Carter (TN) Investor Pulse Report (2025-Q4)

Landlords in Carter County control 4,446 Single Family Residential (SFR) properties, representing a significant 23.8% of the total SFR market of 18,655 properties. This penetration highlights the robust presence of investor-owned housing.

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate the landlord landscape, owning 4,168 properties, which accounts for 93.7% of all investor-owned SFR. This significantly overshadows company-owned properties, which total 335, or 7.5%.

The prevalence of individual ownership is further evidenced by entity counts: 5,168 individual landlords compared to just 307 company landlords. This 16.8:1 ratio underscores the 'mom-and-pop' nature of the local rental market.

A vast majority of landlord properties, 4,384 out of 4,446, are actively rented, indicating a strong focus on income generation rather than speculative holding. This translates to nearly 98.6% of investor-owned properties being rental-focused.

Cash purchases are a defining characteristic of landlord holdings, with 3,690 properties acquired outright, representing 83.0% of the portfolio. In contrast, only 756 properties (17.0%) are financed, showcasing a preference for debt-free or low-leverage investments.

Comparing individual and company portfolios, individuals hold a significantly higher proportion of cash-purchased properties. While specific splits aren't provided for cash vs financed by owner type, the overall dominance of cash buying for the largely individual-owned portfolio suggests this strategy.

Landlords in Carter County demonstrated superior deal-finding capabilities in Q4 2025, acquiring properties at an average price of $202,170. This represents a significant $101,376 discount, or 33.4% less, compared to traditional homeowners who paid an average of $303,546.

The landlord acquisition discount has shown considerable volatility quarter-over-quarter throughout 2025. While Q4 saw a 33.4% discount, Q3's gap was narrower at 17.6% ($240,268 vs $291,577), and Q2 showed the largest disparity at 35.0% ($197,489 vs $303,982).

Landlord acquisition prices in 2025 have generally been lower than in 2024. The average price for 2025 was $213,368, a notable decrease from the 2024 average of $244,999, indicating a more favorable buying environment for investors this year.

Despite the general downward trend from 2024, current 2025 landlord acquisition prices ($213,368) are still higher than the pandemic-era average (2020-2023) of $199,429. This suggests a post-pandemic price appreciation that landlords are now navigating with opportunistic buying strategies.

The substantial price gap, consistently favoring landlords, suggests that investors may be targeting different segments of the market or have greater flexibility for distressed sales and off-market opportunities compared to traditional buyers.

While acquisition pricing trends for individual and company landlords are not specifically detailed in this section, the overall landlord discount indicates a market advantage enjoyed by all investor types over traditional homeowners.

Landlords were a significant force in the Q4 2025 market, capturing 30.9% of all SFR purchases in Carter County by acquiring 56 out of 181 properties. This indicates a robust investor presence and continued market activity.

The vast majority of Q4 landlord purchases came from mom-and-pop investors (Tiers 01-04), who bought 55 properties, making up an overwhelming 93.2% of all landlord acquisitions. This highlights their continued role as the primary drivers of investor activity.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) led the buying frenzy, acquiring 44 properties, which represents 74.6% of all landlord purchases. This suggests a strong influx of new or expanding small-scale investors into the market.

In stark contrast to the mom-and-pop activity, institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) made a minimal impact in Q4, purchasing only 2 properties. This amounts to just 3.4% of total landlord purchases, defying narratives of widespread institutional market takeover.

The Q4 data shows a healthy level of new landlord formation, with 68 entities categorized as single-property buyers entering the market. This surge in smaller investors underscores the accessibility and appeal of SFR properties in Carter County.

With 56 properties acquired by 84 distinct entities, the average properties per entity in Q4 was 0.67, confirming that the market is largely driven by numerous small-scale buyers, particularly those adding their first or second property.

The investor-owned SFR market in Carter County is overwhelmingly dominated by mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04), who collectively control 97.9% of all landlord-held properties. This structure indicates a highly decentralized and accessible investment landscape.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) alone account for 80.7% of the entire investor-owned SFR portfolio, holding 3,685 properties. This makes first-time or single-property investors the absolute backbone of the rental market.

The next largest segments are two-property landlords (Tier 02) with 9.2% of properties, and small landlords (Tier 03-05) controlling 6.8%. Even mid-size landlords (Tiers 05-08) hold a combined share of less than 2%.

Institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) have a near-insignificant presence, owning only 3 properties, which translates to a mere 0.1% of all investor-owned SFR. This stands in stark contrast to broader national narratives of institutional dominance.

The substantial difference in market share between mom-and-pop and institutional investors reveals that the local SFR market is largely grassroots-driven, with smaller portfolios forming the vast majority of rental housing supply.

Information regarding acquisition prices across the different tiers for all-time, Q4, or other timeframes is not provided in the current dataset, making it impossible to analyze how pricing strategies vary by investor size.

Individual investors maintain a significant majority across all landlord tiers for which data is provided, with their lowest share at 55.6% in the Small-medium (21-50) tier, and peaking at 94.8% in the Two-property (2) tier. This demonstrates the enduring strength of individual ownership even as portfolio size increases.

The single-property tier (Tier 01) is particularly strong in individual ownership, with 3,521 properties (94.3%) belonging to individuals compared to just 212 (5.7%) held by companies. This pattern is consistent in smaller tiers, underscoring the personal investment focus.

Even in the larger tiers reported, such as Small-medium (11-20 properties), individuals still control 73.7% of properties (28 properties) versus companies with 26.3% (10 properties). This suggests that while companies may gain ground, individuals retain a substantial share in larger portfolios.

A notable crossover point, where company ownership surpasses individual ownership within a tier, is not observed in the provided dataset, which only details up to the 21-50 property tier. This indicates that individual investors remain the primary owner type across most portfolio sizes in Carter County.

While individual investors hold the majority, the proportional increase in company ownership is observed in larger tiers. For example, company ownership rises from 5.7% in Tier 01 to 44.4% in Tier 21-50, signaling a gradual shift but not yet a dominance.

Data regarding the average acquisition prices for individual versus company buyers within each tier is not available in the provided `section9-2.csv` data, preventing analysis of differing pricing strategies between owner types.

Investor-owned properties in Carter County show clear geographic concentration, with zip code 37643 leading the county by a substantial margin, harboring 2,475 investor-owned SFR properties. This represents 21.7% of all SFR properties in that zip code.

Following 37643, other significant hubs for investor activity include zip code 37687 with 585 investor-owned properties (35.3% ownership rate), 37601 with 554 properties (18.3% rate), and 37658 with 401 properties (28.8% rate).

While some zip codes have high property counts, others exhibit extremely high investor ownership rates, indicating specialized or unique market conditions. Zip codes 37659, 37682, 37343, and 37615 all report a 100.0% investor ownership rate for the SFR properties within them.

The distinction between raw property count and ownership percentage reveals diverse patterns across the county. Zip codes with 100.0% investor ownership may represent very small communities or specific development areas entirely owned by investors, rather than overall volume leaders.

The data from `section10.csv` focuses on sub-geographies (zip codes) within Carter County, providing a granular view of where investor activity is most pronounced. This allows for targeted analysis of local market dynamics beyond county-level aggregates.

Acquisition prices across these specific geographic regions are not provided within the `section10.csv` data, limiting the ability to analyze how pricing varies by local market conditions for landlords.

All landlords in Carter County are decisively net buyers for 2025, having acquired 304 properties while selling only 64, resulting in a robust buy-to-sell ratio of 4.75x. This indicates a strong market appetite for SFR properties among investors.

The net buying trend for all landlords strengthened throughout 2025. Q4 saw 88 buys against 24 sells (net 64), an increase from Q3's 82 buys and 13 sells (net 69), and Q2's 69 buys and 16 sells (net 53). Total net acquisitions for 2025 reached 240 properties.

Institutional investors (1000+ tier) also concluded 2025 as net buyers, albeit with significantly lower volumes. They purchased 4 properties and sold 2, yielding a 2x buy-to-sell ratio, indicating a cautious but accumulative stance.

Comparing institutional activity to the prior year reveals a shift: institutional investors were net sellers in 2024 (1 buy vs 2 sells), but became net buyers in 2025. This shows a reversal of their position, though still at very low transaction volumes.

The absence of data for 'Landlord-to-Landlord %' in `section11-1.csv` and `section11-2.csv` prevents analysis of the liquidity and internal trading dynamics within the investor market.

Similarly, the average buy and sell prices are not provided in this section, precluding insights into implied profit margins or changes in pricing strategies over time for either all landlords or institutional investors.

Landlords played a substantial role in the Q4 2025 transaction market, engaging in 88 of the total 292 SFR transactions, which translates to a 30.1% market share. This underscores their consistent influence on property turnover in Carter County.

Transaction volumes were heavily concentrated in the single-property (Tier 01) segment, which recorded 68 transactions. This indicates that entry-level or expanding small-scale investors were the most active participants in Q4.

A notable pricing pattern emerges where institutional investors (Tier 09) secured properties at an average of $183,000, which is a significant 11.9% discount compared to single-property mom-and-pop buyers (Tier 01) who paid an average of $207,617. This suggests larger investors leverage greater buying power or access to different deals.

Inter-landlord trading activity varied by tier, with small landlords (Tier 03-05) exhibiting the highest percentage of purchases from other landlords, accounting for 30.0% of their 10 transactions. In contrast, institutional investors made 0% of their Q4 purchases from other landlords.

The average purchase price varied considerably across the mom-and-pop tiers, from a high of $207,617 for single-property buyers down to an exceptionally low $42,000 for small landlords (Tier 06-10), indicating diverse acquisition strategies or property types.

Despite their low property count in Q4, the institutional investors demonstrated a lower average acquisition price ($183,000) than most other active tiers, including Tier 01 and Tier 21-50, signaling their efficiency in securing value.