Fifty-nine percent of RentRedi landlords indicated they plan to buy this year, with landlords in the Midwest and South being most likely to have plans to acquire new properties while landlords in the West were least likely to have the same appetite. In addition, size appears to play a role in purchasing plans, with 73% of large landlords with 20 or more units indicating they are likely to acquire new property this year, compared with 69% of medium-sized landlords with between five and 19 units and 63% of landlords with four or fewer units.
Meanwhile, just over half of investors are planning to spend at least $5,000 or more per unit on improvements. Twenty-seven percent plan larger investments of at least $20,000 per property, led by large landlords. Thirty-seven percent of these operators plan to allocate $20,000 or more per unit this year compared with 20% of small landlords, the report found.
Landlords in the Northeast are most committed to making renovations, with 60% budgeting more than $5,000 per property, while landlords in the South are more conservative, with 52% budgeting less than $5,000 per property.
Other primary goals landlords listed for 2025 are income generation, long-term investment and financial freedom.
“Short-term value increases appear to be the least priority (1%), reinforcing the perspective that real estate remains a long-term wealth-building strategy for most Americans,” said the report.
More than 40% of landlords are focused on revenue growth this year. Thirty-one percent said time commitments are the main barriers to reaching their goals. Landlords also named operational hurdles including increased maintenance costs, property taxes and insurance costs along with increasingly stringent laws and regulations.
RentRedi surveyed its landlords in November 2024 and received responses from 3,749.
