Passaic (NJ) Investor Pulse Report (2025-Q4)

Investors hold a substantial 32,667 Single Family Residential (SFR) properties in Passaic County, NJ, constituting 27.1% of the total SFR market. This demonstrates a significant presence of non-owner-occupied housing in the county.

Individual landlords collectively own 26,061 SFR properties, representing 79.8% of all investor-owned housing, starkly contrasting with companies holding 6,797 properties or 20.8%.

The investor landscape in Passaic County is heavily skewed towards individual entities, with 32,045 individual landlords compared to just 4,793 company landlords, establishing individuals as the overwhelming majority in market participation.

A striking 98.3% of investor-owned SFR properties (32,106 properties) are rented, underscoring a clear and strong focus on generating rental income from these holdings, aligning with the definition of non-owner-occupied investments.

The acquisition methods for these investor-owned properties are heavily weighted towards cash purchases, with 20,713 properties (63.4%) acquired without financing, compared to 11,954 properties (36.6%) that are financed.

In Q4 2025, landlords in Passaic County acquired properties for an average of $590,108, securing a notable 10.3% discount compared to traditional homeowners who paid $658,152 for similar properties, a difference of $68,044.

The discount landlords achieved against traditional homeowners has shown significant quarterly volatility in 2025, ranging from a substantial $107,758 (16.5%) in Q3 to a more modest $35,221 (5.6%) in Q2, indicating varying market conditions for investors.

Average landlord acquisition prices have surged over time, appreciating by $144,405 or 34.2% from the 2020-2023 average of $422,392 to an average of $566,797 in 2025, reflecting a strong period of asset value growth.

Despite the lack of specific acquisition counts for each timeframe in this dataset, the consistent average prices across quarters suggest an ongoing, albeit unquantified, landlord purchasing activity within Passaic County.

The consistent ability of landlords to purchase properties at a discount in Passaic County, as observed across all four quarters of 2025, highlights a recurring market pattern where investors secure more favorable pricing than traditional buyers.

Landlords in Passaic County were highly active in Q4 2025, acquiring 239 SFR properties, which represents 26.4% of the total 904 SFR purchases in the quarter, demonstrating their significant role in market transactions.

The vast majority of landlord purchasing activity was driven by mom-and-pop investors (Tiers 01-04), who together purchased 239 properties, accounting for an overwhelming 97.2% of all landlord acquisitions this quarter.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) were the most dominant segment, purchasing 166 properties, which is 67.5% of all landlord purchases, and saw 217 new entities enter the market in this tier during Q4.

Institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) made a minimal impact in Q4 purchases, acquiring only 1 property, representing a mere 0.4% of all landlord purchases, highlighting their limited current acquisition footprint in Passaic County.

The concentration of Q4 activity clearly lies with smaller investors, with single-property (Tier 01) and two-property (Tier 02) landlords collectively purchasing 212 properties, or 86.2% of all landlord acquisitions.

Mom-and-pop landlords, encompassing those with 1 to 10 properties (Tiers 01-04), exert overwhelming control over the investor-owned SFR market in Passaic County, holding 97.0% of all landlord-owned properties.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) form the backbone of the market, owning 22,325 properties, which alone accounts for 65.6% of the total investor-owned SFR portfolio, significantly surpassing all other tiers.

Institutional investors (Tier 09), those owning 1000+ properties, hold a remarkably small share of the market, controlling only 20 properties or 0.1% of the total investor-owned SFR in Passaic County, challenging narratives of large-scale corporate ownership.

Acquisition prices vary considerably by tier, with institutional investors paying the highest average price in Q4 at $860,000, while smaller landlords in the 6-10 property tier secured the lowest average price at $395,997.

The distribution of ownership shows a steep decline as portfolio size increases; for example, two-property landlords (Tier 02) hold 21.5% of the market, which drops sharply to just 1.9% for landlords owning 6-10 properties (Tier 04).

Individual investors maintain strong dominance in smaller portfolio sizes within Passaic County, owning 83.7% of single-property (Tier 01) holdings and an even higher 86.4% of two-property (Tier 02) portfolios.

A critical crossover point occurs at the 6-10 property tier, where companies transition to majority ownership, controlling 57.2% of properties, signaling a shift in investment strategy and capacity for larger portfolios.

The concentration of company ownership continues to grow in larger tiers, reaching its peak in the 11-20 property tier, where companies own 74.6% of properties, demonstrating their preference for mid-size to larger portfolios.

Conversely, individual ownership steadily declines as portfolio size increases, moving from over 80% in the smallest tiers to 42.8% in the 6-10 property tier and further down to 25.4% in the 11-20 property tier.

Institutional companies (1000+ properties, Tier 09) own a total of 20 properties in Passaic County, highlighting their minimal footprint despite their significant portfolio size elsewhere, and demonstrating the local market's fragmentation among smaller investors.

Within Passaic County, NJ-Passaic-07055 emerged as a key hub for investor activity, with 2,988 landlord-owned SFR properties, representing a substantial 47.0% of its total SFR market.

The zip code NJ-Passaic-07444 exhibits an exceptional 100.0% investor ownership rate, indicating a hyper-concentrated area exclusively held by landlords, suggesting unique market dynamics or property characteristics in this micro-geography.

The data for other listed zip codes (07009, 07112, 07417, 07436) contains 'nan' values, which significantly limits a broader comparative analysis of investor-owned properties and ownership rates across Passaic County's sub-geographies.

While NJ-Passaic-07055 is notable for its high count, the extreme 100.0% ownership rate in NJ-Passaic-07444 highlights that the regions with the highest volume of investor properties are not necessarily those with the highest investor penetration rates.

The limited availability of complete data for all sub-geographies within Passaic County suggests that a full picture of regional investor patterns, including acquisition prices and entity counts, cannot be entirely ascertained from the current dataset.

All landlords in Passaic County consistently demonstrate a strong net buyer position, culminating in Q4 2025 with a buy/sell ratio of 5.81x (314 buys vs. 54 sells), reflecting sustained confidence in the market.

In stark contrast to the overall landlord trend, institutional investors (1000+ tier) have been consistent net sellers, with a Q4 buy/sell ratio of 0.25x (1 buy vs. 4 sells), indicating a strategic divestment of assets in Passaic County.

The robust net buying activity from all landlords has maintained throughout 2025, with a total of 1,481 properties bought against 307 sold, resulting in a net gain of 1,174 properties.

Institutional investors, however, have systematically reduced their holdings, selling 20 properties while only buying 7 in 2025, resulting in a net reduction of 13 properties from their portfolio.

The diverging transaction patterns between overall landlords and institutional investors suggest a segmentation in market strategy, where smaller investors are actively accumulating, while larger entities are selectively divesting in Passaic County.

Landlords were significant participants in the Q4 2025 market in Passaic County, engaging in 314 transactions, which represents 23.1% of the total 1,362 SFR transactions during the quarter.

Acquisition prices varied significantly across investor tiers in Q4, with institutional investors (Tier 1000+) paying the highest average price at $860,000, a substantial 46.8% more than the average $585,960 paid by single-property landlords (Tier 01).

Mid-sized landlords in the 11-20 property tier demonstrated a unique buying strategy, with 100.0% of their 4 Q4 transactions originating from other landlords, suggesting a preference for internal market trades.

Mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) dominated transaction volume, collectively performing 306 transactions, while institutional investors (Tier 09) only engaged in 1 transaction in Q4, reinforcing the market's reliance on smaller players.

The lowest average purchase prices in Q4 were observed in the 6-10 property tier at $395,997, indicating potential distressed sales or strategic acquisitions at lower price points by this segment of landlords.