Union (OR) Investor Pulse Report (2025-Q4)

Landlords in Union County, Oregon, collectively own 1,964 Single-Family Residential (SFR) properties, representing 33.0% of the total 5,960 SFR properties in the market. This substantial share underscores the significant influence of investors on the local housing landscape.

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate the market, holding 1,766 properties, which accounts for 89.9% of all investor-owned SFR. In contrast, company investors own a much smaller segment, with 240 properties, making up 12.2% of the total investor portfolio. This distribution highlights that "mom-and-pop" landlords are the primary force in Union County's rental market.

The vast majority of landlord-owned properties, 1,944 out of 1,964, are rented, indicating a strong focus on generating rental income from their investments. This translates to 99.0% of investor-owned properties serving the rental market, emphasizing their role in providing housing solutions.

A significant portion of investor holdings, 1,330 properties (67.7% of the total investor portfolio), are owned outright with cash, demonstrating a preference for debt-free assets or strong financial positions. This contrasts with 634 properties (32.3%) that are financed, suggesting a strategic mix of cash-flow and leverage-based investments.

When considering landlord entities, individual landlords far outnumber company landlords. There are 2,348 individual landlords compared to just 184 company landlords, resulting in a ratio of approximately 12.8 individual landlords for every company. This entity count reinforces the narrative of a market driven by numerous smaller-scale investors rather than large corporate entities.

The high percentage of rented properties, alongside a substantial cash-owned portfolio, indicates that landlords in Union County are predominantly focused on long-term, stable rental income streams with less reliance on traditional financing for their existing assets. This preference suggests a conservative investment strategy aimed at maximizing net operating income.

Landlords in Union County generally acquire properties at a discount compared to traditional homeowners, notably securing a 1.0% lower average price in Q4 2025, paying $315,214 compared to homeowners' $318,322, a $3,108 difference. This consistent advantage highlights landlords' strategic buying power or access to off-market deals.

The price gap between landlords and homeowners has experienced significant volatility throughout 2025. The discount observed in Q4 ($3,108) represents a sharp contraction from the $39,695 (11.7%) discount seen in Q2 2025. This narrowing suggests a more competitive buying environment for landlords in the latter half of the year.

Interestingly, in Q1 2025, landlords paid a premium, with an average acquisition price of $299,358—an 8.3% increase ($22,913) over the $276,445 paid by traditional homeowners. This quarter stands out as an anomaly, indicating unique market conditions or acquisition strategies during that period.

Examining price trends across different periods reveals varying market dynamics. The average landlord acquisition price for Year 2025 was $319,118, which is an 11.0% increase from the Year 2024 average of $287,609. This trend suggests overall price appreciation in the investor market.

Comparing the pandemic-era (2020-2023) average acquisition price of $238,427 to the current Q4 2025 price of $315,214 shows a substantial 32.2% price appreciation. This growth reflects the significant increase in property values over the last few years, benefiting existing investors.

The quarter-over-quarter changes in landlord acquisition prices demonstrate market fluidity. Prices rose from $299,358 in Q1 to $300,952 in Q2, then sharply to $354,120 in Q3, before declining to $315,214 in Q4. This fluctuating pattern implies a responsive market influenced by various factors throughout the year.

The consistency of landlords achieving a discount has not been uniform, moving from a premium in Q1, to a significant discount in Q2 and Q3, and then a much smaller discount in Q4. This instability in the price gap suggests that market conditions and negotiation leverage are highly dynamic for investors in Union County.

Landlords in Union County significantly impacted the Q4 2025 market, acquiring 26 Single-Family Residential (SFR) properties, which constitutes a substantial 36.6% of the total 71 SFR purchases made during the quarter. This indicates a robust presence and active participation of investors in the local housing market.

Investor activity in Q4 was exclusively driven by mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04), who accounted for 100.0% of all 26 landlord purchases. This highlights the foundational role of smaller-scale investors, with no recorded acquisitions by institutional investors (Tier 09) in Union County during this period.

The single-property landlord tier (Tier 01) demonstrated the highest concentration of Q4 activity, acquiring 20 properties, representing 76.9% of all landlord purchases. This strong activity suggests that entry-level investors or those seeking to expand their initial holdings are a dominant force in recent market dynamics.

A notable 29 entities made purchases in the single-property landlord tier (Tier 01), indicating an influx of new individual landlords entering the market or existing homeowners transitioning to their first investment property. These new entrants contribute significantly to the overall landlord purchasing volume.

While Tier 01 had the most entities (29), other mom-and-pop tiers also contributed. Tier 02 (two-property landlords) saw 2 entities acquire 2 properties, and Tier 06-10 (small landlords) also had 2 entities acquiring 2 properties. The smallest average properties per entity was in Tier 01 at 0.69 (20 properties / 29 entities), reflecting many new or small-scale buyers acquiring their first investment.

The complete absence of institutional investor purchases in Q4 underscores a market where local, smaller-scale investors are the primary accumulators of SFR properties. This pattern suggests that Union County's market is not currently attracting large corporate investment, allowing mom-and-pop landlords to shape acquisition trends.

Mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) overwhelmingly dominate Union County's investor-owned Single-Family Residential (SFR) market, controlling 1,986 properties, which represents a commanding 97.8% of the total 2,031 investor-owned properties. This distribution clearly refutes any notion of large corporate control, establishing small investors as the primary market shapers.

Specifically, single-property landlords (Tier 01) are the most prevalent, owning 1,588 properties, accounting for a significant 78.2% of all investor-owned SFR. This highlights the crucial role of entry-level and first-time landlords in forming the majority of the rental housing supply in the county.

In stark contrast to the mom-and-pop dominance, institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) have a negligible presence in Union County, owning only 3 properties, which translates to a mere 0.1% of the total investor-owned portfolio. This minimal footprint suggests that Union County is not a target market for large-scale corporate investment.

The distribution shows a steep drop-off in property counts as portfolio size increases: Tier 02 landlords own 206 properties (10.1%), Tier 03-05 landlords own 139 properties (6.8%), and Tier 06-10 landlords own 53 properties (2.6%). This pattern underscores that the vast majority of investor-owned properties are held by landlords with 10 or fewer properties.

Data regarding acquisition prices by tier is not available for Union County, therefore a comparative analysis on whether larger investors pay more or less than smaller landlords cannot be performed from the provided information. This data gap prevents insights into potential pricing strategies or advantages across different tier sizes.

The concentration of ownership within the smallest tiers suggests a market where local individuals are the primary drivers of the rental sector. The lack of significant institutional presence makes Union County a distinct market, heavily reliant on smaller-scale investors for its rental housing supply and market dynamics.

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate the smaller portfolio tiers in Union County, representing 91.4% of single-property landlords (1,481 properties) and 88.3% of two-property landlords (182 properties). This pattern indicates that the entry-level and small-scale rental market is primarily driven by individual owners.

A significant crossover point occurs in the mid-size portfolio tiers: while individuals still hold the majority in the 11-20 property tier (86.7% with 13 properties), companies assume clear majority ownership in the 21-50 property tier, controlling 96.2% of properties (25 properties) compared to just 3.8% for individuals (1 property). This transition highlights where larger-scale investment shifts from individual to corporate structures.

The highest concentration of company ownership is found within the 21-50 property tier, where companies own 96.2% of properties. This contrasts sharply with their modest 8.6% share in the single-property tier, demonstrating that corporate entities prefer to operate at a larger scale once they enter the market.

Conversely, the single-property tier (Tier 01) exhibits the highest concentration of individual ownership, with 91.4% of properties belonging to individuals. This reinforces the role of individual investors as the backbone of the nascent and smaller segments of the rental market.

Although individual investors maintain a strong presence in tiers up to 20 properties, their share significantly diminishes beyond that threshold. For instance, in the 6-10 property tier, individuals still hold 56.6% of properties, but this percentage plummets dramatically as portfolio sizes grow, confirming a clear demarcation between individual and corporate investment strategies.

Information regarding how individual and company acquisition prices differ within each tier is not available in the provided data. Therefore, insights into whether one owner type consistently pays more or less than the other across various portfolio sizes cannot be determined for Union County.

Investor-owned properties in Union County are geographically concentrated, with OR-Union-97850 leading significantly with 1,082 investor-owned SFR properties. This zip code alone accounts for a substantial portion of the county's investor portfolio, representing 26.3% of its total SFR housing market, suggesting it is a prime target for investors.

While OR-Union-97850 has the highest count, smaller zip codes like OR-Union-97859 and OR-Union-97886 exhibit an astonishing 100.0% investor ownership rate. Although these likely represent very small markets, their complete investor control signifies unique, fully-invested pockets within the county.

Other zip codes, such as OR-Union-97883 and OR-Union-97827, also demonstrate high investor penetration, with ownership rates of 50.1% (320 properties) and 48.9% (269 properties), respectively. These areas show a strong leaning towards rental properties and investor activity, making up roughly half of their SFR markets.

A notable correlation exists where several zip codes appear in both the top-by-count and top-by-percentage lists. For instance, OR-Union-97867 has 101 investor-owned properties and an 80.2% ownership rate, illustrating regions that are both actively targeted by investors and have a high proportion of their housing stock controlled by them.

The top five sub-geographies by property count (OR-Union-97850, 97883, 97827, 97824, 97867) collectively account for 1,890 investor-owned properties. This concentration suggests that investors focus their capital on specific, lucrative areas within Union County, creating distinct regional investment hubs.

Conversely, while OR-Union-97859 and 97886 show 100% investor ownership, their absence from the top count list implies they are very small markets with few total properties, hence less significant in overall volume but highly dominated by investors. Acquisition price variations across these specific regions are not available in the provided data.

Landlords in Union County are unequivocally strong net buyers, consistently acquiring significantly more properties than they sell. In Q4 2025, they purchased 37 properties while selling only 2, resulting in a remarkable buy-to-sell ratio of 18.5x, clearly demonstrating an accumulation phase for investors.

This net buying trend is not limited to the current quarter but extends throughout 2025, with landlords buying a total of 144 properties and selling just 9, achieving an annual buy/sell ratio of 16x. This sustained activity indicates confidence among investors in the long-term prospects of the Union County market.

The intensity of net buying has fluctuated, peaking dramatically in Q2 2025 with 42 buys and only 1 sell, leading to a 42x buy/sell ratio. While still strong, the ratio declined to 8x in Q3 and 18.5x in Q4, suggesting a slight moderation in the extreme buying pressure, but still firmly in accumulation territory.

Comparing annual trends, landlords in 2025 are accumulating properties at a higher rate than in 2024; the 2025 buy/sell ratio of 16x surpasses the 2024 ratio of 7.31x (117 buys vs 16 sells). This signals an acceleration of landlord investment in the most recent year.

Critically, institutional investors (1000+ tier) show no recorded transaction activity in any of the provided timeframes. This absence confirms that the investment landscape in Union County is entirely driven by smaller, non-institutional landlords, aligning with previous observations of mom-and-pop market dominance.

The lack of institutional presence means that overall landlord transaction patterns are solely representative of individual and mid-size investors. This distinction is crucial for understanding market dynamics, as it eliminates the influence of large-scale corporate strategies on buy/sell ratios and pricing in Union County.

Landlords in Union County accounted for a significant 31.6% of all Single-Family Residential (SFR) transactions in Q4 2025, participating in 37 out of 117 total transactions. This strong engagement underscores their continued influence on the market's liquidity and property turnover.

Transaction volumes were overwhelmingly dominated by single-property landlords (Tier 01), who completed 29 transactions, making them the most active segment. This high level of activity by small-scale investors highlights their role as the primary drivers of recent market transactions.

Average purchase prices varied significantly across investor tiers. Single-property landlords (Tier 01) paid the highest average price at $332,031, while small landlords in Tier 03-05 secured properties at a considerably lower average of $165,000. This $167,031 price difference ($332,031 - $165,000) suggests varied purchasing strategies or access to different property types among tiers.

All landlord transactions in Q4 2025 were executed by mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04), totaling 37 transactions. There was no recorded transaction activity from institutional investors (Tier 09), reinforcing their complete absence from purchasing and selling in Union County during this period.

Inter-landlord trading activity was non-existent in Q4 2025, with 0.0% of properties across all listed tiers reported as bought from other landlords. This indicates that landlords are primarily acquiring properties from non-investor sellers rather than circulating properties within the investor community.

Comparing Q4 transaction activity to all-time ownership distribution reveals a consistent pattern: the smallest tiers, particularly Tier 01, are both the most numerous owners and the most active transactors. This strong correlation emphasizes the ongoing vitality and growth originating from the mom-and-pop segment of the market.