RangeWater Invests $800M in Build-to-Rent Single-Family

RangeWater Real Estate is expanding its commitment to built-to-rent single-family market. The developer has announced plans to deploy $800 million in Sunbelt markets to build 15 build-to-rent single-family communities. RangeWater will execute this plan over the next 18 months.

The single-family rental communities will be called Storia, and they will respond to the growing demand for single-family rentals, which has increased significantly during the pandemic. In the first quarter, the Single-Family Rental Market Index was at 63, and by the end of the second quarter, it increased to 76. RangeWater is well known for building class-A multifamily, but decided to follow the demand to this growing market segment.

More specifically, RangeWater will target both millennials and empty nesters as residents in Storia communities. Older millennials will increase the 35-44 age demographic by 20%, and this age group is moving from apartments to single-family homes to accommodate growing families. In addition, empty nesters are also showing an increased interest in renting versus owning. Renters in the 60-plus age group increased 43% from 2007 to 2017, and they are expected to increase another 38% through 2025.

The increased demand for single-family rentals has fueled new entry across the market. Invitation Homes and Rockpoint Group formed a joint venture to acquire and operate single-family homes. Including debt, the joint venture will have the capacity to invest $1 billion in the single-family rental market. It will focus in the Western US, Southeast US, Florida Texas markets, where Invitation Homes has a current presence.

In addition, Front Yard, a single-family rental operator, was taken private in a $2.4 billion deal by alternative investment management firm Pretium and a group of its investors. Front Yard has a portfolio of 55,000 homes. With this deal, Pretium will become the second largest single-family owner and operator in the US.

RCLCO predicts growing demand over the next few years for single-family rentals, thanks to aging renter demographic groups and the formation of new households. Millennials in their 30s and 40s who have been pushed out of homeownership due to affordability issues are driving the trend. So far, the move to single-family rentals has been challenging, because most new developments are in dense urban communities; however, the new entry by groups like RangeWater will help to supply this market.