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

Greene County's real estate investor market is substantial, with landlords owning 6,471 SFR properties, representing 28.9% of the county’s total 22,363 SFR market. This high penetration signifies a significant landlord presence in the local housing landscape.

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate the market, holding 6,110 SFR properties, which constitutes 94.4% of all investor-owned housing. In contrast, companies own just 434 properties, accounting for 6.7% of the total investor portfolio, underscoring the prevalence of small-scale investors.

The vast majority of investor-owned properties are utilized as rentals, with 6,407 properties classified as rented. This indicates a strong focus on generating rental income from their portfolios, aligning with typical landlord investment strategies.

A significant portion of investor acquisitions are made with cash, accounting for 3,999 properties compared to 2,472 financed properties. This pattern suggests a preference for unencumbered assets or access to substantial capital among Greene County investors.

The sheer number of individual landlords, 8,019, far outweighs company landlords at 342, reinforcing the mom-and-pop foundation of the investment market. The average portfolio size for individual landlords is less than one property (6,110 properties / 8,019 entities), indicating a high number of single-property owners, while companies average 1.27 properties (434 properties / 342 entities), reflecting a more concentrated holding.

Landlords in Greene County consistently secure substantial discounts on SFR properties compared to traditional homeowners. In Q4 2025, landlords paid an average of $175,755, a significant $92,803 (34.6%) less than the $268,558 paid by homeowners, highlighting their strategic acquisition advantage.

This pricing advantage has not been consistent throughout the year, demonstrating market volatility. The discount widened dramatically from 25.4% ($78,833) in Q3 2025 to 34.6% ($92,803) in Q4, following an even larger 37.9% ($113,643) discount in Q2, indicating fluctuating market dynamics and landlord opportunities.

Comparing across timeframes, the average landlord acquisition price of $175,755 in Q4 2025 suggests a potential market recalibration, as it stands 9.5% lower than the average $194,301 recorded during the 2020-2023 period. This indicates a notable decline from pandemic-era pricing for investor purchases.

Landlord acquisition prices saw a substantial dip from Q3's $231,191 to Q4's $175,755, representing a 23.9% quarterly decrease. This sharp drop could reflect a shift in property types being acquired, increased negotiating power, or a cooling market.

Across 2025, landlords consistently paid below homeowners, with average discounts never falling below 25.4%. This sustained trend underscores landlords' ability to identify undervalued assets or negotiate more favorable terms across different market conditions in Greene County.

Landlords were significant players in Greene County's Q4 2025 housing market, capturing 28.2% of all SFR purchases. Out of 245 total transactions, 69 properties were acquired by investors, underscoring their active role in shaping local housing inventory.

The market saw a substantial influx of single-property landlords (Tier 01) during Q4, with 82 distinct entities purchasing 48 properties. This highlights the continuous entry of new, small-scale investors into the Greene County rental market.

Mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) collectively accounted for 92.9% of all landlord purchases in Q4 2025, acquiring 65 properties. This strong activity confirms their status as the primary drivers of investor acquisitions in the county, with only minimal activity from larger tiers.

In stark contrast to the small-scale investor activity, institutional investors (Tier 09) made no purchases in Q4 2025. This absence reinforces the narrative of a market almost entirely shaped by individual and small-to-mid size investors rather than large corporations.

Beyond single-property owners, smaller landlord tiers continued to contribute to acquisition activity: two-property landlords (Tier 02) purchased 9 properties, and 3-5 property landlords (Tier 03) acquired 5 properties, further solidifying the mom-and-pop dominance in recent buying trends.

The structure of Greene County's investor-owned SFR market is overwhelmingly dominated by smaller investors. Mom-and-pop landlords, categorized as owning 1-10 properties, control an astounding 98.4% of the total investor-owned housing, with 6,511 properties under their management.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) alone account for the vast majority of this dominance, holding 5,677 properties, which represents 85.8% of all investor-owned SFR. This concentration highlights the critical role of first-time and single-asset investors in the local market.

The smallest landlord tiers (01-04) collectively own 6,511 properties, reinforcing that the investment landscape in Greene County is characterized by a high number of small-scale operators. This distribution challenges common perceptions of institutional dominance in the broader housing market.

In stark contrast, institutional investors (Tier 09), those owning 1000+ properties, maintain a virtually non-existent footprint in Greene County, controlling only 5 properties, or a mere 0.1% of the investor-owned market. This demonstrates their minimal influence on the local housing supply.

Even mid-size landlords (Tiers 05-08) hold a modest share, with portfolios ranging from 11-1000 properties accounting for less than 2% of the total investor-owned SFR. This consistent pattern across all larger tiers solidifies the small landlord ecosystem as the defining feature of Greene County's investment housing.

Individual investors are the driving force behind small-scale property ownership in Greene County, dominating the most prevalent tiers. They account for 95.9% of single-property portfolios (5,496 properties) and 90.4% of two-property portfolios (347 properties), clearly establishing their foundational role in the market.

The dynamic shifts significantly in larger portfolio sizes, as companies gain prominence. While individuals still hold 77.8% of 11-20 property portfolios, the crossover point where companies become the majority owner occurs at the 21-50 property tier, where they control an overwhelming 96.4% (27 properties).

This distinct shift reveals that while individuals prefer smaller, more manageable portfolios, larger-scale operations involving 21 or more properties are almost exclusively the domain of corporate entities in Greene County.

Even in mid-size tiers like 6-10 properties, company ownership rises notably to 38.3% (44 properties), demonstrating their increasing, albeit not majority, presence in these larger but still non-institutional segments.

The data underscores a clear segmentation: the vast majority of landlords are individuals with 1-5 properties, but the few larger portfolios present in Greene County are predominantly structured under corporate ownership, indicating different operational scales and strategies between owner types.

Investor-owned SFR properties in Greene County are highly concentrated within specific zip codes. The 37743 zip code stands out as the primary hub, with 2,423 investor-owned properties, representing 28.7% of its total SFR market. This makes it the leading area for investor activity by volume.

Following closely, zip code 37745 also shows substantial investor presence, housing 1,896 investor-owned properties and demonstrating a 30.4% investor ownership rate. Together, these two zip codes account for 4,319 properties, which is 66.7% of all investor-owned SFR in Greene County, highlighting extreme geographic concentration.

While 37743 and 37745 lead in raw property counts, other zip codes exhibit even higher investor ownership rates. Zip code 65807 recorded an exceptional 100.0% investor ownership, suggesting a very small, specialized area completely owned by investors, while 37857 and 37656 follow with 33.3% and 32.8% rates, respectively.

The geographic distribution reveals that regions with high investor property counts often also have high investor ownership rates, such as 37745 (1,896 properties, 30.4% rate) and 37818 (489 properties, 31.0% rate). This indicates that investors are deeply embedded in the housing markets of these sub-geographies.

The top five zip codes by count—37743, 37745, 37641, 37818, and 37616—together comprise a significant majority of Greene County's investor-owned properties. Their investor ownership rates consistently range from 26.1% to 31.0%, reaffirming their status as key areas for landlord activity.

Landlords in Greene County are operating as robust net buyers, significantly expanding their portfolios. In Q4 2025 alone, they executed 106 buy transactions compared to just 17 sells, resulting in a formidable 6.24x buy-to-sell ratio, signaling strong confidence and accumulation in the market.

This net buyer trend is consistent across 2025, with landlords purchasing a total of 390 properties and selling only 66, yielding a substantial net gain of 324 properties for the year. This continued high volume of acquisitions demonstrates sustained investor interest and activity.

Comparing year-over-year, landlord buying activity in 2025 (390 buys) slightly decreased from 2024 (435 buys), yet their net acquisition volume remained high. This suggests a sustained, albeit slightly modulated, growth strategy over the past two years.

Institutional investors (1000+ tier), despite their small market presence, have transitioned to a net buyer position in 2025, with 5 acquisitions versus 2 sales. This marks a shift from their neutral stance in 2024, when they recorded 4 buys and 4 sells, indicating a strategic, albeit minor, accumulation phase.

The consistent net buying behavior across both individual and institutional segments underscores a prevailing market sentiment of growth and investment in Greene County SFR properties. There is no data provided regarding the percentage of transactions that are landlord-to-landlord, limiting analysis of inter-investor trading.

Landlords were highly active participants in Greene County’s Q4 2025 real estate market, contributing to over a quarter of all transactions. Out of 392 total SFR transactions, 106 involved landlords, underscoring their significant influence on market liquidity and property turnover.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) emerged as the most active segment, responsible for 82 transactions with an average purchase price of $190,629. This reinforces their role as the primary engine of transaction volume among investors.

Average purchase prices exhibited significant variability across different landlord tiers in Q4. While Tier 01 landlords paid $190,629, Tier 02 secured properties at a considerably lower average of $72,029, and Tier 06-10 paid the highest at $259,817, demonstrating diverse pricing strategies and property types targeted by different investor sizes.

Inter-landlord trading appeared limited and concentrated, with only single-property landlords (Tier 01) showing activity, acquiring 7 properties (8.5% of their total transactions) from other landlords. Larger tiers reported no such transactions in the provided Q4 data, suggesting that most sales are to non-landlord buyers or initial entry into the market.

The complete absence of transactional activity from institutional investors (Tier 09) in Q4 further emphasizes the dominance of small to mid-size landlords in Greene County. This pattern indicates that local market dynamics are largely shaped by smaller, localized investment decisions rather than large corporate strategies.