Chemung (NY) Investor Pulse Report (2025-Q4)

Landlords in Chemung County collectively own 3,723 SFR properties, representing 15.6% of the total SFR market, indicating a notable investor presence in the region.

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate the landlord landscape, holding 3,259 properties (87.5% of the total investor-owned portfolio), significantly outweighing company-owned properties (512, 13.8%).

The market exhibits a strong rental focus, with 3,658 properties identified as rented, suggesting nearly all investor-owned SFRs are utilized for rental income generation.

Cash acquisitions are a prominent strategy among investors, with 2,651 properties acquired via cash compared to 1,072 properties that are financed, highlighting a preference for unencumbered assets or stronger capital positions.

Despite the smaller property count, company landlords average 1.5 properties per entity (512 properties across 342 entities), which is higher than individual landlords who average 0.84 properties per entity (3,259 properties across 3,896 entities), suggesting companies manage slightly larger, albeit fewer, portfolios.

In Q4 2025, landlords acquired properties at an average price of $173,793, securing a $5,898 (3.3%) discount compared to traditional homeowners who paid $179,691.

The landlord's pricing advantage has been inconsistent throughout 2025, fluctuating from a substantial 14.2% discount ($25,331) in Q1 to a slight 0.4% premium ($758) in Q2, before settling at a 3.3% discount in Q4.

Landlord acquisition prices in Chemung County have seen a notable appreciation, increasing by 16.3% ($24,370) from an average of $149,423 during the 2020-2023 pandemic era to $173,793 in Q4 2025.

Comparing annual trends, the average landlord acquisition price for Year 2025 was $171,514, which represents a 5.7% decrease from the Year 2024 average of $181,906, signaling a slight cooling of prices year-over-year for investors.

Despite average acquisition prices being provided for various timeframes, the data indicates 0 distinct SFR properties were officially purchased by landlords in these periods, suggesting potential data aggregation nuances or reporting limitations for acquisition counts.

Landlords were significant players in the Q4 2025 market, accounting for 50 distinct SFR purchases, which represents 38.2% of the total 131 SFR purchases in Chemung County.

The single-property landlord tier (Tier 01) overwhelmingly drove Q4 acquisition activity, with 46 properties purchased, constituting a dominant 92.0% of all landlord acquisitions for the quarter.

Mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) collectively made 48 purchases, representing 96.0% of all landlord acquisitions in Q4, clearly outpacing larger investor segments.

Notably, 68 entities active in the single-property tier acquired 46 properties in Q4, indicating a substantial influx of new or expanding small-scale investors entering the market.

Institutional investors (Tier 09) showed no purchasing activity in Q4, underscoring the market's reliance on smaller, local investors for recent SFR acquisitions.

Mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) in Chemung County collectively control an overwhelming 98.2% of all investor-owned SFR properties, totaling 3,701 properties, establishing their indisputable dominance in the market.

The vast majority of this ownership is concentrated in the smallest segment, with single-property landlords (Tier 01) alone holding 3,130 properties, representing 83.0% of the total investor-owned housing.

In stark contrast, institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) possess a negligible share, owning only 3 properties, which accounts for a mere 0.1% of the landlord-owned portfolio.

The distribution reveals a steep pyramid structure, where nearly all investor ownership is held by entities with 10 or fewer properties, with only a marginal presence from mid-size and larger landlords.

Even mid-size landlords (Tiers 05-08) collectively hold a small portion of the market, with 20 properties in Tier 05, 38 in Tier 06, 1 in Tier 07, and 6 in Tier 08, further emphasizing the extreme concentration at the mom-and-pop level.

While individual investors dominate the overall landlord market in Chemung County, companies emerge as the majority owners starting at the small landlord (6-10 properties) tier, controlling 74 properties or 73.3% of holdings in this segment.

Individual investors exhibit overwhelming control in the entry-level tiers, accounting for 2,929 properties (92.5%) in the single-property (Tier 01) segment and 156 properties (77.6%) in the two-property (Tier 02) segment.

Beyond the crossover point, company ownership intensifies, representing 83.3% of properties (5 out of 6) in the large landlord (101-1000 properties) tier, indicating larger-scale investing is predominantly corporate.

Despite company dominance in higher tiers, individual investors maintain a presence across most segments, including 27 properties (26.7%) in the 6-10 property tier and even 1 property (16.7%) in the 101-1000 property tier.

The shift in ownership composition by tier suggests differing growth strategies: individuals typically begin with one or two properties, while companies concentrate on building more substantial portfolios as their investment size increases.

Investor-owned properties in Chemung County show significant geographic concentration, with Zip Code 14904 leading in raw count with 885 properties (19.1% investor-owned rate).

Zip Code 14845 follows with 758 investor-owned properties (12.1% rate), and Zip Code 14901 ranks third by count with 623 properties, while simultaneously boasting a high ownership rate of 21.3%.

In terms of investor penetration, Zip Code 14902 exhibits an exceptionally high investor ownership rate of 70.6%, indicating a distinct market where most SFRs are non-owner-occupied.

The overlap of Zip Code 14901 appearing in both top count and top percentage lists (623 properties, 21.3% rate) highlights it as a particularly attractive and saturated sub-market for investors within Chemung County.

The combined properties in the top three zip codes by count (14904, 14845, 14901) amount to 2,266 properties, representing over 60% of all investor-owned SFRs in the county, demonstrating concentrated investment hotbeds.

All landlords in Chemung County were significant net buyers in Q4 2025, executing 73 buy transactions against only 15 sell transactions, resulting in a strong buy/sell ratio of 4.87x.

This net buying trend has been consistent across all reported timeframes, with Year 2025 showing 564 buys and 74 sells (a 7.62x ratio), and Year 2024 seeing 815 buys versus 73 sells (an 11.16x ratio).

While landlords remain net buyers, their buying intensity has notably tempered, with the buy/sell ratio decreasing from 11.16x in 2024 to 7.62x in 2025 and further to 4.87x in Q4 2025.

Institutional investors (1000+ properties) also registered as net buyers in 2024, with 2 buy transactions against 1 sell transaction, although their transaction volume is significantly lower than the overall landlord market.

The absence of data for average buy and sell prices for all landlords and institutional investors prevents an analysis of implied profit margins from historical transactions.

Landlords executed 73 transactions in Q4 2025, capturing a substantial 38.8% share of the total 188 SFR transactions that quarter in Chemung County.

The single-property landlord tier (Tier 01) was the most active, completing 68 transactions at an average purchase price of $182,339, demonstrating their continued high engagement in the market.

Average purchase prices varied significantly by tier; while Tier 01 paid the highest at $182,339, Tier 03 (3-5 properties) saw transactions at a low average of $33,333, and Tier 08 (101-1000 properties) at $44,972, potentially reflecting specific distressed or specialized asset acquisitions.

Inter-landlord trading was minimal for Tier 01 (10.3% of transactions), but significantly higher for larger tiers like 21-50 properties and 101-1000 properties, which both saw 100.0% of their (single) transactions bought from other landlords, suggesting niche trading dynamics.

The transaction activity in Q4 closely mirrors the overall ownership distribution, with mom-and-pop landlords (Tier 01-04) accounting for 71 transactions, reinforcing their dominant and active role in the county's SFR market.