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

Landlords in Georgetown (SC) control a significant 22.1% of the total SFR market, holding 4,324 properties out of 19,560, highlighting their substantial presence in the local housing landscape.

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate the landlord segment, owning 3,791 properties (87.7% of investor-owned SFR), a stark contrast to company-owned properties at 643 (14.9%). This indicates a market largely driven by small-scale, individual landlords.

Despite companies owning a smaller share of properties, there are 8.6 times more individual landlord entities (5,229) than company entities (605), emphasizing the widespread distribution of individual ownership.

A remarkable 99.1% of all investor-owned properties (4,283 out of 4,324) are rented, underscoring that nearly all landlord holdings are non-owner-occupied and primarily serve the rental market.

The majority of investor-owned properties, 3,170 (73.3%), are held outright through cash, while only 1,154 properties (26.7%) are financed, suggesting a preference for unencumbered assets or a strong capital base among investors.

In Q4 2025, landlords acquired properties at an average price of $530,256, securing a substantial $72,083 discount, or 12.0% less, compared to traditional homeowners who paid $602,339.

The price gap between landlords and homeowners has fluctuated significantly throughout 2025. While landlords enjoyed a 16.0% discount in Q1 and a 12.0% discount in Q4, they paid a 7.3% premium in Q2, indicating inconsistent market advantages.

Despite no reported landlord purchases in Q4, Q3, Q2, and Q1 2025 for this dataset's specific acquisition counts, the provided average prices still reveal a market where landlords often acquire properties at lower costs than traditional homeowners when transactions do occur.

Landlord acquisition prices show an overall increase from the pandemic era (2020-2023) average of $408,917 to $525,835 in 2025, representing a significant price appreciation of 28.6% in recent years.

Comparing annual trends, the average landlord acquisition price for 2025 ($525,835) was lower than in 2024 ($587,722), suggesting a slight cooling or strategic shift in acquisition prices over the last year.

Landlords were significant players in Georgetown's Q4 2025 market, making 71 purchases and claiming 30.7% of the total 231 SFR properties sold, demonstrating their continued influence on housing inventory.

Mom-and-pop landlords (Tier 01-04) overwhelmingly dominated Q4 acquisitions, purchasing 67 properties and representing 94.4% of all landlord purchases, underscoring their role as the primary buying force.

The single-property tier (Tier 01) was the most active segment, with 93 entities purchasing 61 properties, accounting for 85.9% of all landlord acquisitions in Q4, signaling a strong influx of new or small-scale investors.

In stark contrast to the mom-and-pop activity, institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) made only 2 purchases in Q4, constituting a mere 2.8% of landlord acquisitions, reinforcing their limited direct buying presence in this period.

The average properties per entity for Q4 purchases highlights that Tier 01 entities acquired approximately 0.66 properties per entity (61 properties by 93 entities), suggesting many entities acquired just one property or are part of co-ownership arrangements.

Mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) collectively control 4,392 properties, representing an overwhelming 99.0% of the 4,437 investor-owned SFR properties in Georgetown (SC), firmly establishing their dominance.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) are the largest segment, owning 3,763 properties, accounting for 84.8% of the total investor-owned SFR market and forming the foundation of the rental housing supply.

In sharp contrast to the widespread mom-and-pop ownership, institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) hold a marginal 5 properties, representing only 0.1% of the total investor-owned portfolio, indicating a minimal institutional footprint.

The distribution shows a steep decline in property counts as portfolio size increases; for example, Tier 01 (1 property) accounts for 3,763 properties, while Tier 02 (2 properties) drops significantly to 301 properties, illustrating high concentration at the lowest tier.

Mid-size landlords (Tiers 05-08) collectively own only 40 properties (0.9%), further highlighting the extreme polarization between the vast number of small investors and the very small number of institutional players.

Individual investors maintain a significant majority in smaller portfolio sizes, owning 88.1% of single-property (Tier 01) holdings and 77.5% of two-property (Tier 02) holdings, demonstrating their foundational role in the market.

The crossover point where companies become the majority owner occurs at the Small-medium (11-20) tier, where companies own 26 properties (86.7%) compared to individuals owning 4 properties (13.3%).

Below the 11-20 property tier, individual ownership consistently outweighs company ownership, with individuals holding 74.2% in the 6-10 property tier and 77.1% in the 3-5 property tier, reinforcing the 'mom-and-pop' nature of these segments.

Company ownership, while a minority in smaller tiers, becomes highly concentrated in larger tiers, signaling a strategic shift for institutional or corporate entities towards managing more substantial portfolios when they do enter the market.

No specific pricing data by owner type (individual vs. company) was provided for comparison, limiting insights into differential acquisition strategies based on entity type and portfolio size.

The zip code SC-Georgetown-29510 exhibits the highest investor ownership rate at 28.0%, indicating a significant concentration of investor-owned properties within its SFR market.

The five leading sub-geographies by investor-owned property count are also the top five by investor ownership percentage, demonstrating a strong correlation between high volume and high market penetration in specific local areas within Georgetown (SC).

SC-Georgetown-29585 contains the largest number of investor-owned properties, totaling 1,701, which represents a substantial 22.3% of its local SFR market, marking it as a key hub for investor activity.

The top two zip codes, SC-Georgetown-29585 and SC-Georgetown-29440, together account for 3,189 investor-owned properties, signifying a considerable geographic concentration of landlord portfolios within these two areas.

All listed top-performing zip codes in Georgetown (SC) show investor ownership rates well above 20%, reinforcing the county's appeal to real estate investors across multiple communities.

All landlords in Georgetown (SC) were strong net buyers in Q4 2025, executing 105 purchases against only 14 sales, resulting in a robust buy-to-sell ratio of 7.5x.

This net buying trend is consistent throughout 2025, with landlords also being net buyers in Q3 (129 buys vs. 13 sells, 9.92x ratio) and Q2 (95 buys vs. 20 sells, 4.75x ratio), signaling sustained accumulation of SFR properties.

Annual data shows a significant increase in landlord purchase activity from 379 buys in 2024 to 441 buys in 2025, indicating growing investor confidence or opportunity in the market.

Despite the overall increase in buying, the buy/sell ratio for all landlords dipped slightly from 7.58x in 2024 to 6.89x in 2025, suggesting a marginal increase in selling relative to buying compared to the previous year.

Data for institutional (1000+ tier) transactions, including net buyer/seller status or average buy/sell prices, was not provided in the historical transactions section.

Landlords accounted for 105 of the 371 total SFR transactions in Q4 2025, representing a significant 28.3% share of the quarter's market activity.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) were the most active, completing 95 transactions, which far outpaced all other tiers combined; Mom-and-pop landlords (Tier 01-04) collectively made 101 transactions, underlining their market dominance.

Institutional investors (Tier 09) conducted only 2 transactions in Q4, with an average purchase price of $168,420, reflecting a minimal direct transactional presence in this period.

There's a substantial pricing disparity by tier, with Tier 01 landlords paying an average of $556,610, while institutional (Tier 09) investors acquired properties at a dramatically lower average of $168,420, representing a 69.7% discount compared to single-property buyers.

Inter-landlord trading was minimal across most tiers, with single-property buyers (Tier 01) being the most prominent, sourcing 8 (8.4%) of their 95 transactions from other landlords in Q4.

The average purchase price for Tier 01 landlords ($556,610) was surprisingly higher than for Tier 03-05 ($596,000) and much higher than larger tiers like Tier 101-1000 ($67,597), indicating that smaller, possibly less experienced, buyers often pay more per property.