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

Landlords in Horry County, SC collectively own 28,949 Single Family Residential (SFR) properties, comprising a substantial 22.7% of the county's total SFR market of 127,670 properties.

Individual landlords are the predominant force, owning 24,587 properties (85.0%) of the investor-held SFR portfolio, significantly outweighing the 4,617 properties (15.9%) held by company-owned entities.

The ownership landscape further shows 32,737 individual landlords compared to 3,759 company landlords, underscoring that individual investors, often mom-and-pops, are the backbone of the rental market in the county.

A vast majority of landlord-owned properties are designated for rental, with 28,653 units actively rented, indicating a strong focus on generating rental income from these holdings.

The financial structure of these holdings reveals a preference for cash purchases, with 18,748 properties (64.8% of landlord-owned properties) acquired through cash, while 10,201 properties (35.2%) are financed.

This high cash ownership suggests a market of well-capitalized investors or those seeking to avoid debt, further highlighting the financial stability underpinning a large segment of Horry County's rental housing.

In a notable deviation from typical market behavior, landlords in Horry County, SC paid an average acquisition price of $466,020 in Q4 2025, a premium of $17,344 (3.9%) compared to traditional homeowners who paid $448,676.

This trend of landlords paying more has been consistent over the last two quarters, with landlords also paying a $16,191 (3.8%) premium over homeowners in Q3 2025 ($447,726 vs $431,535).

The premium paid by landlords signals strong competition or a strategic willingness to pay higher prices for specific properties, especially compared to the discounts observed earlier in the year.

Earlier in 2025, landlords benefited from significant discounts: a $29,433 (6.8%) discount in Q1 ($405,447 vs $434,880) and a $10,958 (2.5%) discount in Q2 ($428,495 vs $439,453).

This shift from discount to premium buying over the course of 2025 suggests an evolving market dynamic in Horry County, where landlord purchasing power or demand has become more aggressive in recent quarters.

Landlords were highly active in Horry County's Q4 2025 market, securing 394 of the 1,154 total SFR purchases, which represents a substantial 34.1% share of all transactions during the quarter.

The overwhelming majority of this activity came from mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04), who collectively purchased 358 properties, accounting for 89.1% of all landlord acquisitions in Q4.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) were the most dominant segment, purchasing 313 properties, which alone represents 77.9% of all landlord purchases, indicating robust entry-level investment.

A significant 459 distinct entities participated in these Tier 01 purchases, suggesting a healthy influx of new or expanding small-scale investors entering the Horry County SFR market.

In stark contrast to the mom-and-pop dominance, institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) made no purchases in Horry County during Q4 2025, reinforcing their minimal current acquisition presence.

Mid-size landlords (Tiers 05-08) collectively acquired 47 properties, with the 21-50 property tier showing notable activity by purchasing 38 properties, comprising 9.5% of total landlord acquisitions.

Mom-and-pop landlords, defined as owning 1-10 properties, overwhelmingly dominate the investor-owned SFR market in Horry County, controlling a combined 97.5% of all landlord-held properties.

The single-property tier (Tier 01) alone accounts for the largest share, with 24,269 properties representing 81.9% of the entire investor-owned SFR portfolio, highlighting the market's reliance on small-scale individual investors.

Conversely, institutional investors (Tier 09), those owning 1000+ properties, hold only 30 properties, representing a minimal 0.1% of the total landlord-owned housing in the county.

This stark distribution pattern challenges common narratives about corporate investor dominance, revealing Horry County as a market fundamentally shaped by smaller, local landlords.

The remaining 2.4% of the market is held by mid-size landlords (Tiers 05-08), with the 21-50 property tier having the largest share at 0.9% (279 properties) within this segment.

While individual landlords predominantly own smaller portfolios in Horry County, a significant shift occurs at the 6-10 property tier where company ownership surpasses individual ownership for the first time.

Specifically, in the 6-10 property tier, companies own 349 properties (55.8%) compared to 277 properties (44.2%) held by individuals, marking a clear crossover point for corporate dominance.

Individual investors remain the primary owners in smaller tiers: 89.3% of single-property portfolios (21,838 properties) and 76.6% of two-property portfolios (1,496 properties) are individually owned.

This pattern shows that individual investors are the backbone of the entry-level and small-scale rental market, while companies focus on building larger, more centralized portfolios.

Beyond the 10-property threshold, company ownership becomes even more pronounced, controlling 77.7% of properties in the 11-20 tier and 74.6% in the 21-50 tier, reflecting a concentrated investment strategy by corporate entities in larger portfolio sizes.

Investor-owned SFR properties in Horry County show significant geographic concentration, with the zip code SC-Horry-29582 leading by a considerable margin, boasting 5,002 investor-owned properties.

This same zip code, SC-Horry-29582, also exhibits the highest investor ownership rate in the county, with 46.3% of its SFR properties held by landlords, highlighting a highly attractive market for investors.

The top five sub-geographies by investor-owned property count (SC-Horry-29582, 29579, 29577, 29526, 29575) are all concentrated within Horry County, underscoring the localized nature of investor activity.

Similarly, the top five sub-geographies by investor ownership percentage also feature zip codes within Horry County, with SC-Horry-29582 at 46.3%, SC-Horry-29575 at 34.2%, and SC-Horry-29581 at 32.0%.

The strong correlation between high property counts and high ownership rates in specific zip codes indicates that investors are not only buying in volume but are also driving a higher penetration of rental housing in these concentrated areas.

Landlords in Horry County are robust net buyers, exhibiting an aggressive buy-to-sell ratio of 14.95x in Q4 2025, with 553 buy transactions compared to only 37 sell transactions.

This strong net buying position is a consistent trend throughout 2025, with landlords accumulating 2,920 properties year-to-date while selling only 266, resulting in a net gain of 2,654 properties.

The buy-to-sell ratio has consistently been well over 10x in each quarter of 2025 (14.95x in Q4, 10.61x in Q3, 12.72x in Q2), signaling sustained confidence and expansion among landlords in the Horry County market.

In contrast to the overall landlord trend, institutional investors (1000+ tier) were net sellers in 2024, selling 6 properties while only buying 3, demonstrating a divestment strategy from larger players.

The significant disparity between buy and sell volumes for all landlords suggests that while many are acquiring properties, very few are liquidating their assets, contributing to a tight supply in the rental market.

Landlords accounted for a significant portion of Horry County's Q4 2025 real estate activity, engaging in 553 transactions, which represents 30.9% of the total 1,789 SFR transactions during the quarter.

Transaction volumes varied widely by tier, with single-property landlords (Tier 01) leading by a substantial margin, engaging in 460 transactions, reflecting their strong market presence and activity.

A notable pattern in pricing by tier shows that while Tier 01 landlords paid an average of $442,471, smaller to mid-size landlords in Tiers 2-5 sometimes paid higher prices, with Tier 02 at $513,689 and Tier 03-05 at $597,669.

Inter-landlord trading activity was relatively low for the most active tiers; only 5.7% of Tier 01 transactions (26 properties) were acquired from other landlords, suggesting that most acquisitions originate from non-landlord sellers.

However, Tier 06-10 showed a higher inter-landlord percentage, with 1 of 4 transactions (25.0%) being a landlord-to-landlord trade, indicating specialized niche activity for this segment.

Institutional investors (Tier 09) were completely absent from Q4 2025 transactions, recording zero buys or sells, further emphasizing their minimal role in the county's current quarter market activity.

The price spread across active tiers is considerable, ranging from $214,375 for Tier 11-20 to $1,100,000 for the single Tier 51-100 transaction, indicating diverse property types or strategic pricing across investor sizes.