Fulton (IL) Investor Pulse Report (2025-Q4)

Investors own 2,060 Single-Family Residential properties in Fulton County, which constitutes 16.3% of the total 12,632 SFRs in the market.

The ownership landscape is overwhelmingly dominated by individual investors, who hold 1,809 properties (87.8%), compared to just 258 properties (12.5%) held by companies.

This individual dominance is also reflected in the entity count, with 1,928 individual landlords making up 92.4% of the 2,086 total investors in the county.

A striking 84.1% of the investor portfolio (1,732 properties) is owned outright with cash, indicating very low leverage and high equity among local investors. Only 328 properties are financed.

The portfolio has a clear and singular focus on rentals, with 1,985 properties (96.4%) classified as rented or non-owner-occupied, underscoring the business-oriented nature of these holdings.

In Q4 2025, investors demonstrated a significant purchasing advantage, acquiring properties for an average price of $74,250, which is $39,500 (34.7%) below the traditional homeowner price of $113,750.

This ability to secure deep discounts is a consistent trend, with landlords also achieving a 35.6% discount in Q3 and an even larger 42.8% discount in Q1 2025.

However, the market shows signs of extreme price volatility in low-volume quarters. Q2 2025 stands as a major anomaly where landlords paid an average of $169,838, a 39.7% premium over homeowners, likely skewed by a small number of unique transactions.

Recent acquisition prices are trending below those of the pandemic-era boom. The Q4 average of $74,250 is 9.6% lower than the $82,145 average price recorded between 2020 and 2023.

The consistent pattern of securing properties well below homeowner prices—outside of the Q2 anomaly—highlights a distinct strategic advantage for investors operating in the Fulton County market.

Investors were a dominant force in the Q4 market, purchasing 5 of the 11 total SFRs sold, capturing a substantial 45.5% market share of all transactions.

The entirety of this purchasing activity (100%) was driven by small, mom-and-pop landlords with portfolios of 10 or fewer properties. There were zero acquisitions by institutional-scale investors.

The market continues to attract new entrants, with 3 new single-property landlord entities making their first purchases in Q4 and acquiring 2 properties between them.

Activity was concentrated at the smallest end of the investor spectrum. Landlords in the single-property tier bought 2 homes (40.0% of investor purchases), while one landlord in the 3-5 property tier acquired 3 homes (60.0%).

The complete absence of purchasing from investors holding more than 10 properties underscores that market momentum is being driven exclusively by local, small-scale players.

The investor landscape in Fulton County is definitively shaped by small landlords, as those owning 1-10 properties (Tiers 01-04) control a massive 95.3% of the entire investor-owned SFR housing stock.

Single-property landlords form the bedrock of the local rental market, owning 1,406 properties and accounting for two-thirds (66.7%) of all homes held by investors.

In stark contrast to national headlines, institutional-scale investors (1,000+ properties) have virtually no presence in the county, holding just a single property, which accounts for less than 0.1% of the investor market.

The ownership concentration drops off sharply after the smallest tiers, with mid-size investors (11-100 properties) collectively owning just 92 properties, or 4.4% of the investor portfolio.

This extreme concentration in the smallest tiers indicates a highly fragmented market composed of thousands of individual actors, rather than a consolidated one controlled by large corporate players.

While individual investors are the primary force in smaller portfolios, companies become the dominant owner type in the 11-20 property tier, where they hold 42 properties, representing 58.3% of the homes in that segment.

Individual ownership is most concentrated at the entry level, with individuals owning 93.4% of all single-property investor homes (1,317 properties).

This individual dominance extends through the small landlord tiers, accounting for 88.9% of two-property portfolios and 88.1% of portfolios with 3-5 properties.

The share of company ownership increases with portfolio size, growing from just 6.6% in the single-property tier to 39.6% in the 6-10 property tier before crossing the majority threshold.

Even where companies are the majority, the absolute number of properties is small, reinforcing the fact that Fulton County's market lacks any large-scale corporate consolidation.

The bulk of investor-owned properties is geographically concentrated in the Canton zip code (61520), which is home to 910 properties and serves as the primary hub for investment in Fulton County.

However, the highest rates of investor ownership are found in smaller surrounding communities, not the volume leader. Liverpool (61543) leads with a 36.4% investor ownership rate, followed closely by Cuba (61433) at 32.0%.

This data reveals a clear split between where investors own the most properties (Canton) and where they own the largest share of the housing market (Liverpool, Cuba), suggesting different investment strategies across sub-markets.

Beyond the primary hub of Canton, Lewistown (61542) and Farmington (61531) act as secondary centers for investor ownership, with 174 and 155 properties respectively.

The significant variation in both property counts and ownership rates across zip codes points to a market driven by hyper-local knowledge rather than a uniform, county-wide strategy.

Investors in Fulton County have remained in a strong accumulation phase, consistently buying more properties than they sell. In 2025, they purchased 75 properties while selling only 34, resulting in a buy-to-sell ratio of 2.2.

While still strong net buyers, the pace of acquisition has cooled from the previous year. The 2025 buy/sell ratio of 2.2 is down from a more aggressive 3.7 in 2024, when investors bought 82 properties and sold only 22.

This net positive trend has held steady throughout 2025, with investors achieving a net gain of 19 properties in Q2 (42 buys vs. 23 sells) and a net gain of 2 properties in Q3 (8 buys vs. 6 sells).

There is no available data on historical transactions for institutional investors (1000+ tier), which is consistent with their minimal ownership footprint in the county.

Data on inter-landlord transactions and comparative buy vs. sell prices is not available, limiting insight into market liquidity and potential profit margins from flips.

Landlords played a central role in the Q4 2025 market, participating in 6 of the 12 total SFR transactions, for a 50.0% share of all transaction activity.

A significant pricing gap emerged between different types of small investors. New, single-property landlords paid an average price of $108,500, while a more established landlord in the 3-5 property tier acquired homes for a much lower average of $40,000.

All landlord acquisitions in Q4 were sourced from the traditional market, with 0% of transactions being purchases from other landlords. This indicates investors are buying from homeowners rather than trading assets among themselves.

The entirety of investor transaction activity was driven by mom-and-pop landlords, with 3 transactions from the single-property tier and 3 from the small landlord (3-5) tier.

Consistent with their lack of purchasing and ownership, institutional investors were not involved in any Q4 transactions, confirming their absence from active market trading.