Cocke (TN) Investor Pulse Report (2026-Q1)

The investor-owned portfolio in Cocke County, TN, consists of 2,890 Single-Family Residential properties, which constitutes a significant 30.5% of the total 9,476 SFRs in the market.

Ownership is overwhelmingly concentrated among individuals, who hold 2,695 properties, or 93.3% of the investor portfolio. Companies own the remaining 209 properties (7.2%), highlighting a market dominated by small-scale operators over corporate entities.

The financial structure of these holdings reveals a low-leverage approach, with 2,382 properties (82.4%) owned outright with cash. In contrast, only 508 properties (17.6%) are financed, suggesting investors in this market are not heavily reliant on debt.

The portfolio is clearly focused on generating rental income. A total of 2,867 properties, or 99.2% of the investor-owned inventory, are classified as rented, confirming that the primary strategy for these landlords is buy-and-hold.

The entity count further underscores the dominance of individual investors. There are 3,397 individual landlords compared to just 169 company landlords, a ratio of more than 20 to 1.

In a significant deviation from typical market behavior, landlords in Cocke County paid more than traditional homeowners in Q1 2026. The average landlord acquisition price was $274,307, which is $21,253, or 8.4%, higher than the average homeowner purchase price of $253,054.

This development represents a stark reversal of the pricing dynamics seen throughout 2025. In Q3 2025, landlords enjoyed a 25.3% discount ($80,053), and in Q1 2025, they secured an even larger 27.9% discount ($76,960) compared to homeowners.

The change from a substantial discount to a premium suggests a rapid escalation in competition among investors for a limited supply of properties, forcing them to bid more aggressively.

This flip was driven by diverging price trends: the average landlord acquisition price increased from $236,810 in Q3 2025 to $274,307 in Q1 2026, while the average homeowner price simultaneously decreased from $316,863 to $253,054 in the same period.

The willingness of investors to pay a premium could signal a strong belief in future rent growth or property appreciation in Cocke County, making them willing to accept tighter initial margins to enter the market.

Investors exerted immense influence on the Cocke County housing market in Q4 2025, acquiring 34 of the 67 total SFRs sold for a dominant 50.7% market share.

The purchasing activity was almost entirely fueled by small-scale investors. Landlords in the 'mom-and-pop' tiers (1-10 properties) were responsible for 34 of the purchases, which represents 97.1% of all investor acquisitions during the quarter.

New entrants and first-time landlords were particularly active. The single-property (Tier 01) category led all buying activity with 27 properties acquired, making up 77.1% of the investor total and signaling robust grassroots interest in the rental market.

In stark contrast, large-scale institutional investors (1000+ properties) were completely absent from the market, making zero purchases in Q4. This highlights a market driven from the bottom up.

The Q4 purchasing data confirms that the local market's velocity and direction are being set by a large base of individual investors, not by the actions of a few large corporations.

The ownership structure of investment properties in Cocke County is exceptionally concentrated at the small end of the scale. 'Mom-and-pop' landlords, defined as those owning 1-10 properties, control a staggering 98.6% of the 2,890 investor-held SFRs.

The single-property landlord (Tier 01) is the absolute bedrock of the local rental market. This tier alone accounts for 2,514 properties, representing 85.0% of the entire investor portfolio.

Mid-size investors have a very small footprint. Tiers representing portfolios of 11 to 1,000 properties combined own just 36 properties, or 1.3% of the total investor-owned inventory.

The narrative of large-scale corporate ownership does not apply here. Institutional investors in the 1000+ property tier hold only 4 properties in the entire county, a statistically insignificant 0.1% share.

This distribution reveals a highly fragmented market where the vast majority of rental housing is provided by thousands of small, local operators, not by Wall Street firms.

Individual investors are the definitive owners in Cocke County's rental market, maintaining a strong majority across every portfolio tier. In the foundational single-property tier, individuals own 2,409 of 2,514 properties, a 95.3% share.

Unlike in many other markets, there is no 'crossover point' where corporate ownership becomes dominant as portfolios grow. The highest market share companies achieve is 37.7% in the 6-10 property tier, where they own 23 homes.

Even among more established investors, individual ownership prevails. In the small-medium 11-20 property tier, individuals still hold a commanding 80.0% majority with 16 properties.

This ownership pattern suggests that as investors expand their holdings in Cocke County, they predominantly continue to operate under their personal names rather than forming more complex corporate structures.

The data clearly shows that the local real estate investing scene is characterized by personal holdings, reinforcing the 'mom-and-pop' nature of the market regardless of an investor's portfolio size.

Investor ownership in Cocke County is not evenly distributed but is instead highly concentrated in a few key zip codes. The 37722 area leads with 648 investor-owned properties, making it the primary hub for rental housing.

The rate of investor penetration in these top areas is exceptionally high. The 37753 zip code has the highest rate with 43.5% of its SFRs being investor-owned, followed closely by 37727 at 43.0% and 37722 at 40.3%.

The top three zip codes by property count (37722, 37727, and 37753) collectively account for 1,031 properties. This represents more than 35% of the entire investor portfolio in the county, concentrated in just a few communities.

A strong correlation exists between the areas with the highest count of investor properties and those with the highest percentage of investor ownership. This suggests that investors are strategically targeting the same specific sub-markets.

This geographic clustering indicates that certain neighborhoods possess characteristics, such as affordability or rental demand, that are particularly attractive to investors, leading to a deep and concentrated landlord presence.

Landlords in Cocke County are definitively net buyers, signaling strong confidence in the local market. In Q1 2026, they demonstrated this by purchasing 47 SFRs while only selling 3, a buy-to-sell ratio of nearly 16 to 1.

This is not a new phenomenon but rather an acceleration of a long-term trend. In the full year of 2025, landlords bought 153 properties and sold 32 (a 4.8x ratio), and in 2024, they acquired 171 while selling just 25 (a 6.8x ratio).

The dramatic increase in the buy-to-sell ratio in the most recent quarter suggests that the pace of portfolio building among smaller investors is quickening significantly.

Institutional investors (1000+ tier) operate on a completely different frequency. They were entirely absent from the market in Q1 2026 and perfectly balanced their minimal activity in 2024, buying 2 properties and selling 2.

This divergence shows that the market's rapid growth is exclusively driven by smaller landlords actively acquiring and holding properties, while the largest players remain disengaged from Cocke County.

Landlords played a pivotal role in the Q1 2026 housing market, participating in 47 of the 99 total SFR transactions for an commanding 47.5% share of all activity.

This activity was driven from the ground up, with mom-and-pop investors (Tiers 01-04) responsible for 46 of the 47 landlord transactions. Institutional-level investors recorded zero transactions.

A wide disparity in purchasing strategy is evident in the pricing across tiers. Landlords in the 3-5 property tier paid the highest average price at $390,000, while those in the slightly larger 6-10 property tier paid the lowest at $119,500, suggesting they target entirely different types of assets.

First-time, single-property investors landed in the middle, paying an average of $272,857 for their acquisitions.

The market shows minimal churn among investors. A mere 2.6% of properties bought by single-property landlords were purchased from another investor, indicating that the vast majority of acquisitions are sourced from the traditional homeowner market.