Franklin (VT) Investor Pulse Report (2025-Q4)

Investors hold a total of 1,316 single-family residential properties in Franklin County, which accounts for 8.9% of the 14,807 SFRs in the market.

Individual investors are the definitive backbone of the local rental market, owning 1,085 properties, a commanding 82.4% of all investor-owned SFRs. In contrast, company investors hold the remaining 267 properties (20.3%).

By entity count, the dominance of small operators is even more pronounced, with 1,516 individual landlords compared to just 267 companies. This 5.7-to-1 ratio underscores a market built by local individuals rather than large corporations.

A striking feature of the Franklin County investor market is its complete reliance on cash. A full 100% of the 1,316 investor-owned properties are held without any financing, signaling a well-capitalized and low-leverage investor base.

The investor portfolio is intensely focused on rental operations, with 1,290 of 1,316 properties classified as rented. This 98.0% rental penetration rate confirms that these holdings are active investments, not speculative vacancies.

In Q4 2025, landlords demonstrated a sharp purchasing advantage, acquiring properties for an average of $274,470 compared to the $395,162 paid by traditional homeowners. This represents a substantial 30.5% discount, saving investors an average of $120,692 on each home.

The price gap between landlords and homeowners has been highly volatile throughout the year. It peaked at a massive 45.9% discount in Q3 2025 before moderating, and was as low as 9.9% in Q2, indicating that investor purchasing opportunities vary significantly by quarter.

A consistent trend across all four quarters of 2025 is that landlords have always paid less than homeowners, underscoring a persistent ability to find and secure properties below the typical market rate.

Evidence of post-pandemic price appreciation is clear, with the average landlord purchase price in Q4 2025 ($274,470) standing 20.0% higher than the average price paid during the 2020-2023 period ($228,776).

Despite long-term appreciation, recent pricing shows a cooling trend. The Q4 average of $274,470 is notably lower than the prices investors paid in Q2 2025 ($377,523) and Q4 of the previous year ($369,483), suggesting a more disciplined purchasing environment.

Investors captured 13.1% of the Franklin County housing market in Q4 2025, acquiring 19 of the 145 total SFR properties sold during the period.

The entirety of investor purchasing activity was driven by mom-and-pop landlords (1-10 properties), who accounted for 100% of acquisitions. Mid-size and institutional investors were completely absent from the buying landscape.

The market saw a significant influx of new entrants, with first-time, single-property landlords responsible for 84.2% of all investor purchases (16 of 19 properties). This activity was driven by 20 distinct new landlord entities.

In line with ownership data, large institutional investors (1,000+ properties) were completely inactive in Franklin County during Q4, reinforcing the market's small-scale, local character.

Acquisition activity was highly concentrated at the smallest portfolio sizes, with single-property (16 purchases), two-property (2 purchases), and small landlords (1 purchase) making up all 19 investor acquisitions.

The investor landscape in Franklin County is overwhelmingly dominated by small-scale operators. Mom-and-pop landlords, defined as those owning 1-10 properties, control a combined 98.7% of all investor-held SFRs.

Single-property landlords are the most significant force in the market, alone owning 1,118 properties. This single group accounts for 82.1% of the entire investor-owned portfolio.

In stark contrast to national narratives, institutional investors with 1,000+ properties have a virtually nonexistent presence. They hold just 2 properties in the county, representing a minuscule 0.1% of the investor market share.

The ownership structure is extremely fragmented, highlighting a lack of consolidation. After the single-property tier, the next largest group (two-property landlords) holds only 7.1% of properties, with shares dropping sharply for larger portfolios.

Mid-size landlords (11-1,000 properties) are a rarity in this market, collectively owning just 1.2% of the investor-held housing stock. This reinforces the local, non-corporate nature of real estate investment in the region.

Individual landlords maintain a clear and consistent majority across every analyzed portfolio size, from 1 to 20 properties. There is no crossover point in Franklin County's market where companies become the dominant owner type.

Company ownership is most concentrated in the two-property tier, where corporations own 35 of 97 properties (a 34.7% share). This may suggest a common point for investors to formalize their holdings into a legal entity after acquiring a second property.

Counterintuitively, the share of company ownership decreases as mom-and-pop portfolios grow larger. It drops from its peak of 34.7% in the two-property tier to just 10.3% in the 6-10 property tier.

Even as portfolios expand into the small-medium range of 11-20 properties, individual investors still own a commanding 78.6% of the homes, demonstrating that portfolio growth in this market is not contingent on corporatization.

Among single-property landlords, the largest group, ownership is split 82.0% to individuals (940 properties) and 18.0% to companies (207 properties), showing that a notable portion of investors utilize a corporate structure from their very first purchase.

Investor ownership is heavily concentrated in specific pockets of Franklin County. The top five zip codes by property count (05457, 05478, 05476, 05450, and 05471) collectively hold 820 properties, representing 62.3% of all investor-owned SFRs.

Certain zip codes exhibit extremely high investor penetration rates. In 05457, nearly one-third (31.3%) of all single-family homes are investor-owned, far exceeding the county-wide average of 8.9%.

The zip code 05457 stands out as the undisputed epicenter of investor activity, leading the county in both the absolute count of investor-owned homes (216) and the overall market penetration rate (31.3%).

A key finding is the divergence between high-count and high-rate areas. For instance, zip code 05478 has the second-highest count of investor properties (199) but a relatively low ownership rate of 5.3%, indicating it is a large housing market with broad appeal, not just an investor hotspot.

Beyond the top region, zip codes 05471 (26.5% rate) and 05460 (18.2% rate) also emerge as significant investment hubs where landlords own a substantial share of the local housing stock.

Landlords in Franklin County are in a strong accumulation phase, purchasing 24 properties while selling only 5 in Q4 2025. This aggressive 4.8-to-1 buy-to-sell ratio signals high confidence in the local market.

The net buying behavior is a year-long trend, not a quarterly anomaly. Across all of 2025, landlords acquired 93 properties and sold only 15, a ratio of 6.2-to-1, for a net portfolio growth of 78 homes.

In stark contrast, institutional investors (1,000+ tier) demonstrated no growth strategy. For the entire year of 2025, they were perfectly neutral, with one acquisition balanced by one sale.

The pace of acquisitions has been remarkably consistent throughout 2025, with 23 buys in Q2, 27 in Q3, and 24 in Q4. This steady activity suggests a stable and predictable investment environment driving continuous portfolio expansion.

Compared to the previous year, acquisition and disposition volumes remained relatively stable. Landlords bought 100 properties in 2024 and 93 in 2025, while selling 16 and 15 properties in those respective years.

Investors accounted for 10.6% of the 226 total real estate transactions in Franklin County during Q4 2025, making 24 purchases.

All Q4 landlord transaction activity was driven by small, mom-and-pop investors. The market's newest entrants, single-property landlords, were the most active group, responsible for 20 of the 24 transactions (83.3%).

A significant price difference was observed between the smallest buyer tiers. New single-property landlords paid an average of $304,356, whereas landlords acquiring their second property (Tier 02) paid a much lower average of $135,000.

Inter-landlord trading is not a primary source of inventory. Only 10.0% of the properties acquired by new single-property landlords (2 out of 20) were purchased from another existing investor, with the vast majority coming from the open market.

Consistent with their lack of presence, institutional investors recorded zero transactions in Q4, playing no role as either a source of demand or supply in the county's transaction market.