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

Investors own 1,946 single-family residential properties in Perry County, representing 15.9% of the total 12,218 SFRs in the market.

Individual investors overwhelmingly dominate the landscape, holding 1,784 properties (91.7%), while company-owned properties number just 179 (9.2%).

This individual dominance extends to the entity level, where 2,131 of the 2,292 distinct landlords (93.0%) are individuals, reinforcing the local, small-scale nature of the rental market.

Cash is the preferred method of ownership, with 1,466 properties owned outright compared to only 480 that are financed. This indicates that a majority of investor capital in the county is not leveraged.

The portfolio is almost entirely dedicated to rentals, with 1,904 properties classified as rented, making up 97.8% of all investor-owned homes.

Investors in Perry County demonstrated a significant pricing advantage in Q1 2026, acquiring properties for an average of $191,457, which is $84,741 less than the $276,198 paid by traditional homeowners.

This 30.7% discount marks a substantial increase in purchasing power for investors compared to a year prior, when the discount was only 5.0% ($13,347) in Q1 2025.

The price gap has been volatile but consistently in favor of landlords, with discounts recorded at 40.3% in Q3 2025 and 28.4% in Q2 2025, suggesting a sustained ability to find undervalued assets.

Despite purchasing at a discount, the average acquisition price for landlords has still risen, up 18.8% in Q1 2026 from the 2020-2023 average of $161,151.

Investors were a major force in the Q4 2025 market, acquiring 27 of the 90 total SFRs sold, capturing a 30.0% market share.

The activity was overwhelmingly driven by small-scale investors. Mom-and-pop landlords (portfolios of 1-10 properties) purchased 25 of the 27 homes, representing 89.3% of all investor acquisitions.

New entrants were particularly active, with single-property landlords making up 22 of the purchases (78.6%). This was spread across 31 distinct new entities, signaling a healthy influx of first-time investors.

In stark contrast, institutional investors (1,000+ properties) had no purchasing activity, highlighting a complete lack of large-scale corporate acquisition in the county.

The data clearly shows that market growth is fueled by new and small landlords, not by the expansion of large portfolios.

The investor market in Perry County is unequivocally controlled by small landlords. Those owning 1-10 properties (Tiers 01-04) hold 96.4% of all investor-owned SFRs.

Single-property landlords form the bedrock of the rental market, with their 1,619 properties accounting for a massive 80.3% of the total investor portfolio.

The narrative of institutional takeover does not apply here; investors in the 1,000+ property tier own just 3 properties, a minuscule 0.1% of the market.

Ownership is extremely fragmented, with the top four tiers (1-10 properties) comprising the overwhelming majority of both properties and landlord entities.

Even mid-size landlords have a limited presence, with those owning 11-100 properties collectively holding just 3.4% of the investor-owned housing stock.

Individual investors are the dominant ownership type across all portfolio sizes in Perry County, with no crossover point where companies take a majority stake.

In the single-property tier, individuals own 1,516 of the properties, a 92.8% share, demonstrating that new market entrants are almost exclusively individuals.

Even as portfolios grow, individual ownership remains the standard. For landlords with 6-10 properties, individuals still own 76.9% of the homes.

Company ownership is most prevalent in the 6-10 property tier, but even there it only reaches 23.1%, far from a controlling share.

This pattern indicates that the growth path for a real estate investing portfolio in this county is predominantly an individual endeavor, not a corporate one.

Investor ownership in Perry County is geographically concentrated, with five zip codes accounting for over half of all investor-held properties: 17074 (311), 17020 (260), 17006 (202), 17053 (185), and 17040 (148).

The areas with the highest raw counts of investor properties are not necessarily those with the highest market penetration. While 17074 leads with 311 properties, its investor ownership rate is a more moderate 16.1%.

In contrast, several smaller zip codes are dominated by investors. 17071 has an 88.9% investor ownership rate, and 17035 has a 75.0% rate, identifying them as rental-heavy enclaves.

The zip code 17006 is a notable hotspot for investors, appearing in the top five for both absolute count (202 properties) and ownership percentage (45.6%), making it a critical submarket.

This divergence between high-volume and high-penetration areas highlights different investor strategies, from scaling in larger population centers to dominating smaller, niche rental markets.

A clear divergence exists between the behavior of small and large investors. Overall, landlords in Perry County are in a strong accumulation phase, acquiring 38 properties and selling only 6 in Q1 2026.

This net-buyer trend is consistent, with investors adding a net 82 properties in 2025 and a net 120 properties in 2024, signaling sustained confidence in the market.

In stark contrast, institutional investors (1,000+ tier) are actively divesting. In 2025, they were net sellers, offloading 7 properties while acquiring only 3.

The pattern of institutional retreat continued from 2024, when they also sold more properties than they bought (4 sells vs. 3 buys).

This dynamic shows that the growth in investor-owned housing is being fueled entirely by smaller operators, who are absorbing properties as larger players exit.

In Q1 2026, investors participated in 38 of the 130 total SFR transactions, making up 29.2% of all market activity.

Activity was concentrated among the smallest investors. Mom-and-pop landlords (1-10 properties) were responsible for 34 of the 38 acquisitions (89.5%).

Interestingly, new investors in the single-property tier paid the highest average price among active tiers, at $197,959. This is higher than the prices paid by landlords in the 2 to 50 property range.

The market for investor-to-investor sales is not very active. Only 2 of the 38 landlord purchases (5.3%) were sourced from another landlord, indicating that investors are primarily buying from the general homeowner market.

Institutional investors logged zero transactions in the quarter, confirming their inactivity and reinforcing the market's reliance on small-scale buyers.