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

Tompkins, NY's Single Family Residential (SFR) market sees 2,366 properties, or 13.5% of the total 17,465 SFR market, owned by investors. This highlights a notable, yet not overwhelming, landlord presence in the county.

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate the landlord landscape in Tompkins, NY, owning 2,090 SFR properties, which accounts for 88.3% of all investor-owned SFR. Companies hold a much smaller share at 354 properties, or 15.0%.

The vast majority of investor-owned properties are actively rented, with 2,341 properties being non-owner-occupied. This indicates a strong rental-focused strategy among landlords in the area, aligning with the core definition of investor activity.

Cash acquisitions are a prominent strategy among landlords, with 1,566 properties purchased outright, nearly double the 800 properties acquired through financing. This suggests a preference for minimizing debt or leveraging market conditions for direct ownership.

The sheer number of individual landlords, totaling 2,709, compared to 315 company landlords, further solidifies the 'mom-and-pop' character of the investment market. This 8.6:1 ratio underscores that the market is driven by smaller, private investors rather than large corporate entities.

In a striking turn of events, landlords in Tompkins, NY, achieved a substantial 33.5% discount in Q4 2025, paying an average of $241,667 compared to homeowners' $363,474. This represents a savings of $121,807 per property.

The pricing dynamic between landlords and homeowners has been highly inconsistent across 2025. After starting the year with a significant 43.3% discount in Q1 and maintaining a 34.0% discount in Q2, landlords inexplicably paid a 29.0% premium in Q3, averaging $451,000 against homeowners' $349,634, before returning to a discount in Q4.

A notable trend reveals a sharp decline in average landlord acquisition prices from 2024 to 2025. Prices fell from an average of $404,262 in 2024 to $258,392 in 2025, indicating a significant cooling in market entry costs for investors in the last year.

Comparing current acquisition costs to the pandemic-era boom, landlords are now acquiring properties at significantly lower prices. The Q4 2025 average of $241,667 is $102,133, or 29.7%, lower than the $343,800 average seen between 2020-2023.

The inconsistent pricing suggests dynamic market conditions where landlords are either finding exceptional deals or are willing to pay above market rates in certain periods, as evidenced by the Q3 premium. This volatility challenges assumptions of consistent landlord pricing advantages.

Landlords in Tompkins, NY, accounted for a modest 8.6% of the total SFR purchases in Q4 2025, acquiring 3 properties out of 35 market transactions. This indicates that other buyer types are currently dominating acquisition activity.

The entire landlord purchasing activity in Q4 2025 was driven by mom-and-pop investors (Tier 01-04), who purchased all 3 properties. Institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) showed no purchasing activity during this quarter.

New single-property landlords (Tier 01) represent a significant portion of the Q4 activity, with 2 entities each acquiring a property. This tier alone constituted 66.7% of all landlord purchases in the quarter, highlighting new entrants or first-time investors.

The average properties per entity for Q4 purchases remained at 1 property per entity for both single-property landlords (Tier 01) and small landlords (Tier 03-05). This suggests a strategy of acquiring individual properties rather than portfolio bulk buying among the active tiers.

The concentration of Q4 purchases entirely within the mom-and-pop segment, with no institutional activity, reinforces the local market's reliance on smaller, individual investors for rental stock expansion or turnover.

Mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) overwhelmingly dominate the investor-owned SFR market in Tompkins, NY, controlling a combined 98.6% of all properties. This indicates a highly fragmented market largely composed of smaller, individual investors.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) alone account for a staggering 88.3% of all investor-owned SFR properties, totaling 2,127 units. This tier represents the vast majority of rental providers in the county, signaling a grassroots approach to property investment.

The absence of institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties), which own 0.0% of SFR properties, contrasts sharply with narratives of large corporations buying up housing. This market is clearly not influenced by mega-landlords.

Even within the larger mom-and-pop segment, ownership tapers off significantly. While Tier 01 holds 88.3%, Tier 02 (two-property owners) controls 5.3%, and Tier 03-05 (3-5 properties) accounts for 4.6%. Only 0.3% falls into the 6-10 property tier.

The distribution reveals that mid-size landlords (Tiers 05-08) also hold a minimal share, with the largest in this category (Tier 11-20) owning just 1.1% (27 properties), and Tier 21-50 owning 0.2% (6 properties). This structure underscores a market predominantly shaped by individual investment decisions on a small scale.

While individual investors form the bedrock of the Tompkins, NY, SFR market, their dominance wanes as portfolio size increases. Individuals account for 88.7% of single-property portfolios and 76.2% of two-property portfolios, showcasing their strong presence in the entry-level investment landscape.

A critical shift occurs at the 6-10 property tier, where companies become the majority owners, holding 75.0% of properties compared to individuals' 25.0%. This marks the clear crossover point where corporate entities start to outpace individuals in portfolio scale.

This trend continues into larger portfolios, with companies owning 59.3% of properties in the 11-20 property tier, while individual ownership drops to 40.7%. This suggests that larger-scale landlord operations are predominantly managed through company structures.

Even in the mid-size 3-5 property tier, companies hold a substantial 42.0% share, indicating their strong presence even before they become the majority. This demonstrates a strategic adoption of company structures even for moderately sized portfolios.

The data highlights a clear dichotomy: individual investors drive the vast majority of small-scale landlord activity, while corporate ownership becomes the preferred model for building larger, more extensive SFR portfolios within the county.

Investor-owned properties in Tompkins County exhibit significant geographic concentration, with the NY-Tompkins-14850 zip code alone accounting for 1,391 properties. This constitutes a substantial portion of the county's investor-owned SFR stock, revealing a key hub for investment activity.

While NY-Tompkins-14850 leads by sheer volume, the zip code NY-Tompkins-14853 shows an extraordinary investor ownership rate of 100.0%. This highlights specific micro-markets where investor activity has completely dominated, likely in areas with smaller overall SFR inventory.

The top 5 regions by investor-owned property count — NY-Tompkins-14850 (1,391), NY-Tompkins-14882 (167), NY-Tompkins-14886 (158), NY-Tompkins-13053 (125), and NY-Tompkins-13068 (123) — collectively represent a significant aggregation of landlord activity within Tompkins, NY, totaling 1,964 properties.

A comparison between count leaders and percentage leaders reveals distinct market characteristics. While NY-Tompkins-14850 has the highest count (1,391 properties) with a 14.3% investor rate, other areas like NY-Tompkins-14853 (100.0% rate) or NY-Tompkins-13102 (38.9% rate) demonstrate higher penetration despite likely having fewer total investor-owned properties, indicating strong local market preferences.

The presence of diverse ownership rates, from 100.0% down to 11.2% in the top regions, suggests that investor interest and market saturation vary considerably even within a single county, pointing to localized opportunities and challenges.

Landlords in Tompkins, NY, were robust net buyers in 2024, demonstrating an aggressive accumulation strategy by acquiring 279 properties while divesting only 10. This signals a confident investment outlook and expansion within the local market.

The buy-to-sell ratio for all landlords in 2024 stands at an impressive 27.9:1, indicating a strong influx of properties into landlord portfolios. This high ratio suggests a market where landlords are focused on growth rather than liquidation.

The net gain of 269 properties for landlords in 2024 significantly expanded their overall holdings. This consistent buying behavior contributes to the increasing share of investor-owned properties in the county.

Without historical transaction data for institutional investors (1000+ tier), it is challenging to draw comparisons or identify diverging strategies between large and small landlords. However, the aggregate landlord activity in 2024 clearly points to expansion.

The substantial buying volume in 2024 suggests a period of opportunity for landlords, possibly driven by favorable pricing or market conditions, leading to a significant increase in their overall property count. This trend is crucial for understanding the market's long-term ownership shifts.

Landlord activity in Q4 2025 in Tompkins, NY, was limited, making up only 6.1% of the total 49 SFR transactions, with just 3 deals. This indicates that the majority of market turnover is currently driven by other buyer types, such as traditional homeowners.

All Q4 landlord transactions were executed by mom-and-pop landlords (Tier 01-04), with institutional investors (Tier 09) showing no transactional activity. This reinforces the local market's reliance on smaller investors for property exchanges.

Average purchase prices for the active landlord tiers varied in Q4, with single-property landlords (Tier 01) paying an average of $225,000 across 2 transactions, while a small landlord (Tier 03-05) paid $275,000 for their single transaction. This shows a $50,000 price spread within the mom-and-pop segment.

Interestingly, none of the 3 landlord transactions in Q4 involved buying from another landlord (0.0%). This suggests that landlords are primarily acquiring properties from non-investor sellers, rather than participating in inter-landlord trading within the county.

The low transaction volume by landlords in Q4, coupled with their exclusive mom-and-pop representation, reflects a subdued period for investor-led market activity, possibly indicating a pause in acquisition or a scarcity of suitable investment properties.