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

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate McCormick County's landlord-owned SFR market, holding 175 of the 184 properties (95.1%). This stark contrast to company ownership (9 properties, 4.9%) challenges perceptions of corporate dominance, particularly given the total landlord count of 239 entities, with 230 being individuals.

Remarkably, 100% of all 184 landlord-owned SFR properties in McCormick County are cash acquisitions, indicating a market completely devoid of financed investor holdings. This suggests a highly conservative or niche investor base primarily leveraging outright purchases.

The entire landlord-owned portfolio of 184 SFR properties is rented or non-owner-occupied, reinforcing the purely investment-focused nature of these holdings. This signals that every property held by a landlord is specifically for rental income rather than potential owner-occupancy.

Landlords currently own 184 SFR properties, representing 6.1% of the total SFR market in McCormick County, which has 2,995 SFR properties. This indicates a modest but present investor footprint within the overall housing stock.

With 230 individual landlords holding 175 properties and 9 company landlords holding 9 properties, the average portfolio size for individual landlords is 0.76 properties, while company landlords average 1.0 property. This highlights the prevalence of single-property individual ownership as the backbone of the local rental market.

Landlord acquisition activity in McCormick County was entirely absent during Q4 2025, with 0 distinct SFR properties purchased. This complete lack of transactions extends to the entirety of 2024 and the 2020-2023 period, indicating a prolonged quiet period for investor buying in this market.

Without any reported landlord acquisitions across the specified timeframes (Q4 2025, 2024, and 2020-2023), it is impossible to determine an average acquisition price or analyze price trends for landlords. This severely limits insights into investor buying behavior and market valuation changes.

The complete absence of purchase data also means no comparison can be made between landlord acquisition prices and those of traditional homeowners. This prevents analysis of any potential pricing advantages or disadvantages landlords might experience in McCormick County.

Given zero acquisitions, no trends regarding price appreciation from the pandemic-era (2020-2023) to Q4 2025 can be established for landlord investments. This suggests a static or unobserved market over recent years in terms of reported investor purchases.

The consistent zero acquisition count across all measured timeframes (Q4 2025, 2024, 2020-2023) signals an extremely low-volume market for investor activity, or potentially, a reporting gap for new purchases in McCormick County.

McCormick County experienced no reported SFR purchases in Q4 2025, with both total Q4 SFR purchases and landlord Q4 purchases standing at 0. This indicates a complete halt in documented market activity for the quarter, making landlord market share 0.0%.

The absence of Q4 purchase activity extends across all investor tiers; mom-and-pop landlords (Tier 01-04) registered 0 purchases, as did institutional investors (Tier 09). This means no new landlords entered the market, and existing investors made no new acquisitions.

With zero purchases across all tiers, there is no data to assess which investor tiers are most active in purchasing or to calculate an average properties per entity ratio for Q4 2025. This points to an unusually quiet market during the quarter.

The complete lack of Q4 2025 purchase data prevents any analysis of buying intensity by tier or identification of concentrations of recent activity. The market appears to have been entirely dormant in terms of recorded SFR acquisitions.

The observed zero activity for Q4 2025 is a critical finding, highlighting a market where new investment in SFR properties by landlords, or any buyers, was non-existent in the most recent quarter.

Mom-and-pop landlords, encompassing Tiers 01-04 (1-10 properties), control a full 100.0% of all investor-owned SFR properties in McCormick County. This signals a market entirely composed of smaller, local investors, with no presence of larger institutional players.

The vast majority of investor-owned properties are held by single-property landlords (Tier 01), accounting for 174 properties or 94.6% of the total investor portfolio. This highlights the entry-level nature of the landlord market in the county, with individuals owning just one rental home forming its backbone.

Institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) have no recorded holdings in McCormick County, controlling 0.0% of the investor-owned SFR. This significantly contrasts with broader national trends and firmly positions McCormick as a non-institutional market.

The distribution shows 4 properties (2.2%) in the two-property tier, 5 properties (2.7%) in the small landlord (3-5 properties) tier, and 1 property (0.5%) in the small landlord (6-10 properties) tier. This further solidifies the market's focus on micro-landlords.

With 174 entities in Tier 01 owning 174 properties, 4 entities in Tier 02 owning 4 properties, 5 entities in Tier 03 owning 5 properties, and 1 entity in Tier 04 owning 1 property, the average portfolio size per entity perfectly aligns with the tier definition, confirming highly individual ownership patterns.

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate ownership across all observed tiers in McCormick County. They hold 167 properties (96.0%) in the single-property tier and 5 properties (100.0%) in the small landlord (3-5 properties) tier, showcasing their pervasive presence.

Company ownership remains significantly limited, even in larger small landlord tiers. Companies account for only 1 property (4.0%) in the single-property tier and 1 property (25.0%) in the two-property tier, indicating they are minor players in smaller portfolio sizes.

The data reveals no crossover point where companies become the majority owners over individuals within McCormick County's landlord market. Individual investors maintain dominant or exclusive ownership across all documented tiers, reinforcing the market's mom-and-pop structure.

In the small landlord (3-5 properties) tier, individual investors own 5 properties (100.0%) while company ownership is zero. This highlights a specific segment where companies have no discernible footprint, further emphasizing individual investor strength.

Given the complete absence of pricing data by owner type and tier, it is not possible to determine if individual or company landlords pay different prices for properties within each tier. This limits insights into their respective acquisition strategies.

The 29835 zip code stands out as the primary hub for investor-owned SFR properties in McCormick County, with 124 properties. Despite this volume, its investor ownership rate is 5.3%, indicating that while it has the most properties, it isn't the most concentrated market.

In contrast, the 29840 zip code exhibits the highest investor ownership rate at 13.3%, even if its raw count of properties is not among the top five. This suggests a higher penetration of investor holdings within its smaller total SFR inventory compared to other areas.

The 29845 zip code presents a balanced profile, ranking second in both investor-owned property count with 31 properties and having a substantial ownership rate of 11.2%. This indicates a significant concentration of investor activity in this specific area.

Other notable zip codes by count include 29821 with 10 properties (6.9% rate) and 29838 with 7 properties (6.0% rate), further detailing the localized distribution of investor holdings within the county.

Analyzing both property count and ownership percentage reveals that regions with the highest number of investor properties are not always those with the highest market penetration. This distinction is crucial for understanding the varying intensity of investor impact across different parts of McCormick County.

McCormick County shows no recorded historical transaction activity for all landlords. With zero buy and sell transactions across all timeframes, determining whether landlords are collectively net buyers or sellers is currently impossible.

Institutional investor transaction data for the 1000+ tier is also completely absent. This means there is no insight into whether these larger entities are accumulating or divesting properties in McCormick County, or how their behavior compares to overall landlord trends.

The complete lack of transaction data prevents any analysis of inter-landlord trading activity, such as the percentage of purchases or sales made from or to other landlords. This limits understanding of market liquidity and landlord-to-landlord market dynamics.

Without historical buy and sell prices, it is impossible to calculate an implied profit margin for landlords in McCormick County. This absence of data means no insights can be drawn on the financial outcomes of property transactions for investors.

The consistent absence of transaction volumes across all historical timeframes (quarterly, annual, 2020-2023) signals an extremely illiquid or unrecorded market for investor property transfers in McCormick County, making trend analysis unfeasible.

McCormick County recorded zero total SFR transactions in Q4 2025, meaning no properties were bought or sold by any party, including landlords. This complete absence of activity renders the landlord share of transactions at 0.0%.

Given the complete lack of Q4 transactions, there is no data to analyze transaction volumes across investor tiers. Both mom-and-pop (Tier 01-04) and institutional (Tier 09) transactions were zero, indicating a dormant market for all investor sizes.

The absence of any recorded Q4 purchases by tier means that average purchase prices by tier cannot be determined. This prevents any comparison of pricing strategies among different landlord segments in the most recent quarter.

With no transactions, there was no inter-landlord trading activity to report for Q4 2025. This means no percentage of properties bought from other landlords can be calculated, eliminating insights into market liquidity and internal investor exchanges.

The uniform zero transaction count across all categories and tiers for Q4 2025 highlights an exceptionally quiet market in McCormick County, with no discernible buying or selling patterns for the quarter.