Franklin (VT) Investor Pulse Report (2026-Q1)

In Franklin County, VT, investors hold 1,310 single-family residential properties, accounting for 8.8% of the total 14,810 SFRs in the market.

The ownership structure is heavily skewed towards individuals over corporations. Individual landlords own 1,078 properties, representing a commanding 82.3% of the investor-owned portfolio, while companies own the remaining 268 properties (20.5%).

This individual dominance is also reflected in the entity count, where there are 1,502 individual landlords compared to only 270 company landlords. This highlights a market driven by small-scale real estate investing rather than large corporate operations.

A striking feature of this market is the complete absence of leverage; 100% of the 1,310 investor-owned properties are held as cash assets with zero properties reported as financed.

The portfolio is almost entirely focused on rentals, with 1,284 of the 1,310 properties classified as rented, demonstrating a clear strategy of generating rental income over other investment approaches.

Investors in Franklin County demonstrate a consistent ability to acquire properties well below typical market rates. In the first quarter of 2026, landlords paid an average of $245,156 per property, a stark contrast to the $367,525 average paid by traditional homeowners.

This price difference represents a substantial 33.3% discount, saving investors an average of $122,369 on each acquisition during the quarter.

This trend is not a recent anomaly. The price gap has remained significant over the past year, though it has fluctuated. In Q3 2025, the discount was even larger at 46.1% ($198,391), while in Q2 2025 it was a more modest, yet still impactful, 10.6% ($44,155).

The persistent, double-digit discount suggests that investors in this market are highly effective at sourcing off-market deals or negotiating favorable terms, consistently outperforming retail buyers.

Comparing prices over a longer period shows a general upward trend, with the 2020-2023 average price at $229,536, indicating that even with recent appreciation, investors are maintaining their significant price advantage.

Investor activity accounted for 14.4% of the total market in the last quarter, with landlords acquiring 14 of the 97 SFR properties sold in Franklin County.

The entirety of this purchasing activity was driven by small-scale investors. Mom-and-pop landlords (owning 1-10 properties) made 100% of the 14 acquisitions, underscoring their role as the primary source of new investment in the area.

Institutional investors with portfolios of over 1,000 properties were completely inactive, making zero purchases during the quarter.

The market continues to attract new entrants and small-scale growth. The single-property tier was the most active, with 18 distinct entities acquiring 13 properties, signaling either new landlords entering the market or existing small investors expanding their holdings one property at a time.

Only one purchase was made by an investor in the two-property tier, further cementing the dominance of first-time and single-property investors in driving market activity.

The investor landscape in Franklin County is characterized by extreme concentration at the smallest end of the scale. Mom-and-pop landlords, defined as those owning 1-10 properties, control a staggering 98.8% of the investor-owned housing stock.

This dominance is most pronounced in the single-property tier. Landlords who own just one investment property hold 1,115 homes, which constitutes 82.3% of the entire investor portfolio.

As portfolio sizes increase, the number of properties drops off sharply. Mid-size landlords (11-1000 properties) control a tiny fraction of the market, with the 11-20 property tier holding just 14 properties (1.0%).

Institutional capital has virtually no footprint in this market. Investors in the 1,000+ property tier own a single property, representing a mere 0.1% of all investor-held homes.

This ownership structure defies the common narrative of corporate consolidation and highlights a market that remains firmly in the hands of small, local investors.

In Franklin County, individual investors maintain majority ownership across all portfolio sizes, a unique characteristic of this market. Companies fail to become the dominant owner type at any tier, even among larger portfolios.

For single-property landlords, individuals own 933 properties (81.5%) compared to 212 for companies (18.5%). This pattern persists up the scale, with individuals owning 80.7% of homes in the 3-5 property tier and 92.1% in the 6-10 property tier.

The highest concentration of company ownership occurs in the two-property tier, where they hold 33 properties, but this still only represents 32.4% of that tier's total.

Even among the small group of mid-size landlords (11-20 properties), individuals control 11 of the 14 properties, an ownership share of 78.6%.

This data illustrates a market where the primary growth vehicle is personal investment, not corporate acquisition, regardless of portfolio size.

Geographic analysis reveals that property search and acquisition efforts by investors are not evenly distributed across Franklin County. A significant concentration exists within a few key areas, with the top five zip codes accounting for 830 properties, or 63.4% of the entire investor-owned portfolio.

The zip code 05457, which includes Enosburg Falls, stands out as the primary hub for investor activity. It leads by a wide margin in both raw count, with 217 investor-owned homes, and by ownership rate, where investors own 31.5% of the local housing stock.

St. Albans (05478) has the second-highest count of investor properties at 197, but its investor ownership rate is a much lower 5.2%, indicating a larger overall market.

Conversely, some areas show extremely high investor penetration rates. Richford (05471) has an investor ownership rate of 26.5%, and Swanton (05476) has a rate of 17.4%, marking them as regions with a significant rental presence relative to their size.

This data suggests investors are targeting specific communities, likely driven by factors like rental demand, affordability, and local economic conditions.

Transaction data reveals a clear and sustained pattern of portfolio growth among landlords in Franklin County. In the first quarter of 2026, investors were strong net buyers, purchasing 19 properties while only selling 6, resulting in a net gain of 13 properties.

This aggressive accumulation has been the standard for several years. In 2025, investors bought 92 properties and sold just 18, a buy-to-sell ratio of 5.11 to 1. The pattern was similar in 2024, with 100 buys and only 17 sells.

The market is expanding primarily through acquisitions from the general public, rather than trading between investors. Sourcing reliable assessor data is key for investors to identify these opportunities.

In stark contrast to the acquisitive behavior of smaller landlords, the lone institutional-scale investor (1,000+ properties) is not in a growth phase. In 2025, this entity made one purchase and one sale, resulting in a neutral position.

This transactional behavior confirms that the market's growth is being fueled from the bottom up by smaller, highly active investors.

In the first quarter of 2026, landlords participated in 19 of the 145 total SFR transactions in Franklin County, capturing a 13.1% share of market activity.

This activity was exclusively driven by mom-and-pop investors. The single-property tier accounted for 18 of the 19 transactions, and the two-property tier accounted for the remaining one. No transactions were recorded for any investor tier with more than two properties.

The average purchase price for the highly active single-property tier was $259,697. The single transaction in the two-property tier was for $12,500, an outlier price that likely represents a non-market transaction such as a partial interest transfer.

Investors are sourcing their deals from outside the existing rental market. Data shows that 0% of landlord purchases in Q1 were from other landlords, meaning all acquisitions were sourced from traditional homeowners or other non-investor sellers.

This indicates a one-way flow of properties from the owner-occupied market into the rental pool, driven entirely by the smallest class of investors.