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

In Pulaski County, investors hold a significant 13.8% share of the Single-Family Residential market, totaling 579 properties out of 4,198 available.

The market is overwhelmingly controlled by individual investors, who own 515 properties, representing 88.9% of all investor-owned SFRs. In contrast, company-owned properties number just 65, or 11.2% of the total.

This individual dominance extends to the entity level, where 648 of the 702 landlords (92.3%) are individuals, reinforcing the local, small-scale nature of real estate investing in the area.

Financial strategies heavily favor liquidity over leverage. A remarkable 91.0% of investor-owned properties (527) were acquired with cash, while only 52 properties (9.0%) are financed.

The portfolio is almost entirely dedicated to rentals, with 559 properties (96.5%) classified as non-owner-occupied, signaling a strong focus on generating rental income rather than short-term speculation.

Acquisition pricing data for Pulaski County reveals an extremely volatile market shaped by very low transaction volumes, making it difficult to establish consistent trends.

No landlord purchases were recorded in Q1 2026, preventing a direct comparison with traditional homeowners for the current period, who purchased at an average of $75,000.

Looking at previous quarters highlights the dramatic price swings. In Q3 2025, landlords achieved a substantial 60.5% discount, paying an average of $94,188 while homeowners paid $238,214.

However, this trend completely reversed in Q2 2025, when landlords paid a 15.7% premium, with an average acquisition price of $200,167 compared to the homeowner average of $173,013.

This volatility suggests that investor purchase prices are driven by specific, opportunistic deals rather than broad market forces, with individual transaction characteristics having an outsized impact on quarterly averages.

Despite low overall market volume, investors played a significant role in Q4 2025, purchasing 2 of the 5 total SFRs sold for a market share of 40.0%.

Acquisition activity was distributed between small and mid-size investors, with one property purchased by a landlord in the 3-5 property tier and another by a landlord in the 21-50 property tier.

This indicates that established local investors, rather than new entrants, were responsible for the quarter's activity, as no purchases were made by single-property landlords.

The mom-and-pop segment (Tiers 01-04) and the mid-size segment (Tiers 05-08) each accounted for 50.0% of landlord purchases for the quarter.

Institutional investors (1000+ properties) remained entirely on the sidelines, registering zero purchases and underscoring the market's lack of appeal for large-scale corporate players.

The ownership structure in Pulaski County is overwhelmingly dominated by small-scale investors. Mom-and-pop landlords, defined as those owning 1-10 properties, control 97.0% of all investor-owned SFRs.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) are the most significant group by a wide margin, holding 466 properties, which accounts for 78.6% of the entire investor portfolio.

The concentration at the small end of the market is stark: landlords with 1-5 properties collectively own 96.8% of all investor-held homes in the county.

In sharp contrast, institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) have a nearly non-existent footprint, owning just 2 properties, or 0.3% of the investor market share.

This data illustrates a highly fragmented market with extremely low barriers to entry, directly countering the narrative of a corporate-dominated rental landscape.

A distinct pattern emerges when analyzing ownership by entity type across different portfolio sizes: individuals dominate smaller holdings, while companies take control as portfolio sizes increase.

In the foundational single-property tier, individuals own 432 of the 466 properties, a commanding 92.5% share.

The crossover point occurs in the 11-20 property tier, where companies own 66.7% of the properties, marking the transition to more formalized business structures for larger-scale operations.

This trend solidifies in larger tiers. For instance, in the 51-100 property tier, companies own 3 of the 4 properties, a 75.0% majority.

This progression reflects the natural evolution of a real estate investment business, where growing portfolios necessitate the legal and financial advantages of a corporate entity.

Geographic analysis reveals a clear concentration of investor properties by volume in the 46996 zip code, home to 323 investor-owned SFRs, representing 14.0% of that area's housing stock.

However, the zip codes with the highest rate of investor ownership are smaller markets. The 46960 zip code leads with a 22.8% investor ownership rate, followed closely by 46939 at 20.3%.

This distinction between volume and rate leaders suggests two parallel investment strategies at play in Pulaski County: scaling portfolios in the largest sub-market (46996) and achieving high market penetration in smaller, possibly less competitive areas.

The top three zip codes by investor-owned property count are 46996 (323 properties), 47946 (69 properties), and 46985 (66 properties).

Data for zip codes 46374 and 46978 was unavailable for this analysis, indicating potential gaps in coverage for those specific areas.

Historical transaction data shows a clear and consistent trend of portfolio growth among landlords in Pulaski County. They have operated as strong net buyers over the past two years.

In 2025, the buy-to-sell ratio was a robust 4.8-to-1, with landlords acquiring 29 properties and disposing of only 6, for a net increase of 23 homes in their collective portfolio.

This pattern of accumulation was also evident in 2024, when investors purchased 18 properties and sold 6, resulting in a net portfolio growth of 12 properties.

The most active recent quarter was Q3 2025, which saw 10 acquisitions versus only 2 sales, demonstrating continued confidence in the local market.

Even the small institutional segment was in growth mode in their last recorded period of activity, purchasing 3 properties while selling only 1 in 2024.

In the final quarter of 2025, landlords accounted for a quarter of all market activity, with 2 of the 8 total SFR transactions involving an investor buyer.

Activity was split between a small-scale landlord from the 3-5 property tier and a more established mid-size investor from the 21-50 property tier.

This distribution indicates that growth is occurring among existing investors rather than new market entrants, as no purchases were recorded in the single-property tier.

A key finding from the quarter is that 100% of investor purchases came from non-landlord sellers. This lack of inter-landlord trading suggests a market where investors adopt a long-term buy-and-hold strategy rather than frequently trading assets among themselves.

No transactions were recorded by institutional-level investors, reinforcing their passive role in the county's transactional market.