Kootenai (ID) Investor Pulse Report (2026-Q1)

In Kootenai County, investors hold 8,323 single-family residential properties, making up 14.7% of the total 56,783 SFRs in the market.

Individual real estate investing is the primary driver, with 5,895 properties (70.8%) held by individuals compared to 2,825 (33.9%) owned by companies. This preference for individual ownership is also reflected in the entity count, where 7,736 individual landlords far outnumber the 2,070 company landlords.

A significant strategic preference for all-cash acquisitions is clear, with 5,217 properties (62.7%) owned free and clear, versus 3,106 that are financed. This suggests a well-capitalized investor base that can move quickly on opportunities.

The investor portfolio is overwhelmingly geared towards generating rental income. A total of 8,035 properties are designated as non-owner-occupied, which accounts for 96.5% of all investor-owned homes in the county.

The data points to a market characterized by a large number of small, individual investors. The ratio of 7,736 individual landlords to 5,895 properties indicates that the vast majority own just one or a few properties each.

In a surprising reversal of typical market dynamics, landlords in Kootenai County paid significantly more than traditional homeowners in Q1 2026. The average landlord acquisition price was $676,962, a $63,285 (10.3%) premium over the homeowner average of $613,677.

This premium is not an anomaly but the continuation of a sharp, accelerating trend. The investor price advantage has completely eroded over the last year, moving from a 4.4% discount in Q1 2025 to a staggering 25.7% premium by Q3 2025, signaling intense competition.

The price landlords are willing to pay has fluctuated, but the recent trend suggests aggressive purchasing. The Q1 2026 average price of $676,962 is a notable increase from the pandemic-era (2020-2023) average of $529,598, reflecting significant market appreciation.

This pattern of paying above homeowner prices suggests investors are targeting high-demand properties or using strong cash offers to outbid conventional buyers in competitive situations.

Investor activity accounted for 12.7% of the total market in Q4 2025, with landlords purchasing 74 of the 582 SFRs sold in Kootenai County.

The market for new acquisitions is overwhelmingly dominated by small-scale investors. Mom-and-pop landlords (1-10 properties) were responsible for 94.8% of all investor purchases, totaling 73 properties.

New entrants are a major force, with 73 new single-property landlord entities entering the market in Q4. These first-time investors alone purchased 53 properties, making up 68.8% of all landlord acquisitions for the quarter.

Activity drops off sharply in larger tiers. Mid-size landlords (11-50 properties) bought only 3 homes combined, showcasing the highly fragmented nature of purchasing activity.

Institutional investors (1,000+ properties) had a negligible impact on the acquisitions market, purchasing just a single property. This highlights that market activity is driven by local and small-scale capital, not large corporations.

The investor landscape in Kootenai County is defined by the dominance of small landlords. Investors with portfolios of 1-10 properties (Tiers 01-04) collectively own 8,443 properties, which is 97.5% of the entire investor-owned SFR market.

Single-property landlords alone (Tier 01) are the largest group, holding 5,980 properties and accounting for 69.0% of all investor-owned housing. This signifies a market built on entry-level and small-scale investment.

Ownership concentration dissipates rapidly as portfolio sizes increase. Mid-size landlords (11-100 properties) own a combined 216 properties, representing just 2.5% of the investor market share.

Institutional capital is virtually non-existent in the Kootenai County SFR market. The 1,000+ property tier holds only 4 properties, a 0.0% market share, challenging any narrative that large corporations are controlling the local housing supply.

This distribution underscores a highly fragmented ownership structure, with thousands of small investors shaping the rental market rather than a few large entities. Such a structure can lead to different market behaviors compared to institutionally dominated areas.

A clear pattern emerges in ownership structure based on portfolio size. Individual investors are the primary owners in smaller tiers, holding 76.0% of single-property portfolios and 64.0% of two-property portfolios.

The crossover point where corporate ownership becomes dominant occurs in the 6-10 property tier (Tier 04). In this segment, companies own 283 properties (79.1%), while individuals own just 75 (20.9%).

This trend of corporate dominance accelerates in larger tiers. Companies own 89.4% of properties in the 11-20 size bracket and 71.7% in the 21-50 bracket, suggesting investors tend to incorporate as their portfolios grow in scale and complexity.

Even within the 3-5 property tier, ownership is nearly split, with individuals holding a slim majority at 56.6% (720 properties) compared to companies at 43.4% (553 properties). This indicates the move toward incorporation often begins early in an investor's journey.

The largest active tier, Large (101-1000), follows this pattern with companies owning 75.0% of the 20 properties, reinforcing the strategy of using corporate entities for managing substantial real estate assets.

Geographic concentration is a key feature of Kootenai County's investor market. Just three zip codes, 83814 (Coeur d'Alene), 83815 (Coeur d'Alene), and 83835 (Hayden), contain 5,132 investor-owned properties, representing 61.7% of the county's total investor portfolio.

The 83814 zip code is the epicenter of investor ownership by volume, with 2,170 properties. This area alone accounts for 26.1% of all investor-owned SFRs in the county.

However, the highest rate of investor ownership is not in the areas with the highest counts. The zip code 83803 (Athol) leads with a 38.4% investor ownership rate, followed closely by 83833 (Harrison) at 38.0% and 83876 (Worley) at 32.0%.

This distinction between high-volume and high-penetration areas suggests different market strategies. The high counts in Coeur d'Alene point to a large, liquid rental market, while the high rates in smaller zip codes may indicate a focus on vacation rentals or more rural investment opportunities.

The top three regions by count, 83814, 83815, and 83835, have ownership rates of 23.8%, 15.6%, and 13.2% respectively, which are significant but lower than the rates in smaller, more saturated sub-markets.

The investor community in Kootenai County remains in a phase of accumulation, consistently buying more properties than they sell. In Q1 2026, they demonstrated a strong net-buyer position, with 103 acquisitions against only 39 dispositions, for a net gain of 64 properties.

This behavior is part of a long-term trend. Throughout 2025, investors were net buyers by 301 properties (464 buys vs. 163 sells), and in 2024, they added a net 543 properties to their portfolios (701 buys vs. 158 sells).

While the overall pace of acquisitions has slowed from its 2024 peak, the buy-to-sell ratio remains robust, signaling continued confidence in the local rental market.

The small contingent of institutional investors (1,000+ tier) showed a neutral position in Q1 2026, with 2 purchases and 2 sales. Historically, however, they have also been net accumulators, adding a net 3 properties in 2025 and 1 in 2024.

The persistent net-buyer stance across all investor types contributes to inventory pressure in the broader housing market, as more properties are absorbed into long-term rental portfolios than are released for sale.

In Q1 2026, landlords represented 10.9% of all market transactions, purchasing 103 of the 949 SFRs that were sold in Kootenai County.

New, single-property landlords were the most active group, accounting for 73 of the 103 investor transactions. These entry-level investors paid one of the highest average prices at $589,371, suggesting they are competing in the primary retail market.

A stark pricing difference emerges between the smallest and largest investors. Institutional buyers (1000+ tier) paid an average of just $500,938, which is $88,433 (15.0%) less than their single-property counterparts. This suggests a strategy focused on acquiring undervalued or off-market assets.

The most expensive purchases were made by mid-size landlords in the 11-20 property tier, who paid an average of $1,134,690, indicating a focus on premium properties.

Inter-landlord trading activity is notable in certain segments. Half of all purchases made by the 6-10 property tier and the 1000+ institutional tier were from other landlords. This contrasts with new, single-property buyers, where only 8.2% of their purchases came from fellow investors, showing they primarily buy from homeowners.