Bond (IL) Investor Pulse Report (2026-Q1)

In Bond County, investors hold a total of 671 Single-Family Residential (SFR) properties, accounting for 13.3% of the 5,036 total SFRs in the market.

The investor landscape is dominated by private individuals rather than corporations. Individual landlords own 619 properties, making up 92.3% of the investor-owned portfolio, while companies own the remaining 66 properties (9.8%).

This individual dominance is even more pronounced when looking at the number of landlord entities, with 746 individuals compared to just 53 companies operating in the county.

A significant majority of investor-owned homes, 634 of 671 properties (94.5%), are utilized as rentals, underscoring the primary focus on generating rental income within this market.

Investors in Bond County show a strong preference for cash ownership over financing. There are 534 cash-owned properties compared to only 137 financed ones, a ratio of nearly 4-to-1, signaling a well-capitalized and low-leverage investor base.

In Q1 2026, landlords acquired properties at an average price of $299,244, which is 4.3% lower than the $312,553 average paid by traditional homeowners. This resulted in a savings of $13,309 per property for investors.

The pricing advantage for landlords has shown extreme volatility in recent quarters. In Q2 2025, landlords achieved a staggering 50.3% discount ($116,467 vs. $234,340), saving over $117,000 per home.

Conversely, this trend completely reversed in Q1 2025, when landlords paid a 20.4% premium over homeowners ($218,643 vs. $181,653), spending nearly $37,000 more per property.

This dramatic fluctuation suggests that investors may be targeting different types of properties each quarter or that the low transaction volume in the county creates significant price swings based on a few outlier sales.

Overall acquisition prices for investors have been trending upwards from the pandemic era, with the average price of $194,745 during 2020-2023 rising to $299,244 in the most recent quarter.

During Q4 2025, landlords were responsible for 15.8% of all SFR market activity, acquiring 6 of the 38 homes sold in Bond County.

The entirety of this purchasing activity came from the smallest investors. All 6 properties (100.0%) were bought by landlords in the 'mom-and-pop' category (1-10 properties).

Notably, every one of these acquisitions was made by a new landlord entering the market, as 10 distinct entities purchased 6 single properties in the Tier 01 category.

This signals that market growth is driven entirely by new, small-scale participants rather than portfolio expansion by existing or large-scale landlords.

There was zero purchasing activity from mid-size or institutional investors (Tier 05-09), reinforcing the local, small-scale nature of Bond County's real estate investing landscape.

The investor market in Bond County is unequivocally controlled by small operators. 'Mom-and-pop' landlords, defined as those owning 1-10 properties, hold 99.4% of all investor-owned SFRs.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) are the foundation of the local rental market, owning 495 properties, which constitutes 70.0% of the entire investor portfolio.

The next largest segments are landlords owning 3-5 properties (15.0% share) and those with 2 properties (9.2% share), further cementing the dominance of small-scale owners.

Mid-size investors (11-50 properties) represent a negligible portion of the market, collectively owning just 4 properties for a combined 0.6% share.

Institutional investors with portfolios of 1,000 or more properties have absolutely no presence in Bond County, holding a 0.0% market share.

Individual investors are the primary owners across nearly all portfolio sizes in Bond County. In the largest tier, single-property owners, individuals hold 470 of the 495 properties (93.4%).

Company ownership becomes slightly more prevalent as portfolio sizes increase, but remains a minority position. Companies own just 12.1% of two-property portfolios and 20.2% of portfolios with 3-5 properties.

A notable data point is the 6-10 property tier, which is 100% owned by individual investors, with zero company involvement across 37 properties.

The only tier where companies approach parity is the small 21-50 property tier, where ownership is split 50/50 between an individual and a company, though this tier only contains two properties total.

This distribution confirms that as investors scale in Bond County, they tend to do so as individuals rather than forming corporate entities, a hallmark of a classic 'mom-and-pop' market.

Investor activity in Bond County is geographically concentrated, with Greenville's 62246 zip code holding the largest number of investor-owned properties at 335 homes.

Following Greenville, the highest counts of investor properties are found in Pocahontas (62275) with 88 properties and Mulberry Grove (62262) with 82 properties.

However, the highest concentration of investor ownership relative to the total housing stock is in smaller communities. The 62231 zip code (Keyesport) leads with a 33.3% investor ownership rate.

Other areas with high investor penetration include the 62253 zip code (Donnellson area) at 20.1% and Mulberry Grove (62262) at 18.5%, significantly higher than Greenville's 12.3% rate.

This highlights a dual investment strategy in the county: a focus on volume in the largest town, Greenville, and a focus on high market share in smaller, surrounding rural zip codes.

Investors in Bond County are actively growing their portfolios, consistently buying more properties than they sell. In Q1 2026, landlords purchased 10 properties while only selling 3, establishing a strong net buyer position.

This pattern of accumulation is not new. In the full year of 2025, investors acquired 46 properties and sold just 11, resulting in a net gain of 35 homes and a buy-to-sell ratio of over 4-to-1.

The trend was even more pronounced in 2024, when landlords bought 56 properties and sold only 8, a ratio of 7-to-1, demonstrating sustained confidence in the local market.

The steady pace of acquisitions signals a long-term strategy of portfolio growth among the county's small, local investor base.

There was no recorded transaction activity for institutional-level investors (1000+ properties) in any of the observed timeframes, as they have no presence in this market.

In Q1 2026, landlords participated in 10 of the 59 total SFR transactions, capturing a 16.9% share of all market activity.

All 10 of these transactions were purchases made by investors in the single-property (Tier 01) category, indicating that market activity is driven by new entrants rather than existing landlords expanding their portfolios.

The average purchase price for these new landlords was $299,244, which was competitive with the broader market.

Notably, 0% of these acquisitions were from other landlords. This lack of inter-landlord trading suggests that new investors are buying properties directly from homeowners, expanding the total rental pool rather than recycling existing rental stock.

No transactions were recorded for any investor tier larger than a single property, highlighting the complete absence of mid-size or institutional activity in the current market.