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

Landlords in Macon County, TN, collectively own 1,500 Single Family Residential (SFR) properties, accounting for a significant 21.6% of the total 6,951 SFR properties in the market. This substantial share highlights the influential role investors play in the local housing landscape.

Individual landlords are the dominant force within the investor market, owning 1,318 SFR properties, which constitutes 87.9% of all landlord-owned housing. In stark contrast, company-owned SFR properties amount to only 200, or 13.3% of the total investor portfolio, underscoring the prevalence of smaller-scale, individual ownership.

The distinction between individual and company entities further solidifies the mom-and-pop narrative, with 1,529 individual landlords compared to just 106 company landlords in the county. This translates to an overwhelming 93.5% of landlords being individuals, suggesting a highly fragmented and individual-driven investor market.

A notable 97.9% of all investor-owned properties (1,468 out of 1,500) are classified as rented, indicating that landlord portfolios are almost exclusively rental-focused and non-owner-occupied. This high percentage signifies the market's strong orientation towards providing rental housing.

The financing composition of investor-owned properties reveals a preference for cash transactions, with 1,183 properties acquired outright. This is nearly four times the number of properties that are financed (317 properties), suggesting that a significant portion of landlord acquisitions are made without mortgage debt.

In 2025-Q4, landlords in Macon County exhibited a remarkable pricing advantage, acquiring properties for an average of $165,982. This represents a substantial $157,574 discount, or 48.7% less, than the average $323,556 paid by traditional homeowners.

The landlord-homeowner price gap demonstrated extreme volatility throughout 2025. While Q4 saw landlords pay 48.7% less, the discount was a mere 5.5% in Q3 ($271,661 vs $287,501), widened to 42.8% in Q2 ($179,340 vs $313,599), and stood at 24.3% in Q1 ($219,853 vs $290,553), indicating inconsistent market dynamics.

Despite the lack of specific purchase volumes for historical landlord acquisitions in certain data sets, the average acquisition price for landlords shows a trend of decreasing costs over recent years. The average price in 2025 was $204,332, lower than the $229,987 average in 2024, but still above the 2020-2023 average of $185,961.

Comparing pre-2024 pricing, the average landlord acquisition price of $185,961 during the 2020-2023 period was significantly higher than the $165,982 seen in Q4 2025. This suggests that recent landlord acquisitions are occurring at lower average price points than during the pandemic-era housing boom.

The significant quarter-over-quarter swings in the landlord price advantage underscore a highly opportunistic acquisition strategy within Macon County, where investors capitalize on specific market conditions to secure substantial discounts against traditional buyers.

Landlords in Macon County played a substantial role in the Q4 2025 housing market, acquiring 27 SFR properties, which represents a significant 33.8% of all 80 total SFR purchases made during the quarter. This indicates a strong and active investor presence.

The market for landlord purchases in Q4 was overwhelmingly driven by single-property investors (Tier 01), who acquired 20 properties, comprising 69.0% of all landlord purchases. This tier also saw the most new activity, with 30 entities making purchases, highlighting the entry of many new small-scale landlords.

Mom-and-pop landlords, encompassing Tiers 01-04 (1-10 properties), collectively accounted for 25 purchases, representing a dominant 86.2% of all landlord acquisitions in Q4 2025. This reinforces their foundational role in driving investor activity.

In contrast, institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) made a minimal impact on Q4 purchases, acquiring only 2 properties. This represents just 6.9% of all landlord acquisitions, demonstrating that the market's purchasing activity is primarily driven by smaller-scale investors.

The distribution of entities by tier for Q4 purchases reveals that the Single-property tier had 30 entities responsible for 20 properties, indicating a high number of individual new market entrants, many potentially making their first investment. Other tiers, like Small-medium (11-20), also had 2 entities acquiring 2 properties each, suggesting concentrated buying power within those segments.

Mom-and-pop landlords, defined as those owning 1-10 properties (Tiers 01-04), collectively dominate the investor-owned housing market in Macon County, controlling a substantial 91.2% of all SFR properties held by investors. This amounts to 1,454 properties out of the total 1,596 tracked.

The Single-property (Tier 01) landlord segment forms the backbone of the investor market, owning 1,070 properties, which alone represents 67.1% of the total investor-owned SFR. This highlights the pervasive presence of first-time or minimal-portfolio landlords.

In stark contrast to media narratives, institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) hold a negligible share of the market, controlling only 7 properties, which accounts for a mere 0.4% of all landlord-owned SFR in Macon County. This demonstrates that large corporate entities have a minimal footprint in this specific market.

The concentration of ownership across all tiers significantly tapers off beyond the mom-and-pop segment. Tiers 05-08 (11-1000 properties) together hold only 8.4% of the market (134 properties), further underscoring the fragmented, small-investor nature of Macon County's SFR market.

Unfortunately, data regarding how acquisition prices vary by tier (e.g., whether larger investors pay more or less per property) is not available within the provided CSVs for Macon County, precluding an analysis of pricing strategies across different investor sizes.

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate all observed portfolio tiers in Macon County, from single-property holdings to larger small-medium portfolios. In the Single-property tier, individuals own 1,020 properties (94.5%), showcasing their foundational role at the entry level of the market.

The presence of company ownership, while growing with tier size, never achieves a majority. The highest concentration of company-owned properties is observed in the Small Landlord (6-10 properties) tier, where companies hold 39 properties, representing 40.6% of that tier's total.

Beyond the smallest portfolios, companies gradually increase their market share within tiers, but remain a minority. For instance, in the Two-property tier, companies own 15 properties (11.6%), which increases to 17 properties (10.6%) in the Small Landlord (3-5 properties) tier, and 23 properties (27.7%) in the Small-medium (11-20 properties) tier.

The data reveals that there is no identifiable 'crossover point' where company ownership surpasses individual ownership in any of the analyzed tiers in Macon County. This reinforces the market's strong reliance on individual investors across various portfolio sizes.

Unfortunately, the provided data does not include information on how acquisition prices differ specifically between individual and company buyers within each tier, preventing an analysis of distinct pricing strategies by owner type.

Investor-owned properties in Macon County exhibit a clear geographic concentration, with the 37083 zip code dominating by sheer volume. This area accounts for 963 investor-owned SFR properties, making it the most active sub-geography for investors by count.

While 37083 leads in total investor properties, the 37150 zip code shows the highest penetration of investor ownership, with 31.0% of its SFR properties being investor-owned. This signals a particularly landlord-dense market within that specific area.

The top five sub-geographies by investor-owned count collectively showcase a significant portion of the county's investor activity. Following 37083 and 37150, zip codes 37186 (159 properties, 16.1% rate), 37074 (42 properties, 18.9% rate), and 37145 (19 properties, 27.9% rate) also demonstrate notable investor presence.

There is a divergence between regions with high investor property counts and those with high ownership rates. For instance, while 37083 has the most properties, 37150 and 37145 exhibit higher investor ownership rates (31.0% and 27.9% respectively), indicating that not all areas with high property counts necessarily have the highest market penetration.

The identified top regions, such as 37150 with 31.0% and 37145 with 27.9% investor ownership, represent key hotspots for rental market activity, demonstrating where a significant portion of the housing stock is dedicated to investment purposes.

Landlords in Macon County consistently operated as net buyers throughout 2025, accumulating properties rather than divesting. In Q4 2025, they completed 43 purchases against only 5 sales, resulting in a robust 8.6x buy-to-sell ratio, indicating aggressive accumulation.

This strong net buying trend is consistent annually, with landlords making 131 purchases versus 32 sales in 2025, for an overall buy/sell ratio of 4.09x. This represents a significant increase from 2024, which saw a 3.31x ratio (159 buys vs 48 sells), signaling accelerated acquisition activity.

Institutional investors (1000+ tier) also acted as net buyers throughout the period, albeit at a less aggressive pace than the overall landlord market. In Q4 2025, they made 2 purchases against 1 sale (a 2.0x ratio), and for the entirety of 2025, they recorded 8 buys against 3 sells (a 2.67x ratio).

The buy-to-sell ratio for all landlords fluctuated quarterly within 2025, from 2.69x in Q3 to 4.25x in Q2, before surging to 8.6x in Q4. This volatility suggests landlords are responsive to market opportunities, with Q4 presenting particularly favorable buying conditions.

Unfortunately, the provided data does not include information on the percentage of transactions that occurred between landlords (inter-landlord sales) or average buy versus sell prices, limiting the ability to assess implied margins or internal market liquidity.

Landlords were significant players in Macon County's Q4 2025 transaction market, participating in 43 of the 143 total SFR transactions. This means landlords accounted for 30.1% of all property exchanges during the quarter.

Transaction volume was heavily concentrated in the Single-property (Tier 01) segment, which recorded 30 transactions, making it the most active tier in Q4. This underlines the ongoing importance of new and small-scale investors in the market's liquidity and property turnover.

The average purchase prices varied significantly across tiers. Single-property landlords (Tier 01) paid an average of $142,342, while institutional investors (Tier 09) paid considerably more at $209,674 per property. This difference means institutional buyers paid 47.3% more than their single-property counterparts.

Inter-landlord trading activity was most pronounced within the Institutional (Tier 09) segment, where 1 out of their 2 transactions (50.0%) involved buying from another landlord. In contrast, only 4 out of 30 Single-property (Tier 01) transactions (13.3%) were sourced from other landlords, suggesting different acquisition channels.

While Tier 02 (Two-property) recorded the highest average purchase price at $400,000, this was based on only 4 transactions, indicating potentially unique or high-value acquisitions. The lowest average price was seen in the Small landlord (3-5) tier at $80,000 for a single transaction.

The comparison of Q4 transaction activity to overall ownership distribution shows consistency, as mom-and-pop tiers, especially Tier 01, lead in both current transactions and long-term holdings, reinforcing their foundational role in the Macon County SFR market.