Moody (SD) Investor Pulse Report (2025-Q4)

Investors hold a 13.9% share of the Single-Family Residential market in Moody County, with a total of 230 properties out of 1,657.

The ownership structure is heavily skewed towards private individuals, who own 195 properties (84.8%), compared to companies which own just 37 properties (16.1%).

This individual dominance extends to the number of entities, with 290 individual landlords compared to only 39 company landlords, reinforcing the 'mom-and-pop' character of the local market.

A striking financial pattern emerges from the data: 227 investor-owned properties are held in cash, while only 3 are financed. This near-total lack of leverage suggests a conservative, low-risk investment strategy prevalent among local landlords.

The portfolio's primary purpose is clear, with 228 of the 230 properties designated as rented, demonstrating a near-universal focus on generating rental income rather than speculation or secondary home use.

Analysis of acquisition pricing and comparisons between landlords and traditional homeowners is not possible for Q4 2025, as the data indicates zero transactional activity for either group during this period.

Similarly, a lack of recent sales data for previous quarters prevents any trend analysis of a potential price gap between investor and homeowner purchases.

Without recent acquisition data, it's impossible to determine if landlords are paying more or less than the general market or to track price appreciation in Moody County.

The absence of transactions itself is a key insight, suggesting a market that was either completely illiquid or had no new investor entries or exits during the fourth quarter.

Further historical data would be required to establish a baseline for average acquisition prices and to understand the typical purchasing behavior of investors in this county.

The fourth quarter of 2025 was marked by a complete halt in investor acquisition activity, with landlords purchasing zero of the zero total SFR properties sold in Moody County.

This lack of activity was universal across all investor sizes. Mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04), who dominate the local market, recorded no new purchases.

Likewise, institutional investors (Tier 09), who have no existing presence in the county, also made no acquisitions.

The data for Tier 01, which tracks new market entrants, shows that zero new single-property landlords acquired a property this quarter, indicating no new small-scale investment.

The complete absence of purchase activity suggests a stagnant market, where investors are holding their current assets rather than expanding their portfolios.

The investor landscape in Moody County is the epitome of a 'mom-and-pop' market, with landlords owning 1-10 properties controlling 99.6% of all investor-owned SFRs.

The market concentration at the smallest scale is extreme: single-property landlords (Tier 01) alone own 219 properties, which constitutes 94.8% of the entire investor portfolio.

Mid-size landlords are a rarity, with only one entity in the 101-1000 property tier holding a single property (0.4% of the total).

There is no presence of institutional-scale investors (1,000+ properties) in Moody County, underscoring its isolation from large, corporate real estate investment trends.

Due to the lack of recent transactions, it is not possible to compare acquisition prices across different tiers to see if larger investors pay more or less than smaller ones.

Individual investors are the dominant force across every single investor tier in Moody County, reinforcing the market's small-scale, private-owner character.

In the largest and most foundational tier of single-property owners, individuals hold 188 properties (85.1%) compared to just 33 properties (14.9%) for companies.

The pattern continues in the two-property tier, where individuals own 5 properties (71.4%) and companies own 2 (28.6%).

There is no crossover point where companies become the majority owners. Even in the small landlord tier (3-5 properties), individuals control 3 of the 4 properties (75.0%).

This data illustrates a market where corporate ownership has a very limited footprint, and portfolio growth is primarily driven by private individuals adding one property at a time.

Geographic analysis reveals that investor ownership in Moody County is highly concentrated, with two zip codes accounting for the majority of the portfolio. The 57028 zip code leads with 69 investor-owned properties, followed closely by 57017 with 61 properties.

While 57028 has the highest count of investor properties, its ownership rate is a modest 8.9%, indicating a large overall housing market.

In contrast, some smaller zip codes show extremely high investor penetration rates. Zip code 57065 stands out with a 46.7% investor ownership rate, suggesting a market heavily characterized by rental properties.

Other areas with notable investor presence include 57022, with 21 properties representing a 12.4% rate, and 57002, with a 33.3% investor ownership rate.

The data highlights a clear distinction between areas with high absolute numbers of rentals and smaller areas where investors own a significant percentage of the local housing stock.

The available data for Moody County does not contain historical buy or sell transactions for landlords, making it impossible to determine their net market position.

Consequently, we cannot calculate a buy/sell ratio to assess whether landlords have historically been accumulators or disposers of property in this region.

Analysis of inter-landlord activity is also not possible. The data does not show what percentage of purchases may have come from other landlords, which is a key measure of market liquidity and churn.

Similarly, for the institutional tier (1,000+ properties), there is no transaction history to analyze, though their lack of current holdings suggests they have not been active buyers.

Understanding long-term market dynamics, such as price appreciation between purchase and sale or shifts in transaction volume, requires historical data which is currently unavailable for this county.

In Q4 2025, the real estate market in Moody County saw zero transactions involving landlords, resulting in a 0.0% share of market activity.

This complete lack of transactional volume was consistent across all investor sizes. The typically most active mom-and-pop tiers (01-04) recorded zero deals.

Institutional investors (Tier 09) also logged zero transactions, consistent with their non-existent presence in the county's property records.

As there were no purchases, the data on inter-landlord trading is also zero. No investors acquired properties from other landlords during this period.

The absence of Q4 transactions prevents any analysis of pricing strategies by tier, as average purchase prices for all groups were $0.