Calumet (WI) Investor Pulse Report (2025-Q4)

In Calumet County, investors own 1,167 single-family residential properties, making up 8.3% of the total 14,044 SFRs in the market.

The ownership landscape is overwhelmingly dominated by individual investors, who control 1,057 properties (90.6% of the investor-owned portfolio), compared to just 161 properties (13.8%) held by companies.

A strong indicator of market health and investor equity is the prevalence of cash ownership, with 812 properties owned outright versus 355 that are financed—a ratio of over 2-to-1.

The investor portfolio is intensely focused on generating rental income, as demonstrated by the 1,139 rented properties, which account for 97.6% of all investor-owned homes.

The market is composed of a large base of small-scale landlords, with 1,557 individual landlord entities compared to only 147 company entities.

In Q4 2025, landlords demonstrated a distinct pricing advantage, acquiring properties for an average of $321,514, which is 15.6% below the $380,944 average paid by traditional homeowners—a cash discount of $59,430 per property.

This investor discount has been inconsistent throughout the year, suggesting opportunistic buying rather than a stable market inefficiency. After securing a massive 31.2% discount in Q1, investors surprisingly paid a 7.6% premium in Q2 before the discount returned in Q3 (22.0%) and Q4 (15.6%).

Overall prices have appreciated since the pandemic boom. The average 2025 landlord acquisition price of $325,167 represents a 7.5% increase over the 2020-2023 average of $302,367.

However, the market shows signs of recent cooling, with the average price paid by landlords in 2025 dipping by 2.2% compared to the 2024 average of $332,678.

The volatility in the price gap between landlords and homeowners suggests that investors are adept at capitalizing on specific deals rather than benefiting from a consistent, market-wide discount.

Investor activity in Q4 2025 accounted for 8.8% of all single-family home purchases in Calumet County, with landlords acquiring 10 of the 113 properties sold.

The market's growth is being fueled by new entrants, as 70% of all investor purchases (7 properties) were made by single-property landlords, with 11 new landlord entities recorded in this tier.

Small, local investors were the exclusive buyers this quarter. 'Mom-and-pop' landlords (1-10 properties) were responsible for 80.0% of all investor acquisitions, while institutional investors (1,000+ properties) were completely absent from the purchasing landscape.

Beyond new investors, one mid-size landlord in the 11-20 property tier was also active, acquiring 2 properties and accounting for 20% of the quarter's investor purchase volume.

This purchase activity underscores a market characterized by organic growth from new, small-scale participants rather than consolidation by large-scale operators.

The investor market in Calumet County is defined by the near-total dominance of small-scale 'mom-and-pop' landlords (1-10 properties), who collectively own 99.4% of all investor-held SFRs.

Single-property landlords form the foundation of this market, with this tier alone accounting for 1,018 properties, or 85.8% of the entire investor portfolio.

In stark contrast to national narratives, institutional investors (1,000+ properties) have no footprint in Calumet County, holding 0.0% of the investor-owned housing stock.

The ownership structure is extremely fragmented at the top end, with mid-size and large investors (those owning more than 10 properties) controlling a negligible 0.6% of the market combined.

This distribution reveals a highly accessible market with low barriers to entry, primarily attracting local individuals and small businesses rather than large corporations.

A clear pattern emerges in ownership structure as portfolios scale: individuals dominate the entry-level tiers, while companies take control of larger portfolios.

Individual investors overwhelmingly own the smallest portfolios, accounting for 89.3% of single-property holdings and 87.7% of two-property portfolios.

The strategic crossover point occurs in the 6-10 property tier, where company ownership jumps to 75.0%, indicating a common threshold for landlords to incorporate their holdings into a formal business structure.

This trend continues in the 11-20 property tier, where companies control 80.0% of the properties.

While companies are prevalent in larger tiers, their overall impact is limited by the small number of properties in these tiers, reinforcing the market's foundation of individual ownership.

Investor activity in Calumet County is highly concentrated geographically, with the top five zip codes by property count holding 772 properties, which represents 66.1% of all investor-owned SFRs.

The zip code 53014 (Chilton) is the epicenter of investor ownership by volume, containing 321 investor-owned homes, nearly double the next-closest area.

A significant divergence exists between total property counts and investor market share. For instance, zip code 53088 has the highest penetration rate at 38.5%, indicating investors own over a third of the housing stock, despite not being a leader in raw count.

Conversely, zip code 54915 has the fourth-highest count of investor properties (135) but one of the lowest ownership rates (4.0%), suggesting it's a large market where investors have a smaller relative footprint.

This data highlights two distinct geographic strategies: one targeting high-volume areas and another focusing on smaller markets to achieve a higher concentration of ownership.

Investors in Calumet County are in a strong accumulation phase, acting as decisive net buyers across all recent timeframes. In 2025, they purchased 89 properties while selling only 11, a buy-to-sell ratio of 8.09x.

The pace of acquisitions has accelerated notably. The 89 properties purchased year-to-date in 2025 already represent a 41% increase over the 63 properties purchased during the entirety of 2024.

Selling activity remains low and is declining, with only 11 properties sold by landlords in 2025 compared to 17 in the previous year, signaling a clear hold-and-rent strategy.

The net result is a significant expansion of investor portfolios, with a net gain of 78 properties in 2025 alone.

Institutional investors were entirely absent from the transaction market, recording zero buys and zero sells, confirming that market liquidity is driven exclusively by smaller players.

In Q4 2025, landlords participated in 14 of the 188 total SFR transactions in Calumet County, capturing a 7.4% share of market activity.

A distinct pricing strategy emerged among different investor tiers. New single-property landlords focused on more affordable homes, paying an average of $282,709 per property.

In contrast, the most active mid-size investor (11-20 property tier) targeted higher-value assets, acquiring two properties at an average price of $633,000.

New landlords were the only group to acquire properties from existing investors, with 18.2% of their 11 purchases (2 properties) sourced from other landlords. This suggests smaller investors are the primary source of inter-investor market liquidity.

The vast majority of landlord acquisitions (over 80%) still come from the open market, indicating that investors are primarily competing with traditional homebuyers for inventory.