Single-family build-to-rent (BTR) housing is booming and sweeping beyond its base in the Southeast and Southwest to metros in other regions of the country.
“The pre- and post-pandemic BTR landscapes are so different that comparing the two time periods is like comparing apples and oranges: The market is unrecognizable,” according to a new report from Point2Homes, a listing portal for rental homes. “In just five years, the total number of build-to-rent single-family homes more than doubled, jumping from nearly 107,000 to 217,161.”
BTR reached a new peak in 2024, when 39,000 houses for rent were completed – an increase of 15.5% from 2023. “It’s worlds away from the 6,000 and 7,000 units a year that were coming online before the pandemic,” the report noted. BTR’s share of total home builds shot up from 3% to nearly 10% now.
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And more of the same is predicted as 110,000 more BTR homes are in different stages of development nationwide, as investors seize on growing demand.
According to the report, the demand has many sources: millennials with young families and others priced out of the home-buying market, high-income renters by choice, remote and hybrid workers who need more space, retirees, and older homeowners.
The Southwest and Southeast continue to dominate the top 10 list of states by BTR completions, led by Texas, Florida, Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina. But the list also includes California, Ohio and Utah. “Most of the states where BTR completions reached historic highs saw significant population increases,” the report noted.
The list of the top 20 metros by BTR completions in 2024 also shows that the trend has spread nationwide. Phoenix, which gained 85,000 residents during the year, ranked first with 4,460 units added. It was followed by Dallas, Atlanta, Houston and Charlotte. But Columbus, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, Omaha, and Sacramento also made the list. Phoenix also led the nation from 2019 to 2024, with a total of 12,702 BTR homes built and has the most new units in the pipeline or underway.
The biggest communities to open in 2024 were Litsey Creek Cottages in Roanoke, TX, with a capacity of 396 renter families, Viviano at Riverton in the Salt Lake City metro area, and The Bungalows on Camelback in Phoenix, with 334 units.
“Combining the flexibility and low maintenance of renting with the space, comfort and privacy of a single-family home, single-family rentals check all the right boxes,” the report said.
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