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

Landlords in Knox County, TN, collectively own 28,257 SFR properties, representing 17.8% of the total SFR market, indicating a significant but not overwhelming presence in the county's housing stock.

Individual investors form the backbone of this market, holding 21,924 SFR properties, which constitutes 77.6% of all investor-owned units. This significantly outweighs the 6,784 properties (24.0%) owned by companies, challenging narratives of corporate dominance.

The investor landscape is heavily populated by individuals, with 27,434 individual landlords compared to just 2,765 company landlords. This represents a substantial ratio of 9.92 individual landlords for every company landlord.

The portfolio is predominantly rental-focused, with 27,482 properties (97.2% of landlord-owned SFR) designated as rented or non-owner-occupied, underscoring landlords' role in providing rental housing in Knox County, TN.

A significant portion of landlord acquisitions are made with cash, with 19,175 properties (67.9% of the portfolio) being cash purchases compared to 9,082 (32.1%) that are financed, indicating a preference for debt-free ownership or robust capital availability among investors.

In Q4 2025, landlords in Knox County, TN, paid an average of $346,910 for SFR properties, securing a substantial 27.7% discount compared to traditional homeowners who paid $479,813 – a difference of $132,903 per property.

This pricing advantage is consistent across recent quarters, with landlords achieving a 26.4% discount in Q3 2025 ($368,603 vs $500,653) and an even greater 32.1% discount in Q2 2025 ($336,023 vs $495,049), highlighting their ability to find and acquire properties below market rate.

Acquisition prices for landlords have seen significant appreciation, with the average price in Q4 2025 at $346,910 marking a 17.9% increase from the $294,144 average seen during the 2020-2023 pandemic boom era.

The quarter-over-quarter price gap between landlords and homeowners has fluctuated but consistently remained above 26%, demonstrating a persistent structural advantage for investor buyers in Knox County, TN.

While specific acquisition property counts for different timeframes in this section's data show 0 properties, the consistent pricing information for Landlord vs Homeowner comparisons from the other dataset (`section6-2.csv`) indicates active market participation at these price points.

Landlords in Knox County, TN, were significant participants in the Q4 2025 market, making 356 SFR purchases, which represents 19.5% of the total 1,828 SFR purchases during the quarter.

Mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) overwhelmingly drove this activity, accounting for 294 properties or 79.9% of all landlord purchases in Q4. This signals the continued vitality of smaller-scale investors in the market.

The single-property landlord tier (Tier 01) was the most active segment, with 245 entities purchasing 177 properties, making up 48.1% of all landlord acquisitions in Q4. This indicates a strong influx of new or expanding small investors.

In contrast, institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) made only 18 purchases in Q4, representing a minor 4.9% of landlord acquisitions, further emphasizing the mom-and-pop dominance in current buying activity.

Across all active tiers, the average properties purchased per entity varied, with Tier 01 showing 177 properties by 245 entities (0.72 properties/entity) and Tier 09 showing 18 properties by 2 entities (9 properties/entity), reflecting different buying scales.

Mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) collectively dominate the investor-owned SFR market in Knox County, TN, controlling an overwhelming 88.0% of all properties held by investors.

The single-property landlord tier (Tier 01) forms the largest segment of this market, owning 18,894 properties, which accounts for 64.3% of the total investor-owned SFR properties.

Despite common perceptions, institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) hold a very small fraction of the market, owning only 550 properties, representing a modest 1.9% of the total investor-owned SFR supply.

In Q4 2025, acquisition prices reveal a notable disparity: institutional investors purchased properties at an average of $297,433, which is 18.8% less than the average price of $366,359 paid by single-property landlords.

The distribution clearly illustrates that the SFR rental market in Knox County, TN, is highly fragmented and primarily driven by a vast number of small, individual investors, rather than concentrated corporate entities.

A distinct crossover point occurs at the 'Small landlord (6-10)' tier, where company ownership surpasses individual ownership, with companies holding 51.6% of properties compared to individuals at 48.4%.

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate the smallest portfolios, accounting for 91.1% of single-property (Tier 01) ownership and 80.1% of two-property (Tier 02) ownership, highlighting their prevalence in the entry-level and small-scale rental market.

Conversely, company ownership becomes increasingly concentrated as portfolio size expands, reaching near-total dominance in the 'Large (101-1000)' tier where companies own 99.7% of properties compared to a mere 0.3% held by individuals.

Even within mid-sized portfolios, such as the 'Small-medium (11-20)' and 'Small-medium (21-50)' tiers, companies hold a significant majority, accounting for 70.4% and 79.5% of properties respectively.

This pattern reveals a clear segmentation of the market by owner type, where individual investors form the broad base of small landlords, while companies increasingly take over as portfolios scale up in Knox County, TN.

Within Knox County, TN, zip code TN-Knox-37920 has the highest concentration of investor-owned properties, totaling 3,360 units, representing 23.1% of its SFR market.

TN-Knox-37916 exhibits an exceptionally high investor ownership rate of 70.3%, making it the most investor-saturated zip code despite not being in the top five by raw property count, suggesting a very strong rental market or a prevalence of smaller, older housing stock.

The zip code TN-Knox-37917 demonstrates a balance of high volume and high penetration, with 2,712 investor-owned properties and a 29.0% investor ownership rate, placing it highly on both metrics.

The top five regions by investor-owned count (TN-Knox-37920, 37917, 37918, 37921, and 37914) collectively represent significant hubs of investor activity within Knox County, TN, ranging from 2,120 to 3,360 properties each.

The varying distribution between high property count and high percentage highlights diverse market characteristics across Knox County, TN's zip codes, from large volume markets to highly concentrated niche rental areas.

Overall, landlords in Knox County, TN, have maintained a consistent net buyer position, acquiring 450 properties against 192 sales in Q4 2025, resulting in a strong 2.34x buy/sell ratio and a net gain of 258 properties.

This trend of accumulation is sustained throughout 2025, with landlords buying 1,970 properties and selling 821, for a 2.40x buy/sell ratio, reinforcing their strategic expansion in the market.

Institutional investors (1000+ tier) also remained net buyers in Q4 2025, with 18 purchases against 5 sales, yielding an impressive 3.6x buy/sell ratio, signaling their continued, albeit more selective, accumulation strategy.

While institutional investors are net buyers, their annual buying volume has significantly decreased from 143 properties in 2024 to 79 properties in 2025, indicating a slowdown in their acquisition pace, even as sales remained low (7 properties in both years).

The consistent net buying behavior across all landlord segments, despite fluctuations in volume, indicates strong underlying confidence in the long-term appreciation and rental income potential of SFR properties in Knox County, TN.

Landlords were involved in 450 transactions in Q4 2025, constituting 15.4% of the total 2,915 SFR transactions in Knox County, TN, demonstrating their significant, though not dominant, role in market liquidity.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) were the most active segment, undertaking 245 transactions in Q4, while mom-and-pop landlords (Tier 01-04) collectively accounted for 372 transactions, vastly outpacing the 18 transactions by institutional investors (Tier 09).

Acquisition prices varied significantly across tiers, with 'Small landlord (6-10)' tier buyers paying the highest average of $582,884, and 'Two-property (2)' tier buyers securing the lowest average price at $177,866, indicating diverse investment strategies.

Institutional investors acquired properties at an average price of $297,433, which is $68,926 (18.8%) less than the average of $366,359 paid by the most active single-property landlords (Tier 01).

Inter-landlord trading was most prominent in the 'Small landlord (3-5)' tier, where 20.3% of transactions involved properties bought from other landlords, contrasting with institutional investors who sourced 0.0% of their Q4 purchases from other landlords.

The large price spread of $405,018 between the highest ($582,884 for Tier 6-10) and lowest ($177,866 for Tier 2) average purchase prices in Q4 highlights the fragmented nature of the market and the varied types of properties acquired by different investor tiers.