Greene (OH) Investor Pulse Report (2025-Q4)

Greene County, OH features a robust landlord-owned SFR portfolio of 6,285 properties, accounting for 12.6% of the total SFR market. This demonstrates a significant private investment footprint in the local housing landscape.

Individual landlords are the dominant force, owning 4,873 properties (77.5% of the investor-owned market), while company-owned properties total 1,511 (24.0%). This highlights the prevalence of mom-and-pop investors over corporate entities in the county.

A remarkable 6,072 of these properties are rented, indicating a highly rental-focused strategy among landlords in Greene County, with 96.6% of investor-owned properties being non-owner-occupied.

The majority of landlord holdings, 3,937 properties (62.6%), were acquired through cash purchases, suggesting a preference for unfinanced assets or robust capital availability. In contrast, 2,348 properties (37.4%) are financed.

The market is primarily sustained by a large number of individual landlords, with 6,195 individual entities compared to 774 company entities, reinforcing the grassroots nature of property investment in the region.

The high percentage of rented and cash-bought properties reveals a stable, income-generating portfolio strategy, where investors prioritize direct cash flow and minimized debt.

Landlords in Greene County, OH consistently acquire properties at a substantial discount compared to traditional homeowners. In Q4 2025, landlords paid an average of $217,691, which is $119,259 (35.4%) less than homeowners who paid $336,950.

This pricing advantage has been a persistent trend throughout 2025; landlords secured a 37.1% discount in Q3 ($223,823 vs $355,978), 34.9% in Q2 ($230,034 vs $353,451), and 33.4% in Q1 ($210,037 vs $315,369).

The consistency of these discounts across all quarters of 2025 highlights a structural advantage for investors, whether through distressed sales, off-market deals, or different property types.

Despite this consistent discount, landlord acquisition prices have appreciated significantly, rising from an average of $161,795 during the 2020-2023 pandemic era to $217,691 in Q4 2025. This marks a 34.5% increase in purchase price over the period.

The absence of specific property counts for landlord acquisitions by timeframe in this dataset (reporting 0 properties for each period) contradicts Q4 purchase data showing 120 landlord purchases. However, the price data indicates active transactions are indeed occurring.

The substantial price gap, coupled with rising acquisition costs, suggests that while entry prices are higher than pre-2024, landlords continue to find value propositions that are inaccessible to typical homeowners in Greene County, OH.

Landlords were significant players in Greene County's Q4 2025 housing market, responsible for 120 (25.6%) of the 468 total SFR purchases. This indicates a notable investor appetite even amidst broader market activity.

Mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) collectively drove the majority of this activity, acquiring 83 properties and representing a commanding 68.6% of all landlord purchases in the quarter. This underscores their vital role in the market's ongoing transactions.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) were particularly active, purchasing 52 properties, which alone accounts for 43.0% of all landlord acquisitions in Q4 2025. These purchases were made by 80 distinct entities, suggesting a strong influx of new or expanding small-scale investors.

In stark contrast, institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) showed no purchasing activity in Greene County, OH during Q4, indicating a preference for other markets or a period of dormancy in this region.

The breakdown of activity further reveals that while Tier 01 is most active, other mom-and-pop tiers (3-5 properties with 14.0% and 6-10 properties with 9.9%) also contributed significantly to the quarter's purchases.

The average properties per entity across the mom-and-pop tiers indicates a fragmented and highly individualized buying landscape, with numerous small-scale entries rather than concentrated large-volume acquisitions.

The investor-owned SFR market in Greene County, OH is overwhelmingly dominated by mom-and-pop landlords (1-10 properties), who collectively control 88.4% of all investor-owned housing. This totals 5,748 properties across Tiers 01-04.

Specifically, single-property landlords (Tier 01) are the largest segment, owning 4,210 properties, which accounts for 64.8% of the entire investor-owned SFR portfolio. This highlights the foundational role of first-time or small-scale landlords in the region.

In stark contrast, institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) hold a marginal share, controlling only 2.7% of the market with 174 properties. This defies popular narratives of corporate landlord dominance in this particular county.

Mid-size landlords (11-1000 properties, Tiers 05-08) collectively account for 8.9% of the market (578 properties), showing a moderate presence that bridges the gap between small and institutional investors.

The concentration of ownership in the smallest tiers signifies a highly fragmented market structure, suggesting that local, individual investors are the primary providers of rental housing in Greene County, OH.

The lack of provided tier-specific acquisition price data prevents a direct comparison of what different-sized investors pay for properties. However, the ownership distribution clearly indicates a bottom-up market structure.

The ownership landscape in Greene County, OH shifts significantly as portfolio size increases; individual investors maintain a majority in smaller portfolios but are overtaken by companies in larger tiers.

Individual investors hold a commanding lead in the smallest tiers, representing 90.0% of single-property holdings (Tier 01) with 3,852 properties and 75.2% of two-property holdings (Tier 02) with 372 properties.

The crossover point where company ownership surpasses individual ownership occurs in the 11-20 properties tier, where companies own 103 properties (54.5%) compared to individuals at 86 properties (45.5%).

Company concentration escalates rapidly beyond this point, with companies controlling an overwhelming 96.6% of properties (196 properties) in the 21-50 property tier, signaling institutional or highly scaled corporate presence in larger portfolios.

Even in mid-sized mom-and-pop tiers, such as 6-10 properties, individual investors still maintain a solid majority, owning 170 properties (60.7%) compared to 110 (39.3%) for companies.

While Tier 09 (1000+ properties) consists of 174 properties, their ownership split is not provided here, but given the trend in larger tiers, it is highly probable these are primarily company-owned.

The absence of pricing data by owner type within this section limits insights into whether individual or company investors pay different prices for properties within the same tier.

Investor-owned SFR properties are highly concentrated within specific zip codes in Greene County, OH, revealing key hotspots for landlord activity.

The zip code 45385 leads by a substantial margin, boasting 2,177 investor-owned properties, followed by 45324 with 1,724 properties. Together, these two zip codes account for 3,901 properties, representing a significant portion of the county's total investor-owned housing.

While 45385 and 45324 lead in raw property count, other smaller zip codes show exceptionally high investor ownership rates. Zip Code 45429 stands out with a 100.0% investor ownership rate, followed by 45307 at 84.2% and 45316 at 78.9%.

The top zip codes by property count, such as 45385 (16.1%) and 45324 (17.2%), do not necessarily have the highest investor ownership rates, indicating diverse market dynamics where some areas have high absolute numbers but also a larger overall housing stock.

These patterns suggest that investors target both large, liquid markets within the county (by count) and potentially niche areas with limited housing stock but very high investor penetration (by percentage).

The variation in acquisition prices across these regions is not provided in this dataset, limiting a deeper understanding of pricing strategies relative to geographic concentration and ownership rates.

Landlords in Greene County, OH are currently in a strong acquisition phase, acting as net buyers across all measured timeframes. In Q4 2025, they completed 159 buy transactions compared to just 47 sell transactions, resulting in a robust 3.38x buy-to-sell ratio.

This trend of net buying is consistent throughout the year; total buys for 2025 reached 611 against 206 sells (a 2.97x ratio), and in 2024, landlords bought 666 properties while selling 215 (a 3.10x ratio).

In stark contrast to the overall landlord activity, institutional investors (1000+ properties) exhibited a net seller position in 2024, executing 24 sell transactions versus 20 buy transactions. This indicates a strategic divestment or rebalancing by larger entities, even while smaller investors accumulate.

The consistent net buying among all landlords signifies a healthy confidence in the Greene County rental market and a sustained effort to expand portfolios.

The absence of average buy and sell prices for these timeframes in the provided data limits the ability to calculate implied profit margins or analyze pricing trends in transaction behavior.

The divergent behavior between all landlords and institutional investors suggests a bifurcated market strategy, with smaller, local investors actively expanding while larger players are either cautious or exiting the market in this region.

In Q4 2025, landlords in Greene County, OH were involved in 159 transactions, representing 22.3% of the total 713 SFR transactions. This confirms their active participation in the market's overall churn.

Transaction volume was entirely driven by mom-and-pop landlords (Tier 01-04), who accounted for all 120 landlord transactions recorded in Q4. Institutional investors (Tier 09) had no recorded transactions, reiterating their minimal presence in recent activity.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) were the most active, conducting 82 transactions at an average purchase price of $272,137. This suggests that first-time or small-scale investors are paying higher prices per property.

Inter-landlord trading was observed primarily within the single-property tier, where 9 out of 82 transactions (11.0%) were bought from other landlords, indicating some churn within the small-investor segment.

The average purchase prices varied significantly across tiers: Tier 01 at $272,137 was considerably higher than Tier 02 at $99,667, Tier 03-05 at $103,818, and Tier 06-10 at $150,231. This suggests different strategies or property types acquired by various tier sizes.

The total transactions for mom-and-pop landlords in Q4 (120) perfectly aligns with the total landlord purchases reported in Section 7, confirming their exclusive purchasing activity for the quarter.

The absence of any institutional transactions in Q4 underscores their current disengagement from active buying or selling in Greene County, OH, leaving the market to smaller, more nimble investors.