Weber (UT) Investor Pulse Report (2025-Q4)

Landlords in Weber County, UT, collectively own 7,909 Single Family Residential properties, representing 11.5% of the total SFR market. This establishes a significant but not overwhelming presence within the county's housing landscape.

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate the landlord segment, holding 5,710 properties (72.2%) compared to companies which own 2,472 properties (31.3%). This highlights the enduring strength of 'mom-and-pop' landlord activity in the county.

The investor-owned portfolio demonstrates a clear focus on rental income, with 7,734 properties (97.8% of the total investor-owned) classified as rented or non-owner-occupied. This confirms that nearly all investor holdings serve as rental units.

Acquisition methods are largely split between cash and financed purchases; 4,169 properties were acquired with cash, and 3,740 were financed. This near 50/50 split indicates a balanced approach to capital deployment among landlords.

The landscape of landlord entities further reinforces individual ownership, with 7,786 (81.2%) of the 9,586 total landlords being individuals, contrasting with 1,800 (18.8%) company landlords. This significant numerical advantage contributes to the high individual property ownership share.

In a significant shift, landlords in Weber County paid an average of $482,179 for SFR properties in Q4 2025, securing a $11,617 (2.4%) discount compared to traditional homeowners who paid $493,796. This marks a notable reversal from earlier quarters in the year.

The landlord-homeowner price gap experienced considerable volatility throughout 2025. Landlords paid a substantial 27.8% premium in Q1 ($603,067 vs $471,713), followed by smaller premiums of 4.5% in Q2 ($535,289 vs $512,316) and 4.0% in Q3 ($528,144 vs $507,775), before landing on a discount in Q4.

Despite the Q4 discount, the '0 properties' listed as purchased by landlords across all timeframes (Q1-Q4 2025, full years 2024/2025, and 2020-2023) in this specific table is a critical data anomaly. While prices are provided, this indicates a potential limitation in recording distinct acquisitions for these periods within this dataset, despite other sections confirming Q4 purchases.

Analyzing historical trends, landlord acquisition prices averaged $491,936 during the 2020-2023 period. The Q4 2025 average price of $482,179 indicates a slight decline in average acquisition costs from the pandemic era, or a shift in the types of properties acquired.

The drastic swing from a 27.8% premium in Q1 to a 2.4% discount in Q4 reveals a highly dynamic market in Weber County, where landlord pricing strategies and market conditions are rapidly evolving. The consistent premiums in early 2025 suggest landlords were willing to pay above market for desirable properties, a trend that ended in the latest quarter.

Landlords in Weber County purchased 164 SFR properties in Q4 2025, capturing a significant 17.7% share of the 926 total SFR purchases in the county. This highlights landlords as an active and influential segment of the local housing market.

Mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04, 1-10 properties) were the primary drivers of this activity, making 148 purchases, which represents a commanding 88.1% of all landlord acquisitions in Q4. This reinforces their role as the backbone of the investor market.

The single-property tier (Tier 01) alone accounted for 100 property purchases by 128 entities, signaling a strong influx of new or expanding small-scale landlords. This tier represents 59.5% of all landlord purchases in Q4, indicating accessible entry for individual investors.

In stark contrast to mom-and-pop activity, institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) made only 3 purchases in Q4, representing a mere 1.8% of landlord acquisitions. This suggests a minimal direct purchasing presence from large institutional players in Weber County during this period.

The activity demonstrates that while several tiers are active, the market for new purchases is heavily concentrated among smaller, individual investors. Tiers 01-04 collectively engaged 159 entities to acquire 148 properties, highlighting broad participation across the smaller landlord segments.

Mom-and-pop landlords, encompassing Tiers 01-04 (1-10 properties), collectively control an overwhelming 92.5% of all investor-owned SFR properties in Weber County. This figure, representing 7,473 properties, decisively establishes their market dominance.

The market is particularly concentrated at the smallest scale, with single-property landlords (Tier 01) owning 6,280 properties, which accounts for 77.8% of the entire investor-owned portfolio. This signifies that first-time and very small-scale investors are the primary property holders.

In sharp contrast to mom-and-pop activity, institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) hold a minor share, owning only 197 properties, or 2.4% of the total investor-owned SFR. This challenges any notion of widespread institutional control in this county.

Beyond the smallest tier, ownership drops significantly; for example, two-property landlords (Tier 02) hold 454 properties (5.6%), and those with 3-5 properties (Tier 03-05) own 526 properties (6.5%). This rapid decline in property counts across subsequent tiers underscores the fragmentation of the investor market.

The data reveals a market structure where smaller landlords are not just numerous in entity count, but also overwhelmingly dominant in total property holdings, fundamentally shaping the supply of rental housing in Weber County.

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate smaller portfolios in Weber County, owning 78.8% of single-property (Tier 01) holdings and 58.3% of two-property (Tier 02) portfolios. This demonstrates the strong presence of individual landlords at the entry and small-scale tiers.

A significant shift occurs between the 3-5 property tier and the 6-10 property tier, where companies transition from minority to majority owners. In the 3-5 property tier, individuals still hold 51.4%, but in the 6-10 property tier, company ownership jumps to 79.8%.

Beyond the initial crossover, company ownership further solidifies its dominance in larger portfolios. Companies own 76.5% of properties in the 11-20 tier and 60.7% in the 21-50 tier, despite a slight dip in concentration at 21-50. Their control peaks in the 101-1000 property tier, where they own a commanding 97.4% of properties.

This distinct pattern illustrates that while individual investors are the foundation of the smaller landlord market, companies are the primary drivers of scaling property portfolios beyond the mom-and-pop definition, especially those with 6 or more properties.

The data clearly outlines a functional segregation within the landlord market: individuals predominantly operate at the smaller end, while companies increasingly take over as portfolio sizes expand, reflecting different investment capacities and strategies.

Within Weber County, UT, the 84404 zip code emerges as the primary hub for investor activity, boasting the highest count of 1,783 investor-owned SFR properties. This area also maintains a significant investor ownership rate of 10.8%.

Beyond leading in property counts, the 84401 and 84403 zip codes also show substantial investor presence, with 1,291 and 1,029 investor-owned properties respectively. Both areas also demonstrate high ownership rates, at 12.4% for 84401 and 10.6% for 84403.

Interestingly, the zip codes with the highest investor ownership *rates* are not necessarily those with the highest *counts*. Zip Code 84317 leads with an impressive 39.6% of its SFR properties being investor-owned, and 84310 follows with 34.7%, indicating very high penetration in potentially smaller sub-markets.

The correlation between high property counts and high ownership percentages is evident in zip codes like 84401, 84404, and 84403, which appear in the top 5 for both metrics. This suggests these areas are both large in terms of total housing stock and popular among investors.

The concentration of investor-owned properties reveals specific sub-geographies within Weber County that are particularly attractive to landlords, indicating localized market dynamics and investment hotbeds that warrant further investigation.

All landlords in Weber County consistently remained net buyers throughout 2025, culminating in a robust Q4 where 213 properties were bought against only 57 sold, resulting in a strong 3.74x buy-to-sell ratio. This signals sustained demand for rental properties from investors.

The net buying trend has been consistent, with Q3 showing 205 buys vs 81 sells (2.53x ratio) and Q2 at 148 buys vs 56 sells (2.64x ratio). For the full year 2025, landlords acquired 715 properties while selling 241, maintaining a 2.97x buy-to-sell ratio.

In contrast to the overall landlord trend, institutional investors (1000+ tier) exhibit more fluctuating activity. While they were net buyers in Q4 2025 (4 buys vs 3 sells) and Q3 (12 buys vs 9 sells), they were net sellers in Q2 2025 (3 buys vs 4 sells) and for the full year 2024 (2 buys vs 4 sells).

This divergence suggests that while the broader landlord market, predominantly mom-and-pop, is in accumulation mode, large institutional players are more selective, strategically acquiring or divesting based on market conditions, indicating a less aggressive overall growth strategy for institutional money in this county.

The consistent net buying behavior of all landlords underscores a positive outlook on the long-term viability of the rental market in Weber County, driving continued growth in the investor-owned housing stock, though at varying paces by investor size.

Landlords were involved in 213 transactions in Q4 2025, representing 14.7% of the total 1,452 SFR transactions in Weber County. This indicates a consistent and notable presence of investors in the quarter's sales activity.

Transaction volumes varied significantly across investor tiers, with single-property landlords (Tier 01) leading with 130 transactions, significantly outpacing all other tiers. This reinforces the mom-and-pop segment as the most active for both ownership and transaction volume.

A notable price disparity emerged, with single-property landlords (Tier 01) paying the highest average purchase price of $438,266. In contrast, institutional investors (Tier 09) secured properties at a lower average of $356,357, representing an 18.7% discount compared to Tier 01 buyers.

Institutional investors also demonstrated a unique transaction pattern, acquiring 2 out of their 4 Q4 properties (50.0%) from other landlords. This indicates a higher reliance on the secondary landlord market compared to single-property landlords, who sourced only 13.1% of their transactions from other investors.

The price spread between the highest and lowest average purchase prices by tier was substantial at $175,366, ranging from Tier 01's $438,266 to Tier 21-50's $262,900. This suggests varied property types or strategic pricing based on investor scale and sophistication.