Chase (KS) Investor Pulse Report (2026-Q1)

In Chase County, Kansas, investors have a significant footprint, owning 388 single-family residential properties, which constitutes 45.1% of the total 861 SFRs in the market.

The ownership structure is heavily skewed towards individuals over corporations. Individual investors own 309 properties, or 79.6% of the investor portfolio, compared to 81 properties (20.9%) owned by companies.

This individual dominance is also reflected in the entity count, where 423 of the 487 total landlords are individuals, reinforcing the local, small-scale nature of real estate investing in the county.

Investor portfolios are overwhelmingly geared towards rentals, with 384 of 388 properties (99.0%) classified as non-owner-occupied.

A striking financial characteristic of this market is the preference for cash ownership. A total of 342 properties (88.1%) are owned outright, while only 46 properties (11.9%) carry financing, suggesting a low-leverage, high-equity approach among local investors.

Pricing analysis in Chase County reveals extreme volatility due to a very small number of transactions. In Q1 2026, data shows landlords acquired 0 properties for an average price of $0, a 100% discount compared to the $167,945 average paid by traditional homeowners.

This figure, likely resulting from zero-priced transfers or no transactions, is an anomaly and stands in stark contrast to previous quarters. For instance, in Q3 2025, landlords paid an average of $178,125, which was $91,897 or 106.6% more than the homeowner average of $86,228 for that period.

The price for landlord acquisitions has fluctuated significantly over time, from an average of $113,218 during the 2020-2023 period to $83,950 in 2024 and $178,125 in 2025.

The extreme quarterly swings in the price gap between landlords and homeowners indicate that the market is too thin to establish a consistent purchasing advantage for either group.

These data points underscore the importance of looking at longer-term trends rather than quarterly snapshots in markets with limited activity, as individual transactions can disproportionately affect the averages.

In Q4 2025, investor activity accounted for one-third of all single-family home purchases in Chase County, with landlords acquiring 2 of the 6 properties sold.

The entirety of this investor activity came from the smallest players. Mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) made up 100% of the purchases, with institutional investors (Tier 09) completely absent from the buying side.

All investor acquisitions were made by new entrants to the market. The 2 properties purchased were by 2 different entities in the single-property tier, indicating grassroots growth rather than portfolio expansion by existing landlords.

This activity highlights a market where growth is driven by new, small-scale investors rather than the consolidation of properties by larger entities.

The absence of mid-size and institutional buyers underscores the hyper-local, small-investor character of the Chase County rental market.

The investor landscape in Chase County is unequivocally dominated by small-scale operators. Mom-and-pop landlords, defined as those owning 1-10 properties, control 99.7% of all investor-owned housing.

Institutional investors with portfolios of 1,000 or more properties have absolutely no presence in this market, holding 0.0% of the inventory.

The concentration at the smallest end of the spectrum is profound. Landlords owning just a single property (Tier 01) make up the largest segment, holding 323 properties, which is 81.2% of the entire investor portfolio.

The next tier, two-property owners, holds an additional 45 properties (11.3%), meaning investors with one or two rentals control over 92% of the market.

This ownership structure indicates a market characterized by local, individual participation rather than large-scale, corporate rental operations, a key finding available in comprehensive property ownership by owner type report data.

Individual investors maintain majority ownership across every single investor tier in Chase County, showcasing their dominance at all levels of this market.

Unlike larger urban markets, there is no crossover point where companies become the majority owners. Even among landlords with 3-5 properties, individuals own 11 homes (68.8%) versus 5 for companies (31.2%).

The largest concentration of individual ownership is in the foundational single-property tier, where 277 of the 323 properties (85.2%) are held by individual landlords.

Company ownership, while present, remains a minority share in all segments. Their highest penetration is in the 2-property and 3-5 property tiers, where they own just over 31% of the homes.

This pattern shows that even as investors begin to scale their portfolios in Chase County, the ownership structure remains primarily in the hands of individual operators, not corporate entities.

Geographic analysis within Chase County reveals specific pockets of high investor concentration. The zip code 66845 holds the largest number of investor-owned properties at 159, representing a 41.7% ownership rate.

However, the highest rate of investor ownership is found in zip code 66846, where investors own 65 properties, accounting for a remarkable 73.9% of the area's SFR housing stock.

The zip code 66869 is another hotspot, with 101 investor-owned homes and a high penetration rate of 48.3%.

This highlights a key pattern: the areas with the highest raw counts of investor properties are not always the same as those with the highest percentage, indicating different market dynamics within the county.

At the other end of the spectrum, some areas like zip code 66838 have no recorded investor-owned SFRs, showing that investor focus is highly localized.

Historical transaction data shows that landlords in Chase County have been in an accumulation phase over the past two years. They have consistently operated as net buyers, adding more properties to their portfolios than they sold.

In 2024, the buy-to-sell ratio was a strong 5-to-1, with landlords acquiring 10 new properties while only divesting 2.

The net buying trend, though slightly moderated, continued through 2025, which saw 5 properties purchased and 3 sold, resulting in a net gain of 2 properties for the investor community.

During Q2 2025, activity was balanced, with 2 properties bought and 2 sold, indicating a neutral market for that specific period before returning to net buying.

Given the complete absence of institutional investors in this market, all transaction activity reflects the behavior of small-to-mid-sized local landlords.

In the final quarter of 2025, landlords accounted for one-third of all market transactions in Chase County, participating in 2 of the 6 total SFR sales.

All investor purchase activity was concentrated in the smallest tier. The 2 transactions were both made by single-property landlords, reinforcing the trend of new, small investors driving market growth.

The average purchase price for these transactions was recorded as $0, an anomaly likely due to non-standard transfers or missing price data in a very low-volume market.

There was no inter-landlord trading during the quarter. One hundred percent of landlord purchases came from outside the investor community, meaning they acquired properties from homeowners or other non-investor sellers.

This lack of landlord-to-landlord sales suggests a market where investors are holding their assets rather than trading amongst themselves.