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

Investors hold a total of 1,689 Single-Family Residential properties in Ozaukee County, which constitutes 6.0% of the county's 28,262 total SFR properties.

Individual 'mom-and-pop' investors are the backbone of the rental market, owning 1,169 properties (69.2%), while companies own the remaining 527 properties (31.2%).

This individual dominance extends to the number of entities, with 1,561 individual landlords compared to just 448 company landlords, highlighting a highly fragmented market structure.

A striking 95.1% of the investor-owned portfolio (1,607 properties) is classified as rented or non-owner-occupied, indicating a clear and focused rental strategy among Ozaukee County landlords.

Investor portfolios are predominantly owned outright, with 1,353 properties held in cash versus only 336 that are financed. This 4-to-1 cash-to-financed ratio signals a well-capitalized and low-leverage investor base in the county.

In a stunning reversal of typical market behavior, landlords in Q4 2025 paid an average price of $871,333, a massive 64.6% premium over the traditional homeowner average of $529,515. This amounts to investors paying an extra $341,818 per property.

This Q4 premium represents a complete inversion of the trend seen earlier in the year. In Q3, landlords secured a 29.8% discount ($161,524), in Q2 a 16.8% discount ($91,273), and in Q1 a 25.8% discount ($124,894).

The sharp pivot from deep discounts to a significant premium suggests a dramatic shift in market dynamics, possibly driven by new, high-end inventory or increased competition among investors for a limited number of available properties.

Comparing prices over time, the average landlord acquisition price has seen significant volatility, jumping from an average of $453,222 in 2024 to $524,748 for the full year 2025, heavily skewed by the high-priced Q4 acquisitions.

The data does not contain a sufficient sample to compare individual versus company pricing, but the overall trend indicates that investors in Q4 were targeting a much higher-priced segment of the market than both homeowners and their own previous purchasing patterns.

Landlord purchasing activity accounted for 6.0% of the total market in Q4 2025, with investors acquiring 5 of the 83 SFR properties sold in Ozaukee County.

The entirety of this purchasing activity was driven by 'mom-and-pop' landlords. Investors in the 1-10 property portfolio range (Tiers 01-04) made 100% of the landlord acquisitions, with zero properties purchased by institutional investors.

The market saw an influx of new participants, as single-property landlords (Tier 01) were responsible for 80.0% of investor acquisitions, purchasing 4 properties across 5 new entities.

Mid-size and institutional investors were completely dormant in the Q4 purchasing market, reinforcing the theme of a market dominated by small, local operators.

The data reveals a concentration of activity at the smallest end of the investor spectrum, with 4 of the 5 properties going to first-time landlords and the remaining property acquired by an investor with a two-property portfolio.

The investor landscape in Ozaukee County is unequivocally dominated by small-scale 'mom-and-pop' landlords (1-10 properties), who collectively own 98.0% of all investor-held SFRs.

In stark contrast to national headlines, institutional investors (Tier 09) have a negligible presence, holding just 3 properties, which represents a mere 0.2% of the investor market.

The market is highly fragmented, with the single-property landlord tier being the largest single group. These first-time or small-scale investors own 1,332 properties, accounting for 77.3% of all investor-owned homes in the county.

Mid-size landlords (11-1000 properties) also represent a very small portion of the market, collectively owning just 34 properties or 1.8% of the investor portfolio.

This distribution underscores a market driven not by large corporations, but by a large number of individual community members and small businesses operating at a hyper-local level.

A clear crossover point in ownership structure occurs at the 6-10 property tier, where companies first become the majority owners, holding 54.4% of properties (31) compared to individuals' 45.6% (26).

In all smaller portfolio tiers, individual investors are the dominant force. They own 981 single-property homes (73.4%), 62 two-property homes (63.9%), and 133 homes in the 3-5 property tier (65.2%).

This pattern indicates that while individuals form the foundation of the rental market, a strategy of incorporation becomes more prevalent as portfolios begin to scale beyond five properties.

Even at the smallest tier, companies have a significant presence, owning 356 single-property rentals (26.6%), suggesting many investors choose a corporate structure from their very first purchase.

The available data does not include a breakdown of acquisition prices by owner type, preventing a direct comparison of purchasing strategies between individual and company landlords.

The highest volume of investor-owned properties is found in the zip code 53074 (Port Washington), with 329 properties, followed closely by 53012 (Cedarburg) with 318 properties.

When measured by market penetration, the zip code 53013 (Village of Belgium) stands out with an exceptionally high investor ownership rate of 28.2%, far exceeding any other area in the county.

The top five regions by sheer count are 53074 (Port Washington), 53012 (Cedarburg), 53092 (Mequon), 53024 (Grafton), and 53080 (Saukville), indicating where the bulk of rental inventory is located.

The list of highest ownership rates reveals different pockets of investor concentration, including 53075 (Port Washington Town), 53004 (Belgium), and 53074 (Port Washington City), suggesting specific neighborhoods are heavily targeted.

Port Washington's 53074 zip code is a clear hub for investor activity, ranking first for the total number of investor-owned properties and fourth for the highest ownership percentage (8.6%).

Landlords in Ozaukee County demonstrated a strong bullish sentiment on the market in 2024, operating as significant net buyers.

Across 2024, investors purchased 183 SFR properties while only selling 34, resulting in a net addition of 149 properties to their collective portfolio.

The buy-to-sell ratio of 5.38-to-1 indicates a clear strategy of portfolio growth and accumulation rather than divestment or churn.

There is no specific data available for institutional-level (1000+ tier) transactions, but given their minimal ownership footprint, their activity is likely negligible.

Information on the percentage of transactions occurring between landlords was not available, preventing an analysis of market liquidity and internal trading.

Investor transactions comprised 5.3% of all market activity in Q4 2025, with landlords participating in 6 of the 113 total SFR transactions in Ozaukee County.

All 6 of these transactions were conducted by 'mom-and-pop' investors, with 5 purchases made by single-property landlords and one by a two-property landlord, highlighting the absence of larger players.

A massive price disparity emerged between investor tiers: new single-property landlords paid an average of $971,600, while the two-property landlord paid $370,000. This suggests new entrants are competing for premium, high-cost properties to enter the market.

None of the landlord acquisitions in Q4 were purchased from other landlords (0.0%). This indicates that investors are exclusively acquiring properties from the traditional homeowner market rather than trading assets among themselves.

With zero transactions, institutional investors were completely inactive in Q4, reinforcing their static and minimal role in the local market's transactional flow.