DALLAS—An initial public offering for the Blackstone Group's single-family rental platform could occur soon after New Year's Day, according to published reports. The IPO for Invitation Homes, for which the company filed confidentially this week, would seek to raise about $1.5 billion and value the company at approximately $7.5 billion, unnamed sources told the Wall Street Journal.

Bloomberg Business reported this past July that Blackstone was eyeing an IPO for Invitation Homes, which would trade as a REIT. “Blackstone built the company in the aftermath of the housing crash, making the largest investment among big buyers that snapped up properties at depressed prices to institutionalize the business of leasing single-family homes,” Bloomberg reported in July. “Their bet depended on unprecedented demand for rentals from Americans who lost residences to foreclosure and those unable to get mortgages as banks tightened credit.”

Launched in 2012, the Dallas-based company is now the nation's largest SFR landlord, with a portfolio of about 50,000 rental properties in 14 markets, acquired mainly as foreclosures. The WSJ reported that Blackstone, in one of its largest bets to date, had spent about $10 billion to acquire and upgrade the properties as of the fall of 2015. “A public listing would set the stage for Blackstone to start exiting the business,” according to the WSJ.

As recently as July, Blackstone president Tony James said the business was still acquiring properties, PERE reported on Thursday. “It's been a great investment, and we continue to be very optimistic about where home prices are in the cycle,” James said on Blackstone's second-quarter earnings call. “I don't even think we are in mid-cycle yet… In terms of homebuilding and general activities, prices have come up a lot. As a result, we are still buying some homes but it's harder to buy in the volume that we once did, and so it's becoming a more mature investment in terms of rate of growth.”

The IPO filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission comes at a time when single-family home values have reached an all-time high. S&P Dow Jones Indices reported this week that its S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller US National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine census divisions, surpassed the peak set in July 2006 with September's results.

An Invitation Homes stock offering would also come at a time when two other SFR REITs, Colony Starwood Homes and American Homes 4 Rent, have overcome their initially tepid market response since going public in January of this year and August 2013, respectively. Shares of Colony Starwood are up 34.9% this year, giving the company a market value of about $3.1 billion, while American Homes 4 Rent shares are up 26.5%, and the company has a market value of nearly $5 billion, the WSJ reported.

Earlier this week, Kroll Bond Rating Agency affirmed all 151 ratings it has issued in connection with 26 single-borrower securitizations, which have an aggregate balance of $15.6 billion and are secured by 105,310 SFR properties. The ratings agency noted that performance metrics, including vacancy, tenant retention and rental rates, have been stable. Property portfolio values have appreciated by 14.8%, on average, since the securitizations were issued, while portfolio NOI is up by an average of 4% since KBRA last surveyed the sector this past May.

DALLAS—An initial public offering for the Blackstone Group's single-family rental platform could occur soon after New Year's Day, according to published reports. The IPO for Invitation Homes, for which the company filed confidentially this week, would seek to raise about $1.5 billion and value the company at approximately $7.5 billion, unnamed sources told the Wall Street Journal.

Bloomberg Business reported this past July that Blackstone was eyeing an IPO for Invitation Homes, which would trade as a REIT. “Blackstone built the company in the aftermath of the housing crash, making the largest investment among big buyers that snapped up properties at depressed prices to institutionalize the business of leasing single-family homes,” Bloomberg reported in July. “Their bet depended on unprecedented demand for rentals from Americans who lost residences to foreclosure and those unable to get mortgages as banks tightened credit.”

Launched in 2012, the Dallas-based company is now the nation's largest SFR landlord, with a portfolio of about 50,000 rental properties in 14 markets, acquired mainly as foreclosures. The WSJ reported that Blackstone, in one of its largest bets to date, had spent about $10 billion to acquire and upgrade the properties as of the fall of 2015. “A public listing would set the stage for Blackstone to start exiting the business,” according to the WSJ.

As recently as July, Blackstone president Tony James said the business was still acquiring properties, PERE reported on Thursday. “It's been a great investment, and we continue to be very optimistic about where home prices are in the cycle,” James said on Blackstone's second-quarter earnings call. “I don't even think we are in mid-cycle yet… In terms of homebuilding and general activities, prices have come up a lot. As a result, we are still buying some homes but it's harder to buy in the volume that we once did, and so it's becoming a more mature investment in terms of rate of growth.”

The IPO filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission comes at a time when single-family home values have reached an all-time high. S&P Dow Jones Indices reported this week that its S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller US National Home Price NSA Index, covering all nine census divisions, surpassed the peak set in July 2006 with September's results.

An Invitation Homes stock offering would also come at a time when two other SFR REITs, Colony Starwood Homes and American Homes 4 Rent, have overcome their initially tepid market response since going public in January of this year and August 2013, respectively. Shares of Colony Starwood are up 34.9% this year, giving the company a market value of about $3.1 billion, while American Homes 4 Rent shares are up 26.5%, and the company has a market value of nearly $5 billion, the WSJ reported.

Earlier this week, Kroll Bond Rating Agency affirmed all 151 ratings it has issued in connection with 26 single-borrower securitizations, which have an aggregate balance of $15.6 billion and are secured by 105,310 SFR properties. The ratings agency noted that performance metrics, including vacancy, tenant retention and rental rates, have been stable. Property portfolio values have appreciated by 14.8%, on average, since the securitizations were issued, while portfolio NOI is up by an average of 4% since KBRA last surveyed the sector this past May.