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

Landlords in Johnson County, TN collectively own 1,815 SFR properties, representing a significant 34.8% of the county's total 5,209 SFR market. This high concentration highlights the substantial role investors play in the local housing supply.

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate the landlord landscape, controlling 1,709 properties (94.2%) compared to companies which own just 126 properties (6.9%). This reinforces the prevalence of mom-and-pop landlords over corporate entities in the county.

The ownership structure is further underscored by the entity count, with 2,346 individual landlords versus only 120 company landlords. This yields a ratio of nearly 20 individual landlords for every company landlord, solidifying the market's individual-driven nature.

A striking 99.1% of all investor-owned properties (1,799 out of 1,815) are designated as rented, indicating that landlord portfolios in Johnson County are almost exclusively focused on providing rental housing rather than other uses.

The majority of investor-owned properties, 1,448, were acquired with cash, suggesting a preference for outright ownership and potentially less reliance on financing for these investors.

In Q4 2025, landlords in Johnson County, TN demonstrated a significant pricing advantage, acquiring properties at an average of $187,630. This represents a substantial 46.0% discount, or $159,640 less, compared to traditional homeowners who paid an average of $347,270.

The landlord pricing advantage in Q4 2025 marks a notable shift from the previous quarter, Q3 2025, where landlords paid an 8.5% premium ($313,115 vs $288,554). This volatility suggests opportunistic buying or specific market conditions that favored investors in the latest quarter.

Looking at the year 2025, landlord acquisition prices have shown considerable fluctuation: a 26.4% discount in Q1 ($221,280 vs $300,497) and a 33.6% discount in Q2 ($200,841 vs $302,662). This indicates that the ability of landlords to secure properties below homeowner prices has been a consistent pattern throughout the year, albeit with varying degrees of discount.

Despite these notable price comparisons, reported landlord acquisition volume for specific timeframes in 2025 has been minimal or zero, including Q4 2025, Q3 2025, Q2 2025, and Q1 2025, raising questions about the underlying transaction volume supporting these average prices in the detailed acquisition data.

The overall average acquisition price for landlords in 2025 was $246,575, slightly below the 2024 average of $258,575, and near the 2020-2023 average of $231,042, indicating relative price stability for investor-acquired properties over the past few years despite quarterly fluctuations.

Landlords in Johnson County, TN were highly active in Q4 2025, accounting for 17 out of 45 total SFR purchases, securing a significant 37.8% share of the market for the quarter.

The Q4 purchasing activity was exclusively driven by smaller investors, with mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) responsible for 100.0% of all landlord acquisitions (17 properties), demonstrating their continued market dominance.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) were particularly active, acquiring 15 properties which represents a commanding 88.2% of all landlord purchases in Q4 2025. This tier was represented by 23 entities, indicating a robust entry of new or very small investors into the market.

Conversely, institutional investors (Tier 09) showed no purchasing activity in Johnson County, TN during Q4 2025, reflecting a complete absence from new acquisitions by large-scale entities.

Beyond single-property landlords, activity from other mom-and-pop tiers was minimal, with Tier 02 (two-property) and Tier 03-05 (small landlord) each accounting for only 1 property purchase (5.9% each) by one entity per tier in Q4.

Mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) exert near-total control over the investor-owned SFR market in Johnson County, TN, holding a dominant 99.8% of all 1,815 investor properties. This highlights a highly decentralized ownership structure.

The bedrock of this market is the single-property landlord (Tier 01), who collectively own 1,633 properties, representing an overwhelming 88.4% of the entire investor-owned SFR portfolio in the county.

Institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) are entirely absent from the ownership landscape in Johnson County, TN, holding 0.0% of investor-owned properties. This sharply contrasts with media narratives often focused on large corporate buyers.

The next largest segments of ownership fall to Tier 02 (two-property) with 104 properties (5.6%) and Tier 03-05 (small landlord) with 95 properties (5.1%). Even combined, these still fall far short of Tier 01's dominance.

Comparing current ownership to Q4 2025 purchase activity (100.0% mom-and-pop from Section 7) confirms that new acquisitions continue to strengthen the mom-and-pop segment, perpetuating the county's existing investor profile.

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate the smaller portfolio tiers in Johnson County, TN, holding 94.3% of properties in the single-property tier (Tier 01) and 91.3% in the two-property tier (Tier 02).

Companies begin to gain a more significant foothold in slightly larger portfolios, representing 17.9% of properties in the 3-5 property tier and 25.0% in the 6-10 property tier, though individuals remain the majority owners in these segments.

The crossover point where company ownership reaches parity with individual ownership appears in the small-medium landlord tier (21-50 properties). Here, individuals own 1 property (50.0%) and companies own 1 property (50.0%), making it the tier with the highest relative company concentration, though the overall property count is extremely low.

Given the dominance of individual investors in all smaller tiers, and the minimal presence of companies even in the 21-50 tier, the Johnson County market is fundamentally shaped by individual landlord activity across its most active segments.

Within Johnson County, TN, the zip code 37683 stands out as the primary hub for investor activity, containing 1,107 investor-owned properties. This region alone accounts for a substantial portion of the county's total investor-owned housing.

While 37683 leads by raw count, the 37640 zip code shows the highest concentration of investor ownership, with 44.5% of its SFR properties being investor-owned. This indicates a particularly high penetration rate by landlords in that specific area.

The top five sub-geographies by investor-owned property count (37683, 37640, 37688, 37691, 37680) collectively represent the vast majority of landlord activity, showcasing a clear geographic concentration of investor holdings within Johnson County, TN.

There is a strong correlation between high property counts and high investor ownership rates in Johnson County's top sub-geographies. For example, 37683, while leading in count, still maintains a significant 31.8% ownership rate, and 37640 leads in rate with a substantial 411 properties.

The investor ownership rates across these top regions range from 31.8% to 44.5%, signaling that landlords are a significant and active force across multiple key areas within Johnson County, TN, deeply embedded in the local housing market.

Landlords in Johnson County, TN consistently acted as net buyers throughout 2025, accumulating properties rather than divesting. In Q4 2025, they bought 26 properties while selling only 1, resulting in a robust net gain of 25 properties and an impressive 26.0x buy/sell ratio.

This strong buying trend is evident across the year, with total buys reaching 134 properties against 15 sells in 2025, yielding a net positive acquisition of 119 properties. This signals continued confidence and growth among the local investor base.

Quarter-over-quarter, landlords maintained a net buyer status, with 49 buys vs 7 sells in Q3 2025 and 25 buys vs 2 sells in Q2 2025. This consistent accumulation pattern underscores a persistent expansion of landlord portfolios in the county.

In stark contrast to the overall landlord activity, institutional investors (Tier 1000+) exhibited a net seller position in 2024, selling 2 properties while buying only 1. This divergence highlights that large-scale entities are either disinvesting or have a negligible presence, leaving market growth to smaller investors.

The sustained net buying activity by the vast majority of landlords suggests a healthy appetite for SFR properties in Johnson County, indicating a stable or growing rental market supported by local, smaller-scale investors.

In Q4 2025, landlords played a substantial role in the Johnson County, TN housing market, participating in 26 transactions, which accounts for a significant 34.7% of the total 75 SFR transactions for the quarter.

The majority of this activity came from single-property landlords (Tier 01), who were responsible for 23 transactions. This highlights their intense engagement in the market and their foundational role in current transaction volumes.

Pricing varied considerably across the active tiers; Tier 01 landlords paid an average of $199,833, while the single transaction in Tier 03-05 was at a surprisingly low $4,000, and Tier 06-10 saw a transaction at $425,000. This indicates diverse strategies or property types being acquired across different small investor segments.

Inter-landlord trading was minimal in Q4, with only 2 transactions (8.7%) by single-property landlords originating from other landlords. This suggests that the majority of landlord purchases are coming from traditional homeowners or other non-investor sellers, rather than existing investors exchanging properties.

The dominance of mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) in Q4 transactions (26 transactions) perfectly aligns with their near-total ownership share (99.8% from Section 8), reinforcing their consistent and pervasive influence across both current market activity and long-term portfolio holdings in Johnson County, TN.