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

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate the landlord-owned SFR market in Stewart County, possessing 1,057 properties, which constitutes 94.2% of the total 1,122 investor-owned SFR properties. This contrasts sharply with company-owned properties, which account for only 78 properties (7.0%).

The prevalence of individual landlords extends to entity counts, with 1,384 individual landlords making up 95.0% of the total 1,457 landlords in the county, versus just 73 company landlords (5.0%). This highlights the grassroots nature of property investment here.

Landlord portfolios are primarily focused on generating rental income, with 1,105 properties (98.5% of investor-owned) currently rented. This signals that virtually all investor-owned SFR in Stewart County serves as rental housing.

A significant majority of investor holdings are acquired without debt, as 948 properties (84.5% of investor-owned) are cash purchases. This suggests a highly capitalized investor base and a potential resilience to interest rate fluctuations compared to markets with heavier reliance on financing.

Conversely, only 174 properties (15.5% of investor-owned) are financed, indicating that Stewart County landlords largely prefer unencumbered assets or possess the capital to avoid mortgage debt for their investments.

In Q4 2025, landlords acquired properties at a significant advantage, paying an average of $179,033. This represents a substantial $95,096 discount, or 34.7% less, compared to traditional homeowners who paid an average of $274,129 for SFR properties.

The price advantage for landlords was highly volatile throughout 2025, peaking at a 51.8% discount ($152,728 less) in Q3 ($141,979 vs $294,707). This was followed by Q4's 34.7% discount, and a narrower 20.8% discount in Q2 ($57,728 less, at $220,181 vs $277,909).

Despite quarterly fluctuations, landlord acquisition prices have shown a notable upward trend since the pandemic era. The average price for properties acquired in Year 2025 stands at $192,272, marking a 13.3% increase from the $169,677 average observed during 2020-2023.

The consistent ability of landlords to purchase properties at a lower price point than traditional homeowners suggests a strategic advantage, likely due to market expertise, cash offers, or targeting of specific property types not typically pursued by owner-occupants.

The lack of purchase data for 2024-Q4 indicates a significant lull in landlord acquisitions during that specific quarter, despite a higher average acquisition price of $246,063 for the properties that were acquired.

Landlords significantly impacted the Q4 2025 market in Stewart County, responsible for 15 (34.1%) of the total 44 SFR properties purchased. This indicates that over a third of all SFR sales in the quarter were investor-driven.

The Q4 purchasing activity was exclusively dominated by mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04), who collectively acquired all 15 landlord-owned properties. This demonstrates a robust local investor base driving market transactions.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) were the most active segment, contributing 12 properties (80.0%) to the landlord purchase total, involving 17 distinct entities. This suggests a vibrant entry point or modest expansion for smaller investors in the market.

Mid-size mom-and-pop landlords also saw activity, with those holding 3-5 properties purchasing 2 properties (13.3%), and landlords with 6-10 properties acquiring 1 property (6.7%). These smaller tiers collectively form the entire purchasing landscape for investors in Q4.

Notably, there was a complete absence of purchasing activity from institutional investors (Tier 09), reinforcing the local and small-scale nature of the investor market in Stewart County for the current quarter.

Mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) overwhelmingly dominate the SFR investment landscape in Stewart County, controlling an immense 99.3% of all investor-owned properties. This highlights the market's reliance on smaller, local investors.

The distribution of ownership is heavily skewed towards the smallest investors, with single-property landlords (Tier 01) holding 965 properties, representing a substantial 82.4% of the total landlord-owned SFR.

Two-property landlords (Tier 02) follow with 97 properties (8.3%), and small landlords (Tiers 03-05) own 91 properties (7.8%), further cementing the concentration of ownership within the mom-and-pop segment.

In stark contrast, institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) have a minimal footprint, owning just 1 property, which translates to a mere 0.1% of the total investor-owned SFR in the county.

The data clearly demonstrates that Stewart County's investor-owned housing market is almost entirely composed of small-scale investors, challenging any narrative of widespread corporate landlord dominance in this region.

Individual investors maintain a commanding presence across all reported tiers in Stewart County, consistently holding the majority share of properties. In the single-property (Tier 01) segment, individuals own 924 properties (95.1%), while companies account for only 48 properties (4.9%).

This individual dominance continues into slightly larger portfolios, with individuals owning 93 properties (95.9%) in the two-property (Tier 02) tier, and 73 properties (80.2%) in the small landlord (Tier 3-5) category, compared to 4 (4.1%) and 18 (19.8%) for companies, respectively.

The share of company ownership gradually increases with tier size, reaching 30.0% (3 properties) in the small landlord (Tier 6-10) category, where individuals still own a majority of 7 properties (70.0%).

The closest a company's share comes to surpassing individual ownership in the provided data is in the small-medium (Tier 21-50) segment, where it reaches a 50.0% split, with 1 individual-owned property and 1 company-owned property.

Even in the medium-large (Tier 51-100) category, individual investors still hold 100.0% of the properties (1 property), indicating that larger-scale company operations are either non-existent or not represented in the available data for these specific tiers in Stewart County.

Investor-owned properties in Stewart County are heavily concentrated within a few key zip codes, with TN-Stewart-37058 leading significantly by count, harboring 663 investor-owned SFR properties. This zip code also maintains a robust investor ownership rate of 29.7%.

While TN-Stewart-37058 holds the largest volume of investor properties, TN-Stewart-37028 demonstrates the highest investor penetration rate, with 38.9% of its SFR properties being investor-owned, totaling 111 properties. This highlights areas of strong landlord market share.

The top five sub-geographies by investor-owned count collectively represent the vast majority of investment activity in the county. These include TN-Stewart-37058 (663 properties), TN-Stewart-37079 (117 properties), TN-Stewart-37028 (111 properties), TN-Stewart-37023 (91 properties), and TN-Stewart-37050 (89 properties).

Examining investor ownership rates reveals other highly penetrated areas beyond just raw counts. TN-Stewart-37050 stands out with a 34.1% investor-owned rate for its 89 properties, and TN-Stewart-37175 shows a 30.6% rate, indicating these are prime areas for rental demand or investor appeal.

The pattern suggests that specific localities within Stewart County are significantly more attractive to landlords, whether for their higher rental yields, affordability, or potential for appreciation, leading to distinct geographical concentrations of investor activity.

Landlords in Stewart County exhibited a highly aggressive net buying posture in Q4 2025, recording 20 purchases against only 1 sale, resulting in an exceptionally high buy-to-sell ratio of 20.0x. This signifies a strong period of portfolio expansion.

Looking at the entire year, landlords maintained a robust net buyer position in Year 2025, with 89 purchases versus 9 sales, yielding a buy-to-sell ratio of 9.89x. This represents a significant increase in acquisition intensity compared to the prior year.

The trend of net buying has strengthened year-over-year, as landlords were also net buyers in Year 2024, but with a lower buy-to-sell ratio of 3.67x (66 buys vs 18 sells). This indicates an accelerated accumulation strategy over time.

Throughout 2025, landlord purchases consistently outstripped sales, with Q3 showing 21 buys vs 2 sells, and Q2 recording 23 buys vs 3 sells, maintaining a strong positive net acquisition trend across all quarters.

Information regarding institutional (1000+ tier) transactions and the percentage of purchases from other landlords is not available in the provided data, preventing a comprehensive analysis of these specific market segments.

Landlords were significant players in the Q4 2025 transaction landscape in Stewart County, participating in 20 transactions, which accounts for 30.3% of the total 66 SFR transactions during the quarter. This highlights their considerable market presence.

Transaction activity was entirely concentrated within the mom-and-pop landlord segment (Tiers 01-04), which executed all 20 landlord transactions. This reinforces the pattern of small-scale investors driving market dynamics, with no institutional activity observed.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) were the most active, completing 17 transactions at an average purchase price of $186,375. This suggests that smaller investors are readily entering the market or expanding their portfolios with individual properties.

Interestingly, single-property landlords (Tier 01) paid the highest average price among active tiers in Q4 at $186,375. This contrasts with small landlords (Tier 03-05) who paid $134,812 and Tier 06-10 landlords who paid $150,000, indicating a premium paid for entry-level investments.

A notable finding is the complete absence of inter-landlord trading, as 0.0% of purchases in Q4 were acquired from other landlords across all active tiers. This suggests that Q4 landlord acquisitions were primarily sourced from traditional homeowners or other non-landlord sellers.