McCone (MT) Investor Pulse Report (2026-Q1)

Investors hold significant sway in McCone County, owning 224 single-family residential properties, which constitutes a massive 76.5% of the total 293 SFRs in the market.

The market is overwhelmingly dominated by small, individual landlords, who own 203 properties (90.6%), compared to just 26 properties (11.6%) held by companies. This pattern extends to the entity level, where 268 of the 296 total landlords are individuals.

Cash transactions are the prevailing strategy for investors in this market. A substantial 174 properties (77.7%) in landlord portfolios are owned free and clear, while only 50 properties (22.3%) carry financing.

The investor portfolio is exclusively dedicated to rentals, with all 224 properties classified as non-owner-occupied. This 100% rental rate underscores the business focus of property owners in the region.

The data points to a market characterized by high investor penetration but one that is driven by local, individual capital rather than large-scale corporate real estate investing.

The most significant finding in McCone County's acquisition pricing is the complete lack of sales activity in Q1 2026. With zero properties purchased by either landlords or traditional homeowners, no pricing analysis or discount calculation is possible for the current quarter.

This absence of transactions indicates an extremely illiquid market where properties rarely change hands. This trend was visible throughout 2025, with no landlord purchases recorded in multiple quarters.

Historical data from periods with activity provides some pricing context. In 2025, the average landlord acquisition price was $123,710, a notable decrease from the 2024 average of $181,550.

The average acquisition price during the 2020-2023 boom years was $124,766, suggesting that 2024 prices were an anomaly and 2025 prices represented a return to the mean.

For investors analyzing this market, the key takeaway is not the price but the challenge of entry and exit due to the very low volume of transactions.

Landlord purchasing activity completely defined the McCone County market in Q4 2025, accounting for 100% of the single SFR transaction recorded during the period.

The entirety of this activity was driven by the smallest investor segment. A new, single-property landlord (Tier 01) made the purchase, representing 100% of properties acquired by investors.

This single transaction highlights the granular nature of market growth, which is dependent on one new entrant at a time rather than portfolio-level acquisitions.

Mid-size and institutional-scale investors were completely absent from the market, with Tiers 05 through 09 recording zero purchases. This reinforces the area's character as a market exclusively for small operators.

The data indicates that any market expansion is currently happening at the grassroots level, with new mom-and-pop investors constituting the only source of demand.

Ownership in McCone County is completely concentrated among small investors, with mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) holding 100% of the 224 investor-owned properties.

The market's backbone is the single-property landlord. This tier alone accounts for 192 properties, representing a commanding 83.1% of all investor-owned housing.

The subsequent tiers show a sharp drop-off, with two-property landlords holding 20 properties (8.7%) and the small landlord tier (3-5 properties) holding 19 properties (8.2%).

There is absolutely no institutional investor presence in McCone County. The 1000+ property tier (Tier 09) holds zero properties, underscoring the market's isolation from large-scale capital.

This distribution reveals a hyper-local market structure built entirely on small, independent owners, a stark contrast to national trends often highlighted in market reports.

Individual investors are the definitive owners across every active tier in McCone County, with no crossover point where companies become the majority.

In the foundational single-property tier, individuals own 174 properties (88.3%), while companies own just 23 (11.7%). This demonstrates the individual-centric nature of market entry.

This pattern of individual dominance continues in larger portfolios. Among two-property owners, individuals hold 19 properties (95.0%) versus only 1 for companies (5.0%).

Even in the 3-5 property tier, individuals maintain strong control with 16 properties (84.2%) compared to 3 properties (15.8%) held by companies.

The lack of a corporate crossover point signifies a market where growth and scale are achieved primarily by private individuals rather than formalized business entities.

Geographic analysis reveals that investor ownership in McCone County is not just high, it is extremely concentrated. The vast majority of activity is in the 59215 zip code, which contains 217 investor-owned SFRs.

While 59215 is the volume leader, the 59214 zip code exhibits the highest rate of investor ownership at 83.3%, with investors owning 5 of the 6 total SFR properties.

The primary zip code, 59215, also has a remarkably high penetration rate of 78.9%, indicating widespread investor presence in the area's main housing stock.

Other zip codes in the county, such as 59274, have a much smaller investor footprint, with just 2 properties representing a 25.0% ownership rate.

This concentration suggests that investor strategy is narrowly focused on specific communities within the county, rather than being broadly distributed.

Historical transaction data from 2024, the most recent year with significant volume, shows that landlords in McCone County were aggressive net buyers.

Investors acquired 11 properties throughout 2024 while only selling one, resulting in a net gain of 10 properties to their portfolios and a powerful 11x buy/sell ratio.

This activity signals a period of confident accumulation, where local investors were actively expanding their holdings.

There is no available data on inter-landlord transactions, so it is unclear what portion of this activity represented trades between existing investors versus purchases from homeowners.

Given the market's structure, there were no institutional transactions recorded, meaning all of this net buying activity was driven by mom-and-pop landlords.

In Q4 2025, the transaction market in McCone County was exclusively composed of landlord activity, with investors responsible for the one and only SFR sale.

The buyer was a new entrant to the market, falling into the single-property (Tier 01) landlord category. This highlights that recent market activity, though minimal, represents organic growth.

Notably, this transaction was not an inter-landlord sale. The 0.0% 'Bought From Landlords' rate for this purchase means the property was acquired from a homeowner or other non-investor entity.

The absence of transactions in any other tier, particularly from institutional investors, reinforces the conclusion that the market's liquidity is solely dependent on the decisions of small, individual buyers.

Pricing data for this transaction was not available, but the nature of the sale itself points to a market sustained by new, small-scale capital entering from outside the existing investor pool.