The pandemic supercharged growth in the single-family rental market. With rising home costs and economic disruption, more people turned to single-family home rentals throughout the US, triggering increased interest from institutional capital and a boom in development, according to research from Trepp.

Last year, there were 50,000 new single-family rental homes added to the market, a 66% increase of the average number of new homes built annually over the last decade. Declining homeownership due to rising house prices and increased demand for homes has catalyzed the growth in the market, and development began to rapidly increase in the middle of the year.

Builders are continuing to grow the construction pipeline in 2021. Lennar Corp. announced that it would begin to focus solely on the single-family rental market by launching the $4 billion Upward America Venture that will buy single-family homes and townhomes in high-growth markets. In addition, Greystar Real Estate Partners have targeted growing its portfolio to 25,000 homes over the next five years.