Bartholomew (IN) Investor Pulse Report (2026-Q1)

In Bartholomew County, landlords hold 4,153 Single-Family Residential properties, which constitutes 16.7% of the total 24,889 SFRs in the market.

The ownership structure is heavily skewed towards individuals over corporations. Individual investors own 3,296 properties (79.4% of the investor-owned total), while companies own the remaining 910 properties (21.9%).

This individual dominance is also reflected in the entity count, with 3,541 individual landlords compared to just 495 company landlords, a ratio of more than 7 to 1.

A defining feature of the Bartholomew County investor market is its complete reliance on cash financing. All 4,153 investor-owned properties are recorded as cash-owned, with no properties held under financing, indicating a highly solvent and low-leverage investor base.

The portfolio is overwhelmingly focused on generating rental income. A total of 4,055 properties are classified as rented, meaning 97.6% of investor-owned homes are actively serving as rental housing for the community.

Investors in Bartholomew County demonstrate a consistent ability to acquire properties below homeowner market rates. In Q1 2026, landlords paid an average of $180,431, a sharp 33.2% discount compared to the $270,138 average paid by traditional homeowners.

This price advantage translates to a significant saving of $89,707 per property, highlighting a sophisticated acquisition strategy that likely targets off-market or value-add opportunities.

The landlord discount has not been static; it has widened considerably over the past year. The 33.2% gap in Q1 2026 is nearly triple the 11.7% discount observed in Q3 2025 ($35,050) and significantly larger than the 20.5% discount in Q2 2025 ($62,778).

While homeowner prices remain relatively stable, the average landlord acquisition price has seen a notable decrease. The Q1 2026 average of $180,431 is lower than the averages for both 2025 ($264,532) and 2024 ($205,014), suggesting investors are becoming more effective at finding lower-cost deals.

This trend suggests that as the market normalizes, experienced investors are capitalizing on opportunities to purchase assets at a substantial markdown compared to retail buyers.

Investor activity represented a significant portion of the Bartholomew County housing market in Q4 2025, with landlords acquiring 61 of the 197 total SFRs sold, capturing a 31.0% market share of purchases.

The vast majority of this buying activity came from small-scale investors. Mom-and-pop landlords (owning 1-10 properties) purchased 55 of the 61 properties, making up 90.2% of all investor acquisitions for the quarter.

New entrants are a major force, with 45 new single-property landlords entering the market. This group alone was responsible for 44 property purchases, or 72.1% of all investor buying activity, signaling a healthy and growing small investor base.

Mid-size landlords (11-1000 properties) also showed activity, purchasing 5 properties collectively and accounting for 8.1% of the acquisitions.

Institutional capital had a minimal impact on the acquisitions market. Investors in the 1,000+ property tier bought only one home, a mere 1.6% of the landlord total, reinforcing that market activity is driven by local and smaller-scale operators.

The investor landscape in Bartholomew County is overwhelmingly dominated by small, independent operators. Mom-and-pop landlords (owning 1-10 properties) control a combined 91.2% of all investor-owned SFRs.

This concentration at the smaller end of the market defies the common narrative of corporate dominance. Single-property landlords are the largest group by a wide margin, owning 2,909 properties, which is 67.5% of the entire investor portfolio.

As portfolio sizes increase, the number of properties drops off sharply. Mid-size landlords (11-1000 properties) collectively own 318 properties, representing just 7.4% of the market.

Institutional investors (1,000+ properties) have a very small footprint in the county. This tier controls only 61 properties, equating to a mere 1.4% market share, underscoring their limited presence compared to smaller investors.

The data clearly illustrates a highly decentralized ownership structure, where the backbone of the rental market is composed of thousands of small-scale landlords rather than a few large institutions.

A clear pattern emerges when analyzing ownership by entity type across different portfolio sizes. For smaller portfolios, individual investors are the undisputed majority.

Individuals own 89.4% of single-property portfolios, 79.6% of two-property portfolios, and remain the majority through the 6-10 property tier (59.9%). This highlights that the entry-level and small-scale segment of the market is primarily driven by personal investment.

The ownership structure pivots at the 11-20 property tier. In this category, companies become the majority owners for the first time, holding 94 properties (61.4%) compared to 59 for individuals. This trend continues into the 21-50 property tier, where companies own 100 properties (62.9%).

This crossover point suggests that as investors scale their operations beyond 10 properties, they increasingly turn to corporate structures like LLCs for liability protection and operational efficiency.

Even in the largest non-institutional tier (101-1000 properties), companies are dominant, owning 4 of the 5 properties (80.0%), solidifying the pattern of incorporation with portfolio growth.

Geographic analysis reveals significant concentration of investor-owned properties within Bartholomew County. The 47201 zip code is the clear center of activity, containing 2,611 investor-owned SFRs, which accounts for over 62% of the entire county's investor portfolio.

Following 47201, the areas with the next highest counts of investor properties are 47203 (681 properties), 47246 (225 properties), and 47280 (200 properties), showing a steep drop-off after the primary zip code.

However, the areas with the highest *count* of investor properties are not the same as those with the highest investor *ownership rate*. This distinction points to different investment strategies across the county.

Several smaller zip codes show extreme investor penetration. In 47226, investors own 65.1% of all SFRs. Similarly, in 47280, the investor ownership rate is 63.1%, and in 47244, it is 57.7%. These hyper-saturated markets are far above the county-wide average of 16.7%.

This pattern suggests a dual strategy among investors: broad accumulation in the county's primary residential hub (47201) and deep, targeted saturation in smaller, possibly more niche submarkets.

Transaction data reveals a strong and sustained trend of portfolio accumulation among landlords in Bartholomew County. In Q1 2026, investors were overwhelmingly net buyers, purchasing 64 SFRs while selling only 2.

This aggressive buying activity represents a significant acceleration of a long-term pattern. In 2025, landlords were also net buyers, with 216 purchases versus 48 sales, a buy-to-sell ratio of 4.5 to 1.

The trend holds true for 2024 as well, where 134 properties were bought and 62 were sold, demonstrating a consistent, multi-year strategy of expansion across the investor community.

However, a clear divergence in strategy appears when comparing the overall market to institutional players. The only period with data for institutional (1,000+ tier) transactions, the full year of 2024, shows they were net sellers.

During 2024, institutional investors sold 4 properties while only purchasing 2. This behavior runs directly counter to the broader market, suggesting that while small and mid-size landlords are expanding, the largest players have been strategically divesting their assets in the county.

Landlords were a driving force in the Q1 2026 housing market, participating in 64 of the 206 total SFR transactions, which translates to a 31.1% market share of activity.

A notable pricing pattern emerged among tiers, with the smallest investors paying the most. Single-property landlords, often new to the market, had the highest average purchase price at $211,602. In contrast, some of the most active larger tiers paid significantly less, such as the 21-50 property group, which averaged only $54,000 per purchase.

This price disparity suggests different acquisition strategies. Newcomers may be buying market-rate, rent-ready homes, while larger, more experienced operators are likely targeting distressed properties or off-market deals that require renovation but come at a lower initial cost.

The institutional tier also secured a discount compared to new entrants, paying an average of $184,440, which is 12.8% less than what single-property landlords paid.

Inter-landlord trading appears to be rare, especially for new buyers. Among the 45 transactions made by single-property landlords, only one (2.2%) was sourced from another landlord. This indicates that the vast majority of new inventory for investors is being acquired from traditional homeowners.