The Stessa community includes 300,000+ rental property owners, most of whom meet
the classic definition of “mom and pop” investor.

We surveyed 573 of these landlords from May 10-25, 2025 to understand their current challenges and investing outlook going into the back half of 2025. Here are the results!

Survey Methodology

We invited roughly 80,000 landlords (each with at least one property managed via the Stessa platform) to take our Q2-2025 Stessa Investor Sentiment survey. There were three (3) qualification questions and four (4) market sentiment questions. 573 landlords took the survey, 93% of whom answered all seven (7) questions.

Portfolio Size Among Respondents

Survey respondents were nearly evenly split between those who own 1-5 units and those that own 6-50 units. Owners of 51+ unit portfolios are somewhat under-represented here, making up only 4% of the respondent pool. As a result, we feel these results remain mostly true to the “mom and pop” segment of rental investors.

Survey responses can be interpreted to mostly reflect the opinions of long-term rental owners, recognizing that less than a quarter of all investors surveyed own only short-term rentals or a mix of short-term, long-term, and/or mid-term rentals.

The vast majority of survey respondents are self-managing and therefore handle operational issues themselves, including bids for R&M items, tenant comms, etc. Fewer than 1 in 5 survey respondents are relying solely on their PM for operations.

Higher Operating Costs Here to Stay?

Survey respondents were asked to rank the eight (8) options below from MOST frustrating to LEAST frustrating, in relation to owning and operating their existing portfolio. Interestingly, the ranking order did not change from our prior survey in late-2024 (which you can view here). Expenses, in one form or another, continue to occupy the top three (3) spots. Percentage changes are shown to the right of each bar in the visual below.

Political and regulatory concerns, along with soft tenant demand, both edged up slightly but perhaps not enough to signal any substantive change in investor sentiment over the last six months. We see this as a signal that the current operating environment remains relatively stable and that higher ongoing operating costs show no imminent signs of retreat.

Rate Cut Optimism Nearly Vanishes

When investors were asked about their near-term expectations for key market and operational factors, we see a marked shift in certain areas versus Q4-2024. The percentage of investors who expect interest rates to decrease in the near future retreated from a whopping 58% at the end of last year to only 18% now.

Investor expectations for property values also deteriorated over the same time period, with more than 20% now expecting values to fall over the next 3-6 months, compared to only 12% who held that view 6 months ago.

Maybe The Worst Is Over?

We also asked survey respondents to describe their current investing outlook in just a few words. Consistent themes evident in the 500+ responses include:

• Ongoing challenges in finding opportunities given projected cash flows and rates.
• Significant increase in “positive” outlook with nearly 60% of investors now expressing overall optimism about the future versus only 37% who felt similarly six months ago.
• Confusing signals from investors who express general optimism while simultaneously indicating they are unlikely to make new acquisitions over the next year.

Acquisition Expectations Slip

Finally, we asked survey respondents if they plan to make new acquisitions over the next 12 months. While nearly 60% answered “Yes” to this question in Q4-2024, that optimism flipped to negativity in our most recent survey.

This time, nearly 55% of surveyed investors said they do not expect to make a new purchase in the next year. As we saw above, many of these same investors no longer expect interest rates to keep falling, which may be contributing to this somewhat surprising change of plans among investors.

Thanks to all those who participated in our first Stessa Investor Sentiment survey. If you have follow-up questions or would like more information about this data, please contact us: [email protected].