Posted on 02/22/2023 11:51:41 AM PST by Hostage
KEY POINTS
• Prices for detached homes have increased faster in key Sun Belt states than the national average.
• Institutional investors do not yet control a large market share in housing, but analysts writing at MetLife Investment Management suggest they could by 2030.
Institutional investors may control 40% of U.S. single-family rental homes by 2030, according to MetLife Investment Management. And a group of Washington, D.C., lawmakers say Wall Street needs to back away from the market.
"What we're saying is don't have private equity buying up single-family homes," said Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat representing California's 17th Congressional District. Khanna is the lead author of the Stop Wall Street Landlords Act of 2022. "What's outrageous is your tax dollars are helping Wall Street buy up single-family homes," he said in an interview with CNBC.
The single-family rental industry got its start with government backing in the fallout after the 2008 financial crisis. "It was that rare opportunity that attracted the institutions to build a portfolio out of these foreclosed properties," said Steven Xiao, an assistant professor of finance and managerial economics at the University of Texas at Dallas.
Since the early 2010s, Tricon Residential, Progress Residential, American Homes 4 Rent and Invitation Homes have each bought thousands of homes. They've also added to the housing supply in some cases with built-for-rent communities.
Some of these companies are financed by private equity firms such as Blackstone and investment managers such as Pretium Partners.
"It's almost a captive market," said Jordan Ash, director of labor-jobs and housing at the Private Equity Stakeholder Project. "They've been very explicit about how people are shut out of the homebuying market and are going to be perpetual renters."
These calls come after fierce housing inflation hit many Sun Belt states, including Texas, Florida and Georgia, according to the National Association of Realtors.
The prices in some Sun Belt markets have outpaced national figures for rent inflation, according to research compiled by Zumper for CNBC. Between January 2020 and January 2023, rents for a two-bed detached home increased about 44% in Tampa, Florida, 43% in Phoenix, and 35% near Atlanta. That's compared with a 24% increase nationwide.
Industry advocates argue that they do not control enough market share to dictate prices in any market. Large institutions owned roughly 5% of the 14 million single-family rentals nationally in early 2022, according to analysts.
By 2030, the institutions may hold some 7.6 million homes, or more than 40% of all single-family rentals on the market, according to the 2022 forecast by MetLife Investment Management.
When interest rates are too low, the well-to-do prefer to buy assets.
Definitely. Thanks
I am constantly getting phone calls —actual live persons—and mail contacts begging me to sell my rural N Nevada Property. Another one yesterday with Calif address & NEVADA AREA CODE.
I actually do NOT think they even know where my property is.
I finally led the last caller along-—acted like I might be interested-—
He asked how much I would sell for-—
I told him “$30 million all in cash all in one payment”.
Silence for about 4 seconds-—then he hung up.
It’s worth noting that the 2017 Federal tax changes helped make home ownership LESS attractive for many taxpayers.
From my own experience, I would say that detached single family homes are terrible investments as rental properties.
When only people with government assistance can afford to rent lets see how good the investment is in section 8 housing.
There is still a shortage of housing in almost all places in the country.
The exceptions are Nashville, Austin, Boise, all of CA except LA, Seattle and a few other metro areas.
Almost all the NE and midwest has no inventory of existing homes. However, housing starts are mostly in the southern US.
The metro areas with the largest number of housing starts(single family and multi family) are in order Dallas/Ft Worth, Houston, NYC, Phoenix, Atlanta and Austin.
Texas had about 20% of the total housing starts in the country in 2022.
” detached single family homes are terrible investments as rental properties.”
Some folks have made it work—but they know their specific market very well, do hard work in vetting renters (almost certainly violating fair housing laws in the process), prohibit subleases and enforce that prohibition with periodic on-site inspections, and require large up front deposits to minimize risk.
The institutional investors are just throwing darts at a wall.
In my area, almost all rentals are done thru property management companies.
Property management companies cover the full range from outstanding to terrible—at the end of the day the owner needs to choose carefully—and diligently monitor their performance.
Invest and forget is a very risky plan.
Sell what you got, buy land, learn to be self-sustainable.
Bunkers are on a two year back order for some large ones buy now.
Another challenge is that your best tenants are families that would ideally be well suited to own their homes instead of renting.
10s of thousands sounds like a lot...but its not. And most of the owners are folks like you and I that have funds invested in our 401k, IRAs and pensions at any rate. The main reason housing prices are up so much is regulation and general inflation, caused by the Fed gov and Fed Reserve.
I don’t think there are many homebuyers based off CD rates.
I tend to agree with you... so what do you think is really going on?
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