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

In Morrow County, Ohio, a total of 598 Single Family Residential (SFR) properties are owned by landlords, representing a 6.2% share of the county's 9,663 SFR properties. This indicates a relatively low investor penetration compared to other regions.

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate the landlord-owned market, holding 506 properties (84.6%) compared to companies which own 93 properties (15.6%). This pattern suggests the market is largely driven by local, individual investors rather than institutional entities.

The prevalence of individual ownership extends to the entity level, with 774 individual landlords making up 89.7% of the 863 total landlords, far outpacing the 89 company landlords (10.3%). This underscores the mom-and-pop character of the investor landscape in Morrow County, OH.

A significant majority of landlord-owned properties, 567 out of 598 (94.8%), are designated as rented, highlighting a strong focus on income-generating assets. Concurrently, 565 properties (94.5%) were acquired through cash, signaling a preference for low-leverage investments within the rental segment.

Only a small fraction of investor-owned properties, 33 (5.5%), are financed, which suggests a conservative investment approach in Morrow County where cash purchases are the dominant strategy. This low reliance on financing implies reduced exposure to interest rate fluctuations for local investors.

Morrow County, Ohio experienced no landlord acquisition activity in Q4 2025, precluding any direct comparison of landlord acquisition prices against traditional homeowners for the quarter. This absence of activity signals a quiet period for investor buying.

For prior periods, the available data shows landlords had an average acquisition price of $273,921 in 2024 and $280,068 during the 2020-2023 period. However, without corresponding homeowner pricing data, it's not possible to determine if landlords secured a price advantage or disadvantage.

The lack of recorded purchases for both 2024 and the 2020-2023 timeframe (both showing 0 properties) under the 'LANDLORD ACQUISITION PRICES BY TIMEFRAME' implies that the average prices provided ($273,921 and $280,068) might represent an all-time average or are derived from a different, larger dataset not explicitly included, indicating a data anomaly or aggregation method for historical context rather than active purchases in those specific years for this county.

The absence of quarter-over-quarter acquisition data prevents analysis of price gap trends between landlords and homeowners, making it difficult to assess how the market dynamics are evolving. This suggests a need for more granular or complete transaction data for a comprehensive pricing analysis in this region.

Furthermore, without detailed Q4 transaction data, it is not possible to discern if individual and company landlords exhibit different pricing strategies, or if one group tends to pay more or less for properties in Morrow County.

Morrow County, Ohio experienced a complete halt in recorded SFR purchase activity during Q4 2025, with both total SFR purchases and landlord Q4 purchases registering zero. This indicates an extremely quiet or frozen acquisition market for the quarter.

Given the absence of any landlord purchases in Q4, mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) accounted for 0.0% of landlord acquisitions, and institutional investors (Tier 09) also registered 0.0%, reflecting the overall dormant market.

The lack of Q4 purchases by new single-property landlords (Tier 01) indicates that no new investors entered the Morrow County market this quarter, contrasting with periods of growth often seen in more active regions.

With no transaction volume by tier in Q4, it is impossible to assess which investor tiers were most active or their average properties per entity during this period, reinforcing the notion of a profoundly inactive quarter for investor acquisitions.

This stark absence of Q4 purchasing across all buyer types suggests a significant market pause or data capture limitations for the period in Morrow County, Ohio, rather than a specific landlord-only trend.

The distribution of investor-owned SFR properties in Morrow County, Ohio, reveals a market profoundly dominated by smaller landlords. Mom-and-pop investors (Tiers 01-04, 1-10 properties) collectively control an overwhelming 98.3% of the 598 investor-owned properties.

Specifically, single-property landlords (Tier 01) form the backbone of the market, holding 543 properties, which accounts for 90.7% of all investor-owned SFR. This high concentration underscores the highly localized and non-institutional nature of the rental market in the county.

In stark contrast to media narratives, institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) possess a negligible share, owning just 2 properties, which represents 0.3% of the total investor-owned portfolio in Morrow County. This clearly indicates a lack of institutional presence.

While the data provides property counts for each tier, specific entity counts by tier are not available, preventing a calculation of average portfolio size per entity for a more granular understanding of investor concentration within each segment.

The absence of tier-specific acquisition pricing data across all timeframes (All Time, Q4, 2024, 2020-2023) prohibits any analysis of how acquisition prices vary by investor size, making it impossible to determine if larger investors pay more or less in Morrow County, OH.

The dominance of individual investors in Morrow County shifts dramatically as portfolio size increases; while individuals hold an overwhelming 88.0% of single-property (Tier 01) SFRs, companies become the majority owners at the 6-10 property tier.

Specifically, in the 6-10 property tier, companies own 75.0% of properties (3 properties), contrasting with individual owners who hold only 25.0% (1 property). This indicates a clear crossover point where corporate entities take precedence in managing larger portfolios.

This trend of increasing company concentration in larger tiers continues, with companies controlling an even greater share of 83.3% in the 101-1000 property tier (5 properties compared to 1 individual-owned property). This pattern suggests that while small portfolios are individual-driven, larger-scale investment is corporatized.

Despite the overall individual dominance in total property count (84.6%), the distribution by tier reveals that company investors are strategically consolidating properties into larger, albeit still modest for this county, portfolios.

The provided data does not include acquisition pricing specific to individual versus company buyers within each tier. Therefore, it is not possible to analyze whether one owner type secures better prices or employs different purchasing strategies in Morrow County, OH.

Within Morrow County, Ohio, investor-owned SFR properties are highly concentrated geographically, with zip code 43338 leading in absolute count, holding 233 properties, which represents 8.0% of its total SFR market. This area serves as the primary hub for investor activity by volume.

In contrast, zip code 43325 shows the highest investor ownership rate, with an impressive 32.4% of its SFR properties being landlord-owned. This highlights areas with deep investor penetration, even if the absolute number of properties might be lower than other regions.

The top five regions by investor-owned property count, excluding regions with missing data, collectively account for a significant portion of the county's investor portfolio: 43338 (233), 43334 (78), 43315 (72), and 43320 (39) total 422 properties, or 70.6% of the 598 investor-owned properties in Morrow County.

There is a clear distinction between regions with high property counts and those with high ownership rates. For instance, while 43338 has the most investor properties (233), its ownership rate is 8.0%, which is significantly lower than 43325's 32.4% rate. This disparity indicates different market dynamics across the county's sub-geographies.

The absence of specific acquisition pricing data by sub-geography in Morrow County prevents a comprehensive analysis of how property values or investor strategies might differ across these localized markets.

In Morrow County, Ohio, landlords were strong net buyers in 2024, acquiring 71 properties while selling only 6, resulting in a net gain of 65 properties. This substantial activity signals a period of significant portfolio expansion for investors.

The 2024 buy-to-sell ratio of 11.83x (71 buys / 6 sells) demonstrates a robust accumulation strategy by landlords, far exceeding a balanced market and indicating confidence in the county's real estate prospects.

Specific data regarding the percentage of buy transactions originating from other landlords (inter-landlord trades) is not provided, preventing an analysis of market liquidity and the prevalence of investor-to-investor transactions.

Average buy and sell prices for all landlord transactions are not available for 2024, making it impossible to calculate implied profit margins or assess the financial dynamics of these historical transactions.

There is no available transaction data for institutional investors (1000+ tier) for Morrow County, Ohio, precluding any insights into their historical buying, selling, or net positioning in this local market.

Morrow County, Ohio, experienced a complete lack of real estate transaction activity in Q4 2025, with both total SFR transactions and landlord transactions recorded as zero. This indicates a period of extreme market inactivity or a data reporting gap for the quarter.

Given zero transactions, the landlord share of Q4 transactions was 0.0%, reflecting the overall dormant market where no properties changed hands involving landlords.

The absence of any transaction volume by tier means that analysis of average purchase prices by investor size, or which tiers were most active, is not possible for Q4. This also means no inter-landlord trading activity occurred during this period.

Without any Q4 transaction data, it is impossible to identify which tier, if any, demonstrated the highest inter-landlord purchase percentage, or to compare transaction activity across different investor segments.

This widespread inactivity in Q4 across all transaction metrics and investor tiers suggests a broader market pause in Morrow County, Ohio, which could be attributed to various local or broader economic factors.