Ames, IA investor activity — metro area market report

In the 12 months ending 2026-06-03, the Ames, IA metropolitan area recorded 131 investor purchases of single-family homes out of 1,426 sales (9% of sales) across 30,484 single-family homes in 2 county-equivalents — 0.4 investor purchases per 100 homes, up 22% year over year (107 prior). Ranked #284 of 591 qualifying US markets. Counts are aggregates of public property records, compiled 2026-07-05. The hottest county is Story County at 0.5 per 100 homes. HottestZip, powered by GoForClose.

Ames, IAmetro area · Iowa

🔥 #284 of 591 ranked US markets

Public-record counts · 12 months ending 2026-06-03 · compiled 2026-07-05

Investor purchases (12 mo)

131

purchases by LLCs & corporations

Per 100 homes

0.4

median ranked market: 0.4

Change vs prior 12 mo

+22%

107 → 131 investor purchases

Share of sales to investors

131 of 1,426 recorded sales

Turnover

4.7%

share of all homes that sold

Single-family homes

30,484

Where inside Ames? County by county

Same counting rules at every level. Open a county to see its hottest ZIPs — that's the level you'd actually market at.

Story County110 investor purchases · 0.5 per 100 homes · 11% of sales · 21,500 homes2 ranked ZIPs ↓

#	ZIP	County	Investor purchaseslast 12 mo	Per 100 homesinvestor purchases	Share of salesbought by investors	Turnoverof all homes
17	50014	Story County	44	0.8	15%	5.4%
46	50010	Story County	37	0.5	10%	4.8%

Boone County21 investor purchases · 0.2 per 100 homes · 6% of sales · 8,984 homes1 ranked ZIPs ↓

#	ZIP	County	Investor purchaseslast 12 mo	Per 100 homesinvestor purchases	Share of salesbought by investors	Turnoverof all homes
83	50036	Boone County	15	0.3	6%	4.3%

The full Ames, IA market report

Everything above is free and stays free. The full report is the deeper cut of the same public-record counts, market-wide — we'll trade it for your email:

✓Year-over-year: is investor buying here accelerating or cooling?
✓Market-wide distress pipeline: foreclosure, tax-delinquent, vacant counts
✓Owner pools: absentee, high-equity, free-and-clear — the list-pulling math
✓Buyer mix: flips and cash purchases across the whole market
✓Every ranked ZIP in this market, merged into one table (top 25 for the big metros)
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When you've picked your ZIPs in Ames — the next problem is the list.

This site tells you where investors are buying. It can't tell you who to mail there this week — that takes current county records, not a snapshot. That part is what GoForClose does: fresh courthouse pulls, ranked against what's actually selling, mail run for you. Free to look at how it works; no call required to find out.

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