Carroll (NH) Investor Pulse Report (2025-Q4)

Landlords command a significant presence in Carroll County, NH, owning 17,288 SFR properties, which constitutes a substantial 59.0% of the total SFR market.

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate this market, owning 15,264 properties, representing 88.3% of all investor-owned SFR. In contrast, companies hold 3,530 properties, making up 20.4%.

The investor landscape is largely driven by individual entities, with 22,378 individual landlords outnumbering 3,448 company landlords by a ratio of nearly 6.5 to 1.

The portfolio exhibits a strong rental focus, with 17,248 of the investor-owned properties being rented, underscoring their primary role as income-generating assets.

For funding, cash transactions significantly outweigh financed properties, with 12,050 properties acquired purely with cash compared to 5,238 that are financed, indicating a preference for debt-free holdings among investors in this county.

Despite the high number of individual landlords, the average properties per individual entity is around 0.68, suggesting many are single-property landlords or involved in smaller, fragmented ownership structures.

In a notable deviation from national patterns, landlords in Carroll County, NH paid an average of $543,992 for SFR properties in Q4 2025, a 1.0% ($5,189) premium compared to traditional homeowners who paid $538,803.

This trend of landlords paying more is consistent throughout 2025, highlighted by a substantial $141,882 (36.8%) premium in Q2, where landlords averaged $527,091 compared to homeowners at $385,209.

The premium softened in the latter half of 2025, decreasing from a 31.3% premium ($121,619) in Q1 to 0.8% ($4,186) in Q3, before slightly rising to 1.0% in Q4, indicating some market recalibration.

The reported '0 properties acquired' by landlords in several timeframes (e.g., Year 2025, Year 2024, 2020-2023) limits reliable analysis of actual acquisition activity and long-term price appreciation trends from executed transactions.

Despite the data limitation on acquisition counts, the consistent reporting of higher average prices for landlords across recent quarters suggests a unique competitive environment where investors are willing to bid higher than traditional buyers.

Landlords demonstrated a significant presence in the Q4 2025 market, securing 90 SFR properties, which represents 55.2% of the total 163 SFR purchases in Carroll County, NH.

The market was entirely dominated by mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04), who accounted for 100.0% of all landlord purchases, underscoring the localized and fragmented nature of investor activity.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) were the primary drivers of this activity, purchasing 88 properties, representing 97.8% of all landlord acquisitions in the quarter.

This robust activity in Tier 01 also indicates significant new market entry, with 140 distinct entities classified as single-property landlords making purchases in Q4.

In stark contrast to mom-and-pop engagement, institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) made no recorded purchases in Carroll County, NH during Q4, highlighting their complete absence from this local market's buying spree.

The concentration of purchases in Tier 01, coupled with the high number of entities, suggests that many individual investors are entering the market by acquiring their first rental property.

Mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04), defined as owning 1-10 properties, overwhelmingly dominate the investor-owned SFR market in Carroll County, NH, controlling 99.8% of all properties.

The concentration of ownership is exceptionally high within the smallest tier, with single-property landlords (Tier 01) holding 16,246 distinct SFR properties, accounting for 91.5% of the total investor portfolio.

Mid-size landlords (Tiers 05-08, 11-1000 properties) hold a very small fraction, with the 11-20 property tier owning 15 properties (0.1%), 21-50 tier owning 12 properties (0.1%), and 101-1000 tier owning only 1 property (0.0%).

Institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) have a virtually non-existent footprint, owning just 1 property, which translates to a mere 0.0% of the total investor-owned SFR.

This distribution reveals a highly fragmented and localized investor market, strongly reliant on smaller, individual landlords rather than large corporate entities.

The absence of specific tier pricing data in this section prevents a direct analysis of how acquisition prices vary across these different investor sizes.

While individual investors overwhelmingly dominate the smaller tiers, accounting for 83.0% of single-property (Tier 01) holdings with 14,484 properties, a significant 17.0% of these properties (2,958) are still held by companies.

The crossover point where company ownership surpasses individual ownership occurs within the mid-range portfolios. In the 3-5 property tier, individuals still hold a majority at 58.5% (300 properties), compared to companies at 41.5% (213 properties).

However, the 6-10 property tier marks a definitive shift, with companies owning a dominant 88.2% (30 properties) and individuals holding only 11.8% (4 properties).

This corporate concentration further intensifies in larger tiers; for example, in the 21-50 property tier, companies own 91.7% (11 properties) while individuals hold just 8.3% (1 property).

This pattern indicates that while individuals are the primary drivers of smaller, entry-level investor portfolios, companies are the dominant force once portfolio size begins to scale beyond a few properties in Carroll County, NH.

Without specific acquisition pricing data by owner type within each tier, it is not possible to analyze whether individual or company investors employ different pricing strategies across portfolio sizes.

Carroll County, NH exhibits pronounced geographic concentrations of investor activity, with specific zip codes displaying exceptionally high investor ownership rates. Zip code 03812 leads with an impressive 87.6% of its SFR properties being investor-owned.

This high concentration is not isolated, as other zip codes such as 03846 (85.3%), 03832 (81.4%), and 03838 (80.7%) also show investor ownership rates exceeding 80%, highlighting a widespread, significant landlord presence in certain areas.

In terms of sheer volume, zip code 03254 has the highest count of investor-owned properties at 2,565, representing a 60.5% investor ownership rate, making it a key hub for investor activity within the county.

There is a clear correlation between high property counts and high ownership rates in some areas, as demonstrated by zip code 03812 appearing in both top lists, indicating both significant volume and deep market penetration.

The absence of data for investor ownership rate for zip code 03226 prevents a complete picture of regional investor activity for all listed top regions.

Without acquisition pricing data by sub-geography, it is not possible to analyze how property values or investor strategies might vary across these highly concentrated regions within Carroll County, NH.

Landlords in Carroll County, NH are consistently strong net buyers across all measured timeframes, actively expanding their portfolios in the region.

In Q4 2025, landlords purchased 144 SFR properties while selling only 10, resulting in a robust buy/sell ratio of 14.4x, indicating aggressive acquisition.

This buying trend is persistent, with Year 2025 showing 774 purchases against 37 sells (20.9x ratio), and Year 2024 recording 816 purchases versus 55 sells (14.8x ratio).

The absence of any recorded transaction activity from institutional investors (1000+ tier) highlights their non-involvement in this highly localized market, leaving acquisitions to smaller-scale landlords.

The consistent net buying suggests a healthy and growing demand for rental properties in Carroll County, NH, with landlords continuing to see opportunities for expansion.

Without average buy and sell prices from this section, analysis of implied profit margins or changes in pricing strategy over time from historical transactions is not possible.

Landlords played a dominant role in Q4 2025 transactions in Carroll County, NH, accounting for 144 of the total 265 transactions, representing a significant 54.3% share.

Mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) were solely responsible for all landlord transactions, completing 144 transactions, with no recorded activity from institutional investors (Tier 09).

The single-property landlord tier (Tier 01) was by far the most active, responsible for 142 transactions at an average purchase price of $545,806.

A notable price disparity exists between active tiers, with Tier 01 paying significantly higher average prices at $545,806 compared to Tier 02, which transacted 1 property at an average price of $212,000.

Inter-landlord trading was minimal; only 8 of the 142 transactions by Tier 01 (5.6%) were sourced from other landlords, indicating that the majority of Q4 acquisitions by this dominant tier were from non-investor sellers.

The high share of transactions by landlords, particularly new and small-scale investors, suggests a dynamic and expanding local rental market where properties are frequently changing hands to investor owners.