Forest (PA) Investor Pulse Report (2026-Q1)

Investor ownership in Forest County is remarkably high, with 710 properties, or 46.8% of the total 1,517 SFRs, held by landlords. This indicates a market with significant rental penetration.

The profile of the typical real estate investor in this area is overwhelmingly that of an individual. Individuals own 682 properties (96.1%), while companies own just 28 (3.9%), a stark contrast to more corporate-heavy markets.

A defining feature of this market is its lack of leverage. All 710 investor-owned properties are owned with cash, with no financed properties identified. This suggests a financially conservative investor base with low debt exposure.

The investor base is comprised of 675 distinct landlords, with 648 being individuals and only 27 being companies. The ratio of landlords to properties is nearly one-to-one, reinforcing the prevalence of small-scale ownership.

Confirming the rental focus, 705 of the 710 properties are classified as rented. This demonstrates that the investor-owned housing stock is actively serving as rental supply for the county.

Analysis of acquisition pricing is not possible for Forest County due to a complete lack of recorded landlord purchases in the most recent quarters. This absence of data is itself an insight, pointing to an extremely illiquid or stable market with minimal turnover.

Without recent transactions, a direct comparison between prices paid by landlords versus traditional homeowners cannot be made. The market lacks the necessary sales volume to establish current pricing benchmarks for different buyer types.

Historical data for 2024 and the 2020-2023 period also shows zero properties purchased by landlords. This suggests that the current market stillness is not a new phenomenon but rather a characteristic of the local real estate environment.

The lack of price appreciation trends or discount analysis underscores a market likely defined by long-term holds rather than frequent trading or speculative investment.

The first quarter of 2026 was completely static for investor acquisitions in Forest County, with zero properties purchased by landlords out of a total of zero market-wide SFR sales. This indicates a period of dormancy in the local real estate market.

No new landlords entered the market, as evidenced by zero purchases in the single-property (Tier 01) category. The investor pool remained unchanged during the quarter.

Activity was nonexistent across all investor sizes. Mom-and-pop landlords (1-10 properties) made no purchases, and there were no acquisitions from mid-size or institutional-scale investors either.

This lack of purchasing activity highlights a market characterized by buy-and-hold strategies, where existing owners are not expanding their portfolios and new investors are not entering.

The investor landscape in Forest County is defined by hyper-concentration at the smallest scale. Mom-and-pop landlords, owning 1-10 properties, collectively hold 707 of the 710 investor SFRs, a commanding 99.6% share.

Single-property landlords (Tier 01) alone account for 631 properties, representing 88.9% of all investor-owned housing. This signifies a market built almost entirely on small, individual investments.

The next largest tiers are also small-scale, with two-property landlords holding 50 properties (7.0%) and those with 3-5 properties holding 25 (3.5%).

In a striking illustration of the market's structure, institutional investors (Tier 09, 1000+ properties) have absolutely no presence, owning 0.0% of the portfolio. This market operates completely outside the sphere of large-scale corporate landlords.

There is no pricing data available by tier due to the lack of recent transaction activity, preventing analysis of whether larger portfolios command different acquisition prices.

Ownership in Forest County is almost exclusively in the hands of individuals, regardless of portfolio size. In the single-property tier, individuals own 608 of the 631 homes (96.4%).

This pattern continues up the scale. For two-property landlords, individuals own 49 of 50 properties (98.0%). For the 3-5 property tier, individuals own 24 of 25 properties (96.0%).

There is no crossover point where companies become the dominant owner type. The small number of company-owned properties are scattered across the smallest tiers, never constituting more than a few percentage points of any tier.

The largest tier with any company presence is the 3-5 property tier, where a single company-owned property exists. This demonstrates the minimal role of corporate structures in the local rental market.

Geographic analysis reveals that investor ownership is not evenly distributed across Forest County. The vast majority of activity is in two zip codes: 16353 (315 investor properties) and 16239 (301 investor properties).

While 16353 has the highest absolute number of investor-owned homes, zip code 16239 displays a more intense concentration with a 60.0% investor ownership rate. This means 3 out of every 5 SFRs in that area are investor-owned.

Smaller zip codes show even higher saturation. Both 16322 and 16370 have an investor ownership rate of 66.7%, and 16321 stands at 62.5%, making these areas dominated by rental properties.

The data highlights a clear distinction between regions with a high raw count of investor properties and those with a high percentage. This can help identify both large rental hubs and smaller, highly saturated rental pockets.

No property data was available for the PA-Forest-16260 area, which is excluded from this geographic analysis.

The only period with notable transaction history is the year 2024, during which landlords were aggressive net buyers. They added a net of 24 properties to their portfolios, with 25 purchases against only 1 sale.

This 25-to-1 buy/sell ratio from 2024 indicates a period of significant portfolio accumulation and confidence in the local market among existing landlords.

However, this activity has not carried over into the current period, with zero transactions recorded in the most recent quarter. This suggests the market has shifted from a phase of accumulation to one of stability or inactivity.

Institutional investors (1000+ tier) were completely absent from the transaction records, reinforcing that all buying and selling activity is driven by smaller, local investors.

There is insufficient data to analyze landlord-to-landlord transaction percentages or compare buy and sell prices to infer profit margins.

The first quarter of 2026 saw a total freeze in the Forest County real estate market, with zero transactions recorded. Consequently, the landlord share of transactions was 0.0%.

This inactivity was uniform across all investor sizes. Transaction volumes for mom-and-pop landlords (Tiers 01-04) and institutional investors (Tier 09) were both zero.

Due to the absence of sales, it is impossible to analyze purchase prices by tier or identify any price spread between the smallest and largest investors.

Similarly, analysis of inter-landlord trading is not possible. There were no instances of landlords buying from other landlords, as there were no transactions of any kind.

This lack of transactional data points to a market defined by long-term ownership and very low liquidity, where properties rarely change hands.