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

Landlords in Yates County control 2,011 Single Family Residential (SFR) properties, representing a substantial 27.8% of the county's total SFR market of 7,226 properties. This high concentration signals a strong investor presence within the local housing landscape.

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate the landlord segment, owning 1,762 properties (87.6% of the investor-owned portfolio), while companies hold a significantly smaller share of 315 properties (15.7%). This challenges the narrative of corporate dominance in local markets.

The investor portfolio is highly focused on rentals, with 1,999 properties classified as rented out of 2,011 investor-owned SFR properties, demonstrating that virtually all investor-held assets serve as non-owner-occupied housing for the rental market.

A notable 69.4% of landlord-owned properties were acquired via cash (1,395 properties), indicating a preference for debt-free investment or significant capital liquidity among investors in Yates County. Conversely, 616 properties (30.6%) are financed.

Despite companies owning fewer properties, the average portfolio size per company landlord (1.04 properties per entity) is slightly higher than for individual landlords (0.73 properties per entity), suggesting companies may be consolidating or approaching multi-property ownership more readily.

The total count of landlord entities stands at 2,718, with individual landlords comprising 2,414 (88.8%) and company landlords accounting for 304 (11.2%). This further underscores the prevalence of individual, rather than institutional, investor engagement in the county.

In a reversal of typical national trends, landlords in Yates County consistently pay a significant premium for SFR properties compared to traditional homeowners. For Q4 2025, landlords paid an average of $439,350, a substantial $160,245 (57.4%) more than homeowners, who averaged $279,105.

This pricing premium has been highly volatile throughout 2025, reaching an extraordinary 175.0% in Q2, where landlords paid $648,853 compared to homeowners' $235,955. This suggests landlords are willing to pay considerably more for specific types of properties or locations within the county.

The premium paid by landlords also registered at 35.8% in Q3 ($462,935 vs. $340,995) and 50.2% in Q1 ($298,700 vs. $198,873). This sustained pattern across all quarters in 2025 indicates a structural difference in landlord acquisition strategies or target properties in Yates County.

While no landlord acquisitions were explicitly reported for 2024 or 2020-2023 in the detailed acquisition data, the existing price comparisons for 2025 suggest a dynamic market where investors face higher acquisition costs relative to owner-occupiers.

The fluctuating size of the premium quarter-over-quarter — from 50.2% to 175.0% and back to 57.4% — highlights an unpredictable pricing environment for investors in Yates County. This volatility could reflect varying inventory, competition, or property types available to different buyer segments.

Landlords in Yates County were highly active in Q4 2025, purchasing 18 SFR properties, which represents a significant 39.1% share of the total 46 SFR purchases in the market. This indicates a strong appetite for investment properties during the quarter.

All landlord purchasing activity in Q4 was driven exclusively by mom-and-pop investors (Tiers 01-04), who accounted for 100.0% of the 18 landlord acquisitions. This highlights the complete absence of institutional (Tier 09) buying during this period.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) were the primary drivers of Q4 acquisitions, purchasing 15 properties, which constitutes 83.3% of all landlord purchases. This emphasizes the role of first-time or small-scale investors in the market.

An analysis of Q4 purchases shows 21 entities contributing to 15 Tier 01 property acquisitions, suggesting that while entities are active, some may be buying fractional interests or are part of larger, distributed portfolios that still classify as single-property based on the immediate purchase.

Two-property landlords (Tier 02) also contributed to Q4 activity, acquiring 3 properties (16.7% of landlord purchases) through 3 distinct entities. This shows continued growth among existing small landlords.

The robust activity from mom-and-pop investors, alongside no institutional presence, signals that the Yates County SFR market for investment properties is primarily influenced by smaller, local players. This pattern contrasts with trends seen in more institutionalized markets.

Mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) overwhelmingly dominate the investor-owned SFR market in Yates County, controlling an exceptional 99.5% of the total portfolio. This concentration underscores the market's reliance on small-scale investors.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) alone account for 1,845 properties, representing 90.0% of all investor-owned SFR homes. This makes them the largest segment by a significant margin, confirming their critical role in the rental housing supply.

The remaining portion of mom-and-pop holdings includes two-property landlords (107 properties, 5.2%), small landlords with 3-5 properties (67 properties, 3.3%), and those with 6-10 properties (20 properties, 1.0%).

Institutional investors (Tier 09), those owning 1000+ properties, have no reported ownership in Yates County (0.0% of the investor-owned portfolio). This absence further reinforces the localized, non-institutional nature of the rental market.

The distribution beyond mom-and-pop tiers is minimal: Tiers 11-20 hold 5 properties (0.2%), Tiers 21-50 hold 1 property (0.0%), Tiers 51-100 hold 3 properties (0.1%), and Tiers 101-1000 hold 2 properties (0.1%). These segments collectively represent less than 1% of the total portfolio.

The lack of diverse tier distribution, with almost all ownership concentrated in the smallest segments, suggests that Yates County is not a target market for larger, corporate real estate investment strategies, making it a unique market profile.

In Yates County, individual investors maintain a strong hold on smaller portfolios, comprising 87.0% of single-property (Tier 01) ownership with 1,657 properties. This demonstrates their foundational presence in the entry-level investment market.

The dominance of individual owners continues into the two-property tier (Tier 02), where they own 88 properties, accounting for 80.7% of properties, while companies hold 21 properties (19.3%).

A significant shift occurs at the small landlord (6-10 properties, Tier 04) level, where companies take a majority stake, owning 13 properties (65.0%) compared to individuals' 7 properties (35.0%). This tier represents the crossover point for owner type concentration.

In the 3-5 property tier (Tier 03), individual owners still comprise the majority with 44 properties (65.7%), but company ownership significantly increases to 23 properties (34.3%), signaling a growing corporate presence even before the full crossover.

The pattern reveals that while individual investors are the prevalent force in initial and small-scale property acquisitions, companies are more likely to scale beyond a handful of properties within Yates County, indicating different growth strategies by owner type.

Within Yates County, the zip code NY-Yates-14527 exhibits the highest concentration of investor-owned properties, totaling 1,013 SFR units. This represents a 26.2% investor ownership rate within that specific sub-geography, indicating a significant landlord presence.

Following NY-Yates-14527, other leading sub-geographies by investor-owned property count include NY-Yates-14837 with 285 properties (28.4% rate), NY-Yates-14478 with 193 properties (40.7% rate), NY-Yates-14507 with 148 properties (30.0% rate), and NY-Yates-14418 with 96 properties (29.9% rate).

When analyzing by investor ownership percentage, NY-Yates-14441 stands out with the highest rate at 45.4% of all SFR properties being investor-owned. This indicates that nearly half of the housing stock in this zip code is held for investment purposes.

The zip code NY-Yates-14478 demonstrates a dual significance, ranking third in property count (193) and second in ownership percentage (40.7%). This correlation suggests a highly active and deeply penetrated investor market in this specific area.

Another area showing strong investor penetration is NY-Yates-14507, which ranks fourth by count (148 properties) and fifth by percentage (30.0%). This further reinforces the pattern of certain zip codes attracting both volume and a high proportion of investor activity.

The diverse top lists, where count leaders are not always percentage leaders, illustrate that investor activity is concentrated both in areas with large total SFR housing stock and in smaller, highly sought-after micro-markets within Yates County.

Landlords in Yates County are exhibiting exceptionally strong net buying behavior, especially in Q4 2025, where they purchased 25 properties and sold only 1, resulting in a formidable 25.0x buy-to-sell ratio. This indicates a significant and sustained expansion of their portfolios.

This aggressive net buying trend has been consistent throughout 2025: Q3 saw a 20.0x ratio (40 buys vs 2 sells), Q2 had a 17.0x ratio (34 buys vs 2 sells), and the entire year 2025 recorded a 23.2x ratio (116 buys vs 5 sells).

Compared to the previous year, 2024 also showed strong accumulation with 151 buys against 7 sells, resulting in a 21.6x buy-to-sell ratio. The sustained high ratios across all timeframes highlight a long-term strategy of portfolio growth among landlords in Yates County.

In stark contrast to the overall landlord market, institutional investors (1000+ tier) showed a balanced transaction profile in 2024, with 1 buy and 1 sell, resulting in a net position of zero. This suggests that large-scale investors are not actively accumulating properties in this market, or are liquidating as much as they acquire.

The absence of inter-landlord transaction percentages in this historical data set limits insights into internal market liquidity. However, the high buy-to-sell ratios strongly suggest that landlords are primarily acquiring properties from non-landlord sellers, rather than trading among themselves.

The continuous high volume of purchases compared to sales signals a robust and attractive investment environment for landlords in Yates County, driving consistent growth in the rental housing supply from this segment.

Landlords were key players in the Yates County real estate market during Q4 2025, participating in 25 transactions, which accounts for a substantial 36.8% of all 68 SFR transactions that quarter. This confirms their active role in market fluidity.

Transaction volumes were dominated by mom-and-pop landlords (Tier 01-04), who accounted for all 25 landlord transactions in Q4, consistent with their overall market presence. Institutional investors (Tier 09) registered no transactions during this period.

A notable price disparity exists between purchasing tiers: Tier 02 landlords paid an average of $921,250 for their 4 transactions, significantly higher than the $347,560 average price paid by Tier 01 landlords for their 21 transactions. This indicates different property targets or investment strategies based on portfolio size.

Inter-landlord trading activity was very low: only 1 out of 21 Tier 01 transactions (4.8%) involved buying from another landlord, and zero Tier 02 transactions involved landlord-to-landlord sales. This indicates landlords are primarily acquiring properties from non-investor sellers.

The significant price spread between Tier 01 and Tier 02, where larger small landlords are paying nearly triple the price, suggests that Tier 02 investors might be targeting premium properties or specific, higher-value market segments.

The high landlord transaction share, combined with low inter-landlord activity, signals a market where investors are expanding their portfolios by acquiring properties from the broader market, rather than through internal investor exchanges.