The Reality Behind Today’s Single-Family Rental Debate
Families across America choose to rent single-family homes because they offer needed flexibility.
For military families, first responders, single parents, frontline workers, and many others, these homes provide access to safe, stable neighborhoods that might not otherwise be available. Now, some federal and state policymakers are moving to restrict or ban professionally managed housing providers from owning these homes — a move that would take housing away from renters, limit choice, and push working families out of single-family neighborhoods.
Here’s a clear, issue-by-issue look at the facts to set the record straight:
Myth
A ban on professionally managed housing providers will stabilize the housing market, lower costs, and increase the housing supply.
Fact
Banning or limiting professionally managed housing providers will not lower costs and will not result in new homes being built. Investment restrictions on single-family rentals would cut off investment in new housing development, create more market chaos and uncertainty for renters, and raise housing prices for working families. As The Washington Post noted, “The problem with housing is that there isn’t enough of it. Government shouldn’t care who buys it. It should be looking for ways to make it easier to build more of it.”
Myth
Institutional investors are gobbling up homes and crowding out first time homebuyers.
Fact
Institutional investors own less than one percent of single-family homes in the country. Multiple media outlets, including The New York Times, have reported that institutional investors “are not the cause of the nation’s housing crisis.” Professionally managed housing providers have been net-sellers over the last seven quarters, routinely prioritizing sales to homebuyers through first-look programs. In fact, smaller investors – those who own less than 10 properties – are the “most common investor type” in the housing market.
Myth
Institutional investors exacerbated the nation’s housing shortage and increased housing costs.
Fact
Professionally managed housing providers are part of the solution to address the nation’s severe housing shortage. Professionally managed housing providers expand the housing supply by injecting capital into build-to-rent communities. Vox reported that “corporate investment in single-family homes is not a major driver of Americans’ high housing costs. To the contrary, that investment has likely made housing in the United States more affordable.” Professionally managed housing providers have the ability to rehabilitate dilapidated and vacant properties at scale that is costly for individual homebuyers to renovate.
The Bottom Line
America’s housing crisis is the result of NIMBY policies like restrictive zoning and permitting red-tape, rising construction costs, elevated mortgage rates, and more. It is NOT the result of professionally managed housing providers who own approximately 0.5% of single-family homes in the U.S. Housing experts and analysts agree, telling CNBC, that “the influence of institutional investors has been overstated, and that a longstanding shortage of homes is the primary reason why houses have become increasingly unaffordable.”
Our goal is to provide high‑quality, move‑in‑ready homes with excellent service and top amenities at prices families can afford. Growing families who rent want a yard, a garage, and access to good schools. Families and housing providers all share the same goal: expanding access to affordable homes. It’s time for policymakers to support solutions that make that possible.