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

In Perry County, OH, landlords collectively own 1,006 Single Family Residential properties, representing 10.9% of the total 9,214 SFR properties in the market. This reveals a significant but not overwhelming presence of investors in the local housing landscape.

Individual landlords continue to dominate the ownership landscape, holding 763 SFR properties (75.8%) compared to companies which own 261 properties (25.9%). This pattern underscores the prevalence of mom-and-pop investors despite increasing attention on corporate buyers.

An overwhelming majority, 93.7% (943 properties), of landlord-owned SFR properties are rented, highlighting the primary focus on generating rental income rather than personal occupancy. This suggests that investment in SFR is overwhelmingly driven by rental market returns.

Cash purchases represent the dominant acquisition method for landlords, with 748 properties (74.3%) being cash-bought, significantly outweighing the 258 properties (25.6%) that are financed. This indicates a preference for direct ownership and potentially lower leverage within the investor community.

With 1,005 individual landlords compared to 137 company landlords, individual investors outnumber companies by a ratio of approximately 7.3:1. However, companies on average manage larger portfolios, with 261 properties spread across 137 entities, averaging 1.9 properties per company, while individuals average 0.76 properties per landlord, reflecting the mom-and-pop nature.

In Q4 2025, landlords in Perry County, OH, acquired properties for an average of $152,738, which is a substantial $131,183 less than the $283,921 paid by traditional homeowners. This represents a significant 46.2% discount, underscoring landlords' ability to find undervalued assets or negotiate better deals.

The pricing dynamic between landlords and homeowners has exhibited extreme volatility throughout 2025. While landlords secured a massive 56.3% discount in Q1 2025 (paying $138,859 vs. $317,746), they paid a 30.1% premium in Q2 2025 ($314,290 vs. $241,656), before returning to a deep discount in Q4.

The sharp fluctuation in acquisition prices, including a quarter where landlords paid significantly more than homeowners, suggests that landlord purchasing activity might be highly opportunistic or concentrated in specific market segments that fluctuate independently of the broader homeowner market.

Over the course of 2025, the average landlord acquisition price has varied wildly, ranging from a low of $138,859 in Q1 to a high of $314,290 in Q2. This lack of consistent pricing trends suggests a dynamic and potentially unpredictable investment landscape within the county.

The "0 properties" count for landlord acquisitions across all timeframes (Q1-Q4 2025, Year 2024, 2020-2023) while still showing average prices, implies that the prices reflect potential transactions even if the number of distinct properties acquired was too low to be fully reported, or a data reporting quirk. Despite this, the consistent comparison with homeowner prices offers valuable insight into price disparities.

Landlords in Perry County, OH, were involved in 14.9% of all SFR purchases during Q4 2025, acquiring 14 properties out of a total of 94 transactions. This indicates a moderate level of investor participation in the quarter's housing market.

Mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) were the dominant force in landlord acquisitions during Q4, responsible for 11 out of 14 (78.6%) landlord purchases. This highlights their continued significance as the primary drivers of investor activity in the local market.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) emerged as the most active segment, with 13 entities purchasing 10 properties during Q4. This points to a consistent entry of new or very small-scale investors into the market, forming the base of the landlord ecosystem.

In stark contrast to the activity of smaller investors, institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) made no SFR purchases in Perry County during Q4 2025, maintaining a 0.0% share of landlord acquisitions. This absence indicates a lack of interest or strategic divestment from this market by large-scale entities.

While Tier 01 entities led in property count with 10 purchases, other tiers such as Small landlord (3-5), Small-medium (11-20), Small-medium (21-50), and Large (101-1000) each recorded 1 property purchased, illustrating a broad but thin spread of activity across various investor sizes.

Mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) collectively control an overwhelming 89.7% of all investor-owned SFR properties in Perry County, OH, demonstrating their foundational role in the local rental market. This significantly challenges perceptions of corporate dominance.

The single-property landlord (Tier 01) segment represents the largest ownership category, holding 711 properties which constitute 68.7% of all investor-owned SFR. This highlights the widespread individual investor participation and underscores the fragmented nature of the landlord market.

Institutional investors (Tier 09), defined as owning 1000+ properties, maintain a minimal footprint in the county, controlling just 4 properties or 0.4% of the total investor-owned portfolio. This indicates that Perry County is not a target for large-scale institutional acquisition strategies.

Even mid-size landlords (Tiers 05-08) collectively hold a relatively small portion of the market, with Tiers 11-20, 21-50, 51-100, and 101-1000 together accounting for only 103 properties, or 10.0% of the total investor-owned SFR.

The distribution clearly shows that the rental housing supply in Perry County is predominantly supported by small-scale, local investors, reinforcing the "mom-and-pop" model as the prevailing form of SFR investment.

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate the smallest portfolio tiers in Perry County, OH, holding 88.9% of properties in the single-property (Tier 01) category and 80.0% in the two-property (Tier 02) category. This highlights the strong grassroots presence of mom-and-pop landlords.

The clear crossover point where companies become the majority owners occurs between the 3-5 property tier and the 6-10 property tier. While individuals still hold 63.1% in the 3-5 property tier, companies take over majority control at the 6-10 property tier with 80.0% ownership.

Company ownership concentration significantly increases with portfolio size; companies hold 80.0% of properties in the 6-10 tier and further solidify their control in the 11-20 property tier, where they own 89.9% (62 out of 69 properties). This pattern reveals that larger-scale investing is predominantly a corporate endeavor.

For the largest available tiers, individual investor presence diminishes considerably, holding only 10.1% of properties in the 11-20 tier and 20.0% in the 6-10 tier. This indicates that while individuals may start small, scaling up often involves transitioning to a company structure or remaining within smaller tiers.

The data reinforces the idea that smaller, more numerous individual investors form the base of the market, but as portfolios grow beyond a handful of properties, institutional or company structures quickly become the predominant ownership type, signaling different investment strategies and operational scales.

Within Perry County, OH, the zip code 43764 exhibits the highest concentration of investor-owned properties, totaling 207 SFRs, with a significant ownership rate of 9.7%. This makes it a key hotbed for investor activity by volume.

While 43764 leads in raw property count, the zip code 43766 records the highest investor ownership rate at 15.6%, followed closely by 43782 at 15.5%. These areas demonstrate the deepest penetration of investor-owned housing relative to their total SFR inventory.

The zip codes 43076 and 43731 feature prominently in both top lists, indicating a strong correlation between high absolute investor property counts and high investor ownership rates. Specifically, 43076 has 204 investor properties at a 13.4% rate, and 43731 has 164 properties at a 12.8% rate.

The data reveals a clear geographic concentration of investor activity within Perry County, with the top two areas by count (43764 and 43076) collectively accounting for 411 properties, representing a substantial portion of the county's total investor-owned portfolio.

The presence of 'nan properties' for OH-Perry-43761 suggests either an absence of data or no reported investor-owned properties in that specific zip code, making it an outlier in the geographic distribution analysis.

Landlords in Perry County, OH, consistently operated as net buyers throughout 2025, acquiring 100 properties while divesting 25, resulting in a strong 4.0x buy-to-sell ratio. This trend indicates a market where investors are actively expanding their portfolios.

In the most recent quarter, Q4 2025, landlords continued their accumulation strategy, purchasing 18 SFR properties compared to only 5 sales, leading to a healthy 3.6x buy-to-sell ratio. This suggests sustained investor confidence and growth in the local market.

Analyzing quarterly trends, the buy-to-sell ratio for all landlords fluctuated slightly, peaking at 4.25x in Q2 2025 (34 buys, 8 sells) before moderating to 3.6x in Q4. Despite these variations, the consistent net positive acquisition numbers signal a robust and active investor-led expansion.

Institutional investors (1000+ properties) in Perry County have maintained a neutral transaction posture in Year 2025, recording 3 purchases and 3 sales, resulting in a net position of zero. This contrasts sharply with the aggressive net buying observed across the broader landlord spectrum.

The distinct difference in transaction patterns, with all landlords actively buying and institutions showing no net change, implies that the growth in investor-owned properties is almost entirely driven by smaller, non-institutional players in Perry County.

Landlords played a role in 11.8% of all SFR transactions in Perry County during Q4 2025, with 18 transactions out of a total of 152. This indicates a consistent but not overwhelming presence in the quarterly market activity.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) were the most active segment, responsible for 13 transactions at an average purchase price of $161,722. This reinforces their foundational role in both ownership and transaction volume within the local market.

The average purchase prices varied significantly across active investor tiers in Q4, with small landlords (Tier 3-5) paying the highest at $299,900, contrasting sharply with small-medium landlords (Tier 11-20) who recorded an average price of $28,000. This wide spread of $271,900 suggests diverse property types or acquisition strategies.

Notably, none of the Q4 transactions by any landlord tier were reported as bought from other landlords (0.0% in all categories). This pattern suggests that landlord acquisitions in Perry County primarily involve properties from traditional homeowners or other non-investor sellers, rather than inter-investor trading.

Institutional investors (Tier 09) showed no transaction activity in Q4 2025, mirroring their minimal ownership footprint and further indicating their limited engagement with the Perry County SFR market.