Aiken (SC) Investor Pulse Report (2025-Q4)

Landlords hold a substantial portfolio of 17,661 Single Family Residential (SFR) properties in Aiken County, representing 25.6% of the total SFR market. This demonstrates a significant investor presence in the local housing landscape.

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate the landlord-owned SFR market, controlling 13,984 properties (79.2%), while companies own 4,357 properties (24.7%). This split highlights that the 'mom-and-pop' segment is the primary force in the region's rental housing market.

The investor portfolio is highly geared towards rental income, with 17,276 properties (97.8% of landlord-owned SFR) identified as rented. This indicates that nearly all investor holdings are non-owner-occupied and actively contributing to the rental supply.

Cash acquisitions play a crucial role for landlords, with 14,478 properties (81.9% of the total 17,661 investor-owned SFR) being cash-funded. In contrast, 3,183 properties (18.0%) are financed, suggesting a preference for unencumbered assets or a strong capital base among investors.

By entity count, individual landlords significantly outnumber companies by a ratio of 6.24 to 1, with 15,296 individual landlords compared to 2,450 company landlords. This further reinforces the prevalence of smaller, independent investors in the Aiken County market.

In Q4 2025, landlords in Aiken County demonstrated a significant pricing advantage, acquiring properties at an average of $249,003. This represents a substantial $119,637 discount, or 32.5% less, compared to traditional homeowners who paid an average of $368,640.

The pricing gap between landlords and traditional homeowners has widened consistently throughout 2025. Starting with a 21.1% discount in Q1 ($258,870 vs $328,147), the advantage grew to 27.2% in Q2, 30.3% in Q3, and peaked at 32.5% in Q4, signaling increasing market efficiency or negotiation power for investors.

This widening price differential suggests that landlords are either more adept at identifying distressed or off-market properties, or they possess stronger negotiation leverage in the current market conditions in Aiken County.

Comparing annual acquisition trends, the average price for landlords in 2025 was $253,354, a decrease from $291,823 in 2024. However, it represents an increase from the $218,710 average during the 2020-2023 pandemic-era boom, indicating a complex price trajectory over recent years.

The consistent ability of landlords to acquire properties at a significant discount compared to homeowners is a critical pattern, indicating distinct purchasing strategies and market segments at play in Aiken County.

Landlords played a significant role in the Aiken County housing market during Q4 2025, securing 292 SFR properties. This accounted for 35.4% of the total 825 SFR purchases made in the quarter, underscoring their influence on market activity.

The market for investor purchases in Q4 was overwhelmingly led by smaller landlords. Mom-and-pop investors (Tiers 01-04, 1-10 properties) acquired 274 properties, representing 89.5% of all landlord purchases, solidifying their position as the primary buying force.

Conversely, institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) showed very limited activity, acquiring just 3 properties in Q4, which constituted a mere 1.0% of landlord purchases. This contrasts sharply with the activity of smaller investors, suggesting divergent strategies.

A notable 262 entities classified as single-property landlords (Tier 01) made purchases in Q4, indicating continued entry or expansion of small-scale investors into the Aiken County market.

The Tier 01 (single-property) segment was the most active, purchasing 191 properties, representing 62.4% of all landlord acquisitions. This highlights the foundational role of small-scale buyers in the quarter's investor activity.

Mom-and-pop landlords, defined as those owning 1-10 properties (Tiers 01-04), exert near-total dominance over the investor-owned SFR market in Aiken County, collectively controlling 91.3% of all investor properties, totaling 16,717 properties.

The backbone of this market is the single-property landlord (Tier 01), who alone accounts for 64.0% of all investor-owned SFR, representing 11,729 properties. This highlights the crucial role of individual and small-scale investors in providing rental housing.

In stark contrast to the mom-and-pop segment, institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) have a very limited footprint, holding only 139 properties, which equates to a mere 0.8% of the total investor-owned SFR portfolio in the county.

The distribution of ownership sharply declines as portfolio size increases; for example, Tier 01 (1 property) holds 64.0%, while Tier 02 (2 properties) holds 11.3%, and by Tier 08 (101-1000 properties), ownership drops to just 1.1%.

This extreme concentration in smaller tiers challenges narratives of broad institutional takeover, firmly establishing Aiken County's investor-owned SFR market as one overwhelmingly shaped by local, smaller-scale investors.

The ownership landscape in Aiken County undergoes a significant shift at the 'Small landlord (6-10)' tier, where company ownership surpasses individual ownership. Here, companies control 52.6% (442 properties) of the portfolios, compared to individuals at 47.4% (398 properties), marking the crossover point from individual to corporate dominance.

Individual investors are the overwhelming majority in smaller tiers, particularly in the 'Single-property (1)' tier, where they own 10,577 properties (86.9%) compared to companies at 1,590 properties (13.1%). This reinforces the mom-and-pop foundation of the market.

As portfolio sizes increase, company concentration rises sharply. In the 'Small-medium (11-20)' tier, companies own 64.8% of properties, and this trend culminates in the 'Small-medium (21-50)' tier, where companies hold an overwhelming 95.8% (485 properties) of the holdings, versus just 4.2% for individuals.

Even in the 'Medium-large (51-100)' tier, companies maintain a strong majority, owning 63.7% of properties (149 properties), indicating that larger-scale investing is predominantly a corporate venture in Aiken County.

This tiered analysis reveals a clear pattern: individual investors are the primary drivers of small-scale landlord activity, while corporate entities predominantly engage in larger portfolio management and expansion within the Aiken County real estate market.

Within Aiken County, investor-owned properties show significant geographic concentration, with SC-Aiken-29801 leading by volume, holding 3,633 properties. This zip code alone represents a substantial portion of the county's investor activity.

Following closely in property count are SC-Aiken-29803 with 3,421 investor-owned properties and SC-Aiken-29841 with 2,756 properties, indicating specific hotspots for investor activity across the county's zip codes.

When examining investor ownership rates, SC-Aiken-29828 stands out with the highest percentage, where 58.7% of all SFR properties are investor-owned. This signifies a market deeply penetrated by rental holdings.

Other zip codes with very high investor penetration rates include SC-Aiken-29137 at 44.8% and SC-Aiken-29146 at 44.1%, highlighting areas where more than two-fifths of housing stock is landlord-owned.

Notably, SC-Aiken-29851 appears in both the top-5 by count (1,589 properties) and top-5 by percentage (42.4%), indicating it is a region with both a high volume of investor properties and a high density of investor ownership.

Conversely, some areas like SC-Aiken-29803 have a high count of investor properties (3,421) but a comparatively lower ownership rate (18.9%), suggesting a larger overall SFR market where investor activity is significant but not as dominant in terms of market share.

Landlords in Aiken County are consistently net buyers of SFR properties, demonstrating robust accumulation activity throughout 2025. In Q4 2025 alone, they purchased 388 properties while selling 92, resulting in a net gain of 296 properties and a buy/sell ratio of 4.22x.

This strong net buyer position has been consistent quarter-over-quarter for all landlords in 2025, with buy/sell ratios of 4.16x in Q2, 3.82x in Q3, and 4.22x in Q4. For the entire year 2025, landlords accumulated 1,083 properties with 1,472 buys against 389 sells, a ratio of 3.78x.

A significant divergence exists in the behavior of institutional investors (1000+ tier). After being strong net buyers in 2024 with 57 buys against 11 sells (a 5.18x ratio), they became net sellers in 2025 with 6 buys versus 9 sells for the entire year, indicating a strategic shift towards divestment.

Although Q4 2025 showed institutional investors at a neutral position (3 buys, 3 sells), their overall trend for the year clearly points to a retreat from acquisition in Aiken County, contrasting sharply with the sustained buying spree of smaller landlords.

The overall landlord market has increased its buy/sell ratio from 2.93x in 2024 (1,496 buys vs 511 sells) to 3.78x in 2025, suggesting an acceleration in acquisition pace for the collective investor segment in the county.

In Q4 2025, landlords were involved in 388 transactions, representing a substantial 31.5% of all 1,233 SFR transactions in Aiken County. This highlights their active participation and influence on the local housing market dynamics.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) spearheaded Q4 purchasing activity, executing 262 transactions. This represents approximately 67.5% of all landlord transactions, confirming their pivotal role in the market.

There's a significant price disparity among purchasing tiers: institutional investors (Tier 09) paid an average of $765,315 per property, which is 174.8% higher than the average $278,450 paid by single-property landlords (Tier 01). This suggests different asset classes or strategic premiums paid by larger entities.

Inter-landlord trading, where properties are bought from other landlords, varied across tiers. The Medium-large (51-100 properties) tier had the highest proportion, with 50.0% of its 2 transactions coming from other landlords. In contrast, institutional investors (Tier 09) had 0.0% inter-landlord purchases, indicating they are not acquiring from within the existing investor pool.

The lowest average purchase price in Q4 was recorded by Medium-large landlords (51-100 properties) at $71,745, representing a stark $693,570 price spread from the highest-paying institutional tier, implying diverse investment strategies and property types targeted by different investor sizes.