Grant (ND) Investor Pulse Report (2026-Q1)

In Grant County, investors hold 106 single-family residential properties, which constitutes 20.4% of the total 519 SFRs in the market.

The market is overwhelmingly dominated by individual investors rather than companies. Individuals own 101 of the 106 properties, a commanding 95.3% share, while companies hold the remaining 6 properties (5.7%).

This individual dominance is also reflected in the entity count, where 136 of the 142 total landlords are individuals (95.8%), highlighting a landscape of very small-scale real estate investing.

A significant majority of these investments are held free and clear. Cash purchases account for 85 properties, more than four times the 21 properties that are financed.

The entire investor portfolio of 106 properties is dedicated to rentals, with every property being classified as non-owner-occupied, underscoring the rental-focused strategy of local investors.

Investor acquisition prices in Grant County show volatility in a market with very low transaction volume. In Q1 2026, the average landlord purchase price was $69,000, based on the quarter's limited activity.

A direct comparison to traditional homeowners was not possible in Q1 due to no recorded homeowner purchases. However, data from Q3 2025 revealed a substantial price gap, with landlords at $195,000 and homeowners at $372,500, giving investors a $177,500 (47.7%) discount.

Recent pricing signals a potential market cooling. The Q1 2026 average price of $69,000 is notably lower than the average of $76,421 seen during the 2020-2023 period.

The sporadic nature of sales, with zero landlord purchases recorded in Q1, Q2, and Q3 of 2025, makes it difficult to establish a consistent price trend. The market appears to be characterized by infrequent, individual transactions rather than steady activity.

Investor activity completely defined Grant County's SFR market in Q4 2025, with landlords purchasing all 3 properties that were sold.

This activity was driven exclusively by new, small-scale investors. The single-property tier accounted for 100% of landlord acquisitions, with 3 distinct entities each purchasing their first investment property.

Mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) represented the entirety of the buyer pool, capturing 100% of landlord purchases for the quarter.

In stark contrast, mid-size and institutional investors (Tiers 05-09) were completely inactive, making zero purchases and holding no market share of the quarter's activity.

The data highlights a market sustained by new entrants at the smallest scale, with no acquisition activity from established or larger investors.

The investor landscape in Grant County is exclusively composed of 'mom-and-pop' landlords, who own 100% of the 106 investor-held SFR properties.

Market ownership is heavily concentrated at the smallest possible scale. Landlords with just one property (Tier 01) control a staggering 97.2% of the investor-owned housing stock, totaling 103 properties.

The next tier, consisting of owners with two properties, accounts for the remaining 3 properties (2.8% of the market).

There is zero presence from mid-size landlords (11-1,000 properties) or institutional investors (1,000+ properties) in Grant County.

This extreme concentration underscores a market entirely driven by small, local investors, a structure that differs significantly from narratives of corporate landlord dominance in other regions.

Individual investors overwhelmingly control portfolios of all sizes in Grant County. In the single-property tier, individuals own 99 properties (95.2%) compared to just 5 owned by companies (4.8%).

This pattern continues into the two-property tier, where individuals own 2 of the 3 properties (66.7%), while a single company owns the third.

Unlike larger markets, there is no crossover point at which companies become the dominant owner type; individuals maintain majority control across the board.

The data shows that company investment is a fringe activity in this market, with corporate entities representing only a small fraction of holdings even as portfolio sizes slightly increase.

The market structure is fundamentally built on individual ownership, with little evidence of corporate consolidation at any level.

Investor ownership in Grant County is concentrated in a few key zip codes. The highest penetration rate is found in 58562, where investors own 26.6% of the SFR housing stock.

Close behind is the 58529 zip code, with an investor ownership rate of 25.2%, indicating another pocket of significant investor presence.

The zip code 58533, while having a slightly lower rate of 20.0%, contains the highest absolute number of investor-owned properties at 48.

Conversely, zip codes like 58520 and 58563 have insufficient data, suggesting very low or negligible investor activity.

This geographic distribution reveals that investor focus is not uniform across the county but is instead targeted in specific communities.

A lack of recorded historical transactions prevents a detailed analysis of long-term investor behavior in Grant County. The datasets for all landlords show no buy or sell activity across any of the specified timeframes (Q1 2026, Q4 2025, etc.).

Consequently, it is not possible to calculate a buy/sell ratio, determine if landlords have been net buyers or sellers over time, or assess average transaction prices from this data.

Similarly, the data does not allow for an analysis of inter-landlord trading, as the percentage of properties bought from or sold to other landlords is indeterminable.

The same data limitation applies to institutional investors. With no transaction activity recorded for the 1000+ property tier, their historical market position cannot be assessed.

This absence of data itself is an insight, pointing to an extremely illiquid market where transactions are too infrequent to establish consistent trends.

In Q1, the Grant County real estate market was entirely an investor's market, with landlords accounting for all 3 of the quarter's transactions for a 100% share.

The activity was exclusively from the smallest investor tier. Landlords entering the market with their first property made all 3 purchases.

The average purchase price for these new mom-and-pop investors was $69,000. There was no activity from larger investor tiers to provide a price comparison.

Inter-landlord trading was non-existent this quarter, with 0% of transactions occurring between investors. This suggests new entrants are acquiring their properties from the traditional homeowner market.

The quarter's activity paints a clear picture: a market driven not by established investors trading assets, but by new individuals making their initial foray into property investment.