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

In Wabaunsee County, investors have a significant footprint, owning 792 single-family residential properties, which constitutes a high 40.1% of the total 1,973 SFR properties in the market. This indicates a market with substantial rental and investment activity relative to its size.

Ownership is overwhelmingly concentrated among individual investors rather than companies. Individuals own 727 properties, or 91.8% of the investor portfolio, while companies hold just 67 properties (8.5%). This structure points to a market dominated by local, small-scale landlords.

The entity count further reinforces this pattern, with 967 individual landlords compared to only 58 company landlords. This nearly 17-to-1 ratio of individual to company entities underscores the 'mom-and-pop' nature of real estate investing in the area.

A strong preference for cash ownership is evident, with 556 properties owned outright versus 236 that are financed. This 2.3-to-1 cash-to-financed ratio suggests that many local investors are operating with low leverage, potentially indicating financial stability and a long-term holding strategy.

The portfolio is heavily focused on rental income, with 785 of the 792 properties classified as rented. This demonstrates that the vast majority of investor-owned properties are actively serving as rental housing for the community.

Pricing analysis in Wabaunsee County is marked by extreme volatility due to a very small number of transactions. In Q1 2026, there were no recorded landlord purchases, making a direct comparison to homeowner prices impossible and signaling very low market liquidity.

The prior year's data illustrates this volatility. In Q3 2025, landlords paid an average of $390,516, a staggering 159.9% premium over the traditional homeowner price of $150,268. This likely reflects a single high-value purchase skewing the average.

Conversely, just two quarters earlier in Q1 2025, landlords acquired properties for an average of $63,750, representing a 74.0% discount compared to the homeowner average of $244,826. This demonstrates that in a thinly traded market, quarterly averages are not reliable indicators of a consistent pricing strategy.

The pandemic-era (2020-2023) average acquisition price for landlords stood at $167,410. Comparing this to the erratic pricing of 2025 suggests that recent market activity has become even more unpredictable, with no clear trend of appreciation or depreciation.

This lack of a consistent price gap between landlords and homeowners is the key finding. Unlike larger markets where investors might secure predictable discounts, Wabaunsee County's pricing is driven by individual transactions rather than broad market forces.

In Q4 2025, landlords captured 23.1% of the market's sales activity, purchasing 3 of the 13 total SFR properties sold. This share indicates that investors remain an active, though not dominant, force in the county's transaction market.

The activity was split between small and large investors. Mom-and-pop landlords in the 2-property and 3-5 property tiers each acquired one home, collectively representing 66.7% of investor purchases for the quarter.

Notably, a single purchase was made by an institutional investor from the 1000+ property tier. In a market with such low transaction volume, one institutional acquisition accounts for a significant portion (33.3%) of all landlord activity.

There were no new landlords entering the market in Q4, as no purchases were recorded in the single-property (Tier 01) category. All acquisitions were made by entities that already owned at least one other property.

The small number of transactions, with only three entities making purchases, underscores the limited liquidity and scale of the investor market in Wabaunsee County during this period.

The ownership structure in Wabaunsee County is overwhelmingly dominated by small-scale investors. Mom-and-pop landlords, defined as those owning 1-10 properties, control 99.4% of all investor-owned SFRs, a near-total market share.

The concentration at the smallest end of the spectrum is particularly stark. Landlords with just a single property (Tier 01) own 675 homes, representing 84.1% of the entire investor portfolio. This highlights that the rental market is primarily supported by individuals with one investment property.

Mid-size landlords (11-1000 properties) have a negligible presence, with only two tiers (11-20 and 21-50) having any properties at all, totaling just 4 homes combined (0.5% of the portfolio).

Institutional investors (1000+ properties) have a minimal footprint, owning only a single property in the county. This accounts for just 0.1% of the investor-owned housing stock, challenging any narrative of large corporations controlling the local market.

This distribution reveals a highly fragmented market composed almost entirely of individual, small-portfolio owners, making it a quintessential mom-and-pop landlord environment.

A clear pattern emerges when analyzing ownership type by portfolio size: individuals dominate the smaller tiers, while companies take control as portfolios grow. Individuals own 93.9% of all single-property investor holdings and 89.6% of two-property holdings.

The crossover point where companies become the majority owners occurs in the small landlord tier of 6-10 properties. Within this tier, companies own 9 properties (60.0%) compared to 6 properties (40.0%) for individuals.

This trend continues into the next tier (11-20 properties), where company ownership increases to 66.7% (2 properties). This suggests that as landlords scale their operations beyond a handful of properties, they are more likely to incorporate.

Even so, the raw numbers remain small. The 41 company-owned properties in the single-property tier represent the largest number of homes owned by companies, but it's a small fraction (6.1%) of that tier's total.

This data indicates two distinct investor profiles in the county: a very large base of individuals with one or two properties, and a much smaller group of more professionalized operators who use corporate structures to manage portfolios of six or more properties.

Investor ownership in Wabaunsee County is not evenly distributed but is instead highly concentrated in a few key zip codes. The highest investor penetration is found in 66501, where landlords own an exceptional 85.2% of the SFR properties.

Other zip codes also show remarkably high investor saturation. In 66834, investors own 55.1% of the housing stock, and in 66423, the rate is 49.1%. These figures point to specific communities where rental properties are the dominant form of housing.

The largest number of investor-owned properties is located in the 66401 zip code, with 267 homes. While its 38.3% ownership rate is lower than the top areas, the raw count indicates it's a primary hub for rental activity in the county.

There is a distinction between the areas with the highest rate and the highest count. While 66501 has the top ownership rate, 66401 has more than double the number of investor properties, suggesting different market dynamics in each sub-region.

Several zip codes, such as 66407 and 66413, show no available data, which could indicate very little or no SFR transaction or ownership activity, further highlighting the market's geographic concentration.

Overall, landlords in Wabaunsee County are in an accumulation phase, consistently buying more properties than they sell. In Q1 2026, they were net buyers with 3 purchases and 2 sales, adding a net of 1 property to the investor-owned pool.

This behavior is part of a multi-year trend. In 2025, landlords bought 19 properties and sold 13, for a net gain of 6. The activity was even more pronounced in 2024, with 29 buys and only 9 sells, resulting in a net gain of 20 properties.

The institutional segment (1000+ tier) displays a different pattern. In Q1 2026, this tier had one purchase and one sale, making it position-neutral. This indicates that the single institutional player in the county is trading assets rather than accumulating or divesting.

Transaction volume shows signs of slowing. The 19 purchases in 2025 were a notable decrease from the 29 purchases in 2024, suggesting a cooling of acquisition velocity among the landlord community.

Despite the slowdown, the consistent net-positive acquisition numbers signal continued confidence among local landlords in the Wabaunsee County rental market.

In Q4 2025, landlords participated in 3 of the 13 total SFR transactions, capturing a 23.1% share of the market's activity. This reflects a significant, but not majority, role in the county's sales volume.

Mom-and-pop landlords accounted for two-thirds of these transactions, with one purchase in the two-property tier and one in the small landlord (3-5) tier. An institutional investor conducted the remaining transaction.

The market for investor-to-investor sales appears to be a crucial channel for acquisitions. Data from Q4 shows that 100% of the properties bought by both the two-property tier and the institutional tier were purchased from other landlords. This points to a self-contained market where investors trade assets among themselves.

In contrast, the small landlord (3-5) tier acquired its property from a non-landlord source, indicating that some investors are still bringing new properties into the rental pool from the general market.

Due to the extremely low number of transactions within each tier, average purchase price data was not available for Q4 2025. This prevents a detailed analysis of pricing strategies between different-sized investors for the period.