Union (FL) Investor Pulse Report (2026-Q1)

In Union County, Florida, landlords hold 137 Single-Family Residential (SFR) properties, which constitutes 9.5% of the total 1,445 SFRs in the market. This reveals a modest but notable investor presence in the local housing landscape.

Ownership is overwhelmingly concentrated among individual investors rather than companies. Individuals own 114 properties, or 83.2% of the investor-owned portfolio, compared to just 26 properties (19.0%) owned by corporate entities.

The entity count further reinforces this trend, with 134 individual landlords making up the vast majority of the 160 total real estate investing entities. This highlights a market driven by small-scale, local participants.

Financing trends show a strong preference for cash acquisitions. Of the 137 properties, 118 are owned free and clear (cash), while only 19 are financed. This 6-to-1 cash-to-finance ratio suggests that investors have high liquidity and may be targeting properties where cash offers a competitive advantage.

The portfolio is clearly geared towards rental income, with 132 of the 137 properties being non-owner-occupied. This 96.4% rental rate confirms that the primary strategy for SFR investors in Union County is generating cash flow through leasing.

Investors in Union County acquired properties at a steep discount in Q1 2026, paying an average price of only $97,775. This is 62.2% less than the $258,544 average paid by traditional homeowners, resulting in a staggering price advantage of $160,769 per property.

This pricing gap has shown extreme volatility, indicating that investors are likely targeting non-traditional or distressed assets rather than competing for retail properties. For instance, the discount was a more moderate 23.4% ($67,899) in Q2 2025 but was an even larger 68.2% ($178,524) in Q1 2025.

The low number of quarterly landlord purchases contributes to these sharp fluctuations in average price. With zero properties purchased in several recent quarters, each transaction has an outsized impact on the quarterly average, reflecting an opportunistic rather than a high-volume acquisition strategy.

Comparing prices over a longer period, the pandemic-era (2020-2023) average price was $118,287, suggesting that recent acquisition prices remain in a similar range and have not seen significant appreciation, unlike the broader market.

The data consistently shows landlords paying significantly less than homeowners, a pattern that points towards a strategy of finding off-market deals, purchasing distressed properties, or acquiring assets in need of significant renovation.

Investor purchasing activity surged in Q4 2025, with landlords acquiring 8 of the 22 total SFRs sold, capturing a 36.4% market share. This high level of activity demonstrates strong investor demand in Union County's housing market.

The bulk of this activity came from small-scale investors. Mom-and-pop landlords (owning 1-10 properties) were responsible for 6 of the 8 purchases, representing 75.0% of all investor acquisitions.

In contrast, institutional investors (1,000+ properties) made just one purchase, accounting for only 12.5% of the quarterly landlord activity. This further illustrates the dominance of local investors over large corporations.

The most active segment was landlords in the 3-5 property tier, who purchased 4 properties, representing 50% of all investor buys. This suggests that existing small landlords are actively expanding their local portfolios.

The market also saw new entrants, with 2 new single-property landlords making their first purchases. This indicates that Union County continues to attract new investment at the smallest scale, continually refreshing the base of the investor community.

The investor landscape in Union County is overwhelmingly dominated by small-scale operators. Mom-and-pop landlords, defined as those owning 1-10 properties, control 97.1% of all investor-owned SFRs, a near-total market share.

Single-property landlords are the most significant group, holding 116 properties, which accounts for 83.5% of the entire investor-owned portfolio. This finding demonstrates that the local rental market is primarily supported by individuals with one investment property.

Mid-size landlords (11-1,000 properties) have a very small footprint, with only three properties scattered across various tiers, making up just 1.4% of the market combined.

Institutional investors (1,000+ properties) have a minimal presence, owning just 2 properties, or 1.4% of the investor-owned total. This directly counters the narrative of large corporate landlords dominating the housing market, at least in this specific geography.

The distribution is heavily skewed towards the smallest investors, with those owning 1-5 properties collectively controlling 96.4% of the portfolio (116 in Tier 1, 7 in Tier 2, and 11 in Tier 3-5). This structure highlights a highly fragmented and decentralized rental market.

Individual investors are the primary owners across every foundational tier of the Union County market. In the single-property tier, individuals own 100 of the 119 properties (84.0%), establishing their dominance from the entry level.

This pattern continues as portfolios grow. All 7 properties in the two-property tier are owned by individuals (100.0%), and 9 of the 11 properties in the 3-5 property tier are individually owned (81.8%).

There is no crossover point where companies become the majority owners. The data clearly shows that the path to portfolio growth in Union County is one pursued by individual investors, not a story of corporate consolidation.

This structure suggests that the local real estate investment market is characterized by personal capital and management rather than institutional funds. This has implications for the types of properties acquired and the landlord-tenant relationships that define the local rental market.

The minimal corporate presence, even in the slightly larger tiers, reinforces the idea that Union County's investment scene is built on a foundation of local, small-scale entrepreneurship.

Geographic analysis reveals an extreme concentration of investor activity within Union County. A single zip code, 32054, is home to 116 of the 137 total investor-owned properties, accounting for 84.7% of the entire portfolio.

This concentration in 32054, where investors own 9.0% of the SFR housing stock, makes it the clear center of gravity for real estate investment in the county.

However, other zip codes show much higher rates of investor penetration, albeit with far fewer properties. In zip code 32697, investors own 5 of the 8 total SFRs, resulting in a 62.5% ownership rate, the highest in the county.

Similarly, zip code 32058 has a high investor ownership rate of 27.3%, with investors owning 3 properties. These areas represent small but intensely targeted pockets of investment.

The contrast between high-volume areas (32054) and high-rate areas (32697, 32058) suggests different market dynamics. The former indicates a broad, scalable market, while the latter points to niche opportunities or less-developed housing markets where a few purchases can have an outsized impact on ownership statistics.

Historical transaction data shows that landlords in Union County are in a phase of accumulation, consistently buying more properties than they sell. In 2025, investors purchased 12 SFRs while selling only 4, a buy-to-sell ratio of 3-to-1.

This net buyer position reflects strong confidence in the local market and a clear strategy of portfolio growth. The net gain of 8 properties in 2025 demonstrates a significant expansion of investor holdings.

The trend was also positive in 2024, although at a slower pace, with 4 properties purchased and 3 sold for a net gain of 1 property. This multi-year pattern indicates a sustained appetite for local real estate assets.

Looking at quarterly data from 2025 further highlights this behavior. In Q3, landlords were net buyers with 2 purchases and 1 sale, and in Q2, they were also net buyers with 3 purchases and 1 sale.

The consistent net buyer status across different timeframes suggests a long-term bullish outlook on Union County's rental market from the local investors who dominate it.

In the most recent quarter's transactions, landlords played a significant role by participating in 8 of the 32 total SFR deals, representing a 25.0% market share. This activity was spread across several investor tiers.

A striking disparity in purchase price emerged between different types of investors. New landlords entering the market (Tier 1) paid a high average price of $245,000 for their properties. In contrast, an existing small landlord (3-5 property tier) acquired four properties at an average price of just $25,000, suggesting these were likely distressed assets, land, or part of a portfolio deal.

This price gap of $220,000 between tiers highlights vastly different acquisition strategies. Newcomers appear to be buying more market-rate or turnkey properties, while experienced investors are hunting for deep-value opportunities.

Notably, none of the 8 properties purchased by landlords came from other landlords. This 0% inter-landlord transaction rate indicates that investors are sourcing their deals from the open market, homeowners, or other off-market channels rather than trading assets among themselves.

The transaction data reinforces the theme of a market driven by small investors employing sophisticated, value-oriented strategies to expand their holdings.