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

In Calhoun County, landlords collectively own 142 SFR properties, comprising 4.9% of the total 2,895 SFR properties in the market, indicating a relatively low investor penetration rate.

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate the landlord landscape, owning 120 (84.5%) of the investor-held SFR properties, while company-owned properties represent a smaller 24 (16.9%) share.

The prevalence of individual investors extends to entity counts, with 161 individual landlords (87.0%) significantly outnumbering 24 company landlords (13.0%).

A notable pattern in property holdings reveals that 119 of the 142 landlord-owned properties (83.8%) were acquired for cash, with only 23 being financed, highlighting a preference for unencumbered assets.

The majority of these investor properties are non-owner-occupied and rented out, with 127 properties explicitly designated as rented, confirming a strong rental-focused strategy among landlords in the county.

While individual investors hold 89.4% of single-property portfolios and 81.8% of 3-5 property portfolios, companies demonstrate a minor, yet present, role even in these smaller tiers, holding 10.6% and 18.2% respectively.

In Calhoun County, landlords consistently secured properties at a significant discount compared to traditional homeowners in early 2025; in Q1 2025, they paid $184,250 on average, which was $68,750 (27.2%) less than homeowners who paid $253,000.

The landlord discount against homeowner prices has shown notable volatility, ranging from an exceptional $345,219 (88.5%) in Q3 2025 (landlord at $45,000 vs homeowner at $390,219) to $68,750 (27.2%) in Q1 2025, indicating shifts in market dynamics or acquisition strategies.

Due to extremely limited landlord buying activity, there were no recorded landlord acquisitions in Q4 2025 with an average price, making direct quarterly comparison challenging for the most recent period.

Average acquisition prices for landlords, when available, show a historical increase from $124,023 during 2020-2023 to $175,714 in Year 2024, demonstrating property value appreciation over time, though current year data is sparse.

While Q4 2025 lacked recorded landlord purchases, the overall trend from Q3 2025 to Q1 2025 showed a narrowing of the percentage discount landlords obtained relative to homeowners, from 88.5% to 27.2%.

Landlords in Calhoun County had an exceptionally quiet Q4 2025, completing only 1 SFR purchase, which represents a mere 5.3% of the total 19 SFR properties acquired in the county during this period.

This solitary Q4 landlord acquisition was made by a single-property landlord, indicating that all new investor activity came from mom-and-pop landlords (Tier 01-04), who accounted for 100.0% of landlord purchases.

The Q4 purchasing landscape was devoid of institutional investor (Tier 09) activity, reinforcing the dominance of small-scale investors in Calhoun County's limited market.

The single entity that made a purchase in Q4 2025 was a new single-property landlord, signaling that market entry for small investors continues despite low overall activity.

With only one landlord purchase against 18 non-landlord acquisitions, the Q4 data reveals a market primarily driven by traditional homeowners or other buyer types, not by investor expansion.

Mom-and-pop landlords, encompassing those with 1 to 10 properties (Tiers 01-04), overwhelmingly dominate the investor-owned housing market in Calhoun County, controlling 95.1% of all 142 SFR properties.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) alone constitute the vast majority of investor holdings, accounting for 122 properties, which is 85.3% of the total investor-owned SFR portfolio.

In stark contrast to the mom-and-pop dominance, institutional investors (Tier 09), those owning 1000+ properties, hold a minimal 3 properties, representing only 2.1% of the total investor-owned SFR market.

The remaining small-to-medium landlords (Tiers 05-08) collectively hold a modest share, with two-property landlords owning 1.4% (2 properties), 3-5 property landlords holding 7.0% (10 properties), and the 6-10 property tier at 1.4% (2 properties).

This highly skewed distribution underscores that Calhoun County's rental market is primarily supported by individual, small-scale investors rather than large corporate entities.

The data provided for Calhoun County does not include specific acquisition prices broken down by tier, preventing a comparison of pricing strategies across different investor sizes.

Individual investors maintain a strong majority across all available portfolio tiers in Calhoun County, holding 89.4% of single-property portfolios and 81.8% of properties in the 3-5 property tier.

Companies, while present, represent a significantly smaller portion of ownership within these tiers, holding only 10.6% of single-property portfolios and 18.2% in the 3-5 property segment.

The two-property tier is exclusively dominated by individual investors, who own 100.0% of properties in this category, with no company presence recorded.

Based on the provided data, there is no visible crossover point where companies become the majority owners, indicating that individual investors continue to hold the predominant share even as portfolio sizes grow into the small landlord categories.

The absence of pricing data broken down by owner type within each tier prevents an analysis of whether individual or company investors employ different pricing strategies or achieve varying acquisition costs.

This distribution highlights that even as individuals expand their portfolios to 3-5 properties, they largely remain the primary owners, rather than seeing a significant shift to corporate ownership within these smaller market segments.

Investor-owned properties are geographically concentrated within Calhoun County, with zip code SC-Calhoun-29135 leading by count with 80 landlord-owned properties, representing a 5.0% ownership rate.

The highest investor ownership rate is found in SC-Calhoun-29112, where 9.1% of SFR properties are investor-owned, signaling a high landlord penetration in that specific sub-geography.

Zip code SC-Calhoun-29030 demonstrates significant investor interest, ranking second both in property count with 24 investor-owned properties and by ownership percentage at 8.2%.

While SC-Calhoun-29135 and SC-Calhoun-29030 appear in the top five for both count and percentage, other areas like SC-Calhoun-29053, with 6 properties and a 2.1% rate, show a lower concentration despite having a notable number of investor-owned properties.

Conversely, zip codes like SC-Calhoun-29160 (14 properties, 4.2% rate) and SC-Calhoun-29047 (13 properties, 4.4% rate) also exhibit strong investor presence, reflecting diverse pockets of activity within the county.

This varied distribution suggests that while some areas attract a high volume of investors, others demonstrate a higher density of investor-owned properties relative to their total housing stock.

Landlords in Calhoun County have consistently been net buyers over the past two years, acquiring 13 properties against 3 sells in Year 2025, resulting in a net accumulation of 10 properties.

This buying trend was also evident in Year 2024, where landlords completed 9 buy transactions compared to 3 sell transactions, accumulating a net of 6 properties.

Despite the overall net buyer status, Q3 2025 saw a balanced market with 1 buy transaction and 1 sell transaction, indicating a temporary equilibrium in activity for that quarter.

The most active period for landlord buying in 2025 was Q2, with 7 purchases against 2 sells, contributing significantly to the year's net buyer position.

The lack of data for institutional (1000+ tier) transactions prevents a comparison of their activity patterns with the overall landlord market in Calhoun County.

The consistent net buying over recent years suggests a strategy of portfolio expansion among landlords in the county, even with fluctuations in quarterly activity.

Landlords represented an exceptionally small portion of the Q4 2025 real estate market in Calhoun County, participating in only 1 transaction out of a total of 31, equating to a meager 3.2% share.

The sole landlord transaction in Q4 2025 originated from a single-property landlord (Tier 01), highlighting that all current quarter investor activity came from mom-and-pop segments.

There was no inter-landlord trading observed in Q4, as the single landlord transaction was not bought from another landlord, indicating a direct purchase from a non-investor seller.

Due to the extremely limited transaction volume, there is no reliable average purchase price data available for Tier 01 or any other tier for Q4 2025, reflecting a near-standstill in investor acquisitions.

Institutional investors (Tier 09) showed no activity in Q4, aligning with the overall pattern of subdued investor engagement in Calhoun County during this period.

The concentration of Q4 transaction activity with a single mom-and-pop entity suggests a highly selective and minimal entry of new small-scale investors into the market.