market in that specific locality.

A review of historical transactions reveals a complete lack of recorded sales activity for landlords in Billings County across all available timeframes. This signifies an extremely illiquid market where properties rarely change hands.

Without any buy or sell transactions, it is impossible to calculate a buy/sell ratio or determine if landlords have been net buyers or net sellers over time.

Similarly, there is no data on inter-landlord trading. The percentage of transactions between landlords cannot be calculated, as there were no transactions to begin with.

The lack of sales also prevents any analysis of implied margins, as there are no average buy prices to compare against average sell prices.

Institutional transaction patterns cannot be assessed, as the 1,000+ property tier has no presence or transaction history in this county.

The Q4 2025 transaction summary for Billings County shows a market at a complete standstill. Landlords were involved in 0 of the 0 total SFR transactions, resulting in a 0.0% market share.

Transaction volume was zero across all investor tiers. Mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) and institutional investors (Tier 09) were equally inactive, reflecting the universal lack of market activity.

Consequently, there is no data to compare average purchase prices across different tiers for Q4. The price spread between the highest and lowest tier is indeterminable.

No inter-landlord trading occurred during the quarter. The percentage of properties bought from other landlords was 0%, as no acquisitions of any kind took place.

The transactional inactivity in Q4 perfectly mirrors the county's static ownership structure, where existing landlords hold their properties and new investors are not entering the market.