The concept of land ownership and renting goes way back in time, tracing into the dawn of civilization. In our modern history, build-to-rent single family and townhome developments (or BTR for short) first emerged in the 1980’s, however since the financial crisis of 2008, the strategy gained a strong foothold for developers purchasing foreclosed new home communities in bulk and transforming them into rental communities.
More recently since the pandemic and specifically in Southeast markets, institutional Wall Street investors, such as JP Morgan, Blackstone and Vanguard to name a few, have moved in to invest in single family homes. According to MetLife Investment Management, 40% of single family homes will be owned by institutional investors by 2030.
Mega developers backed by big money funds, have profited heavily by shifting their approach and catering to the hybrid and work from home employees who have moved further out for larger homes with more space in suburban areas. According to Yardi Matrix data, Atlanta ranks third for the highest number of BTR units in the last couple years, just behind Dallas and Phoenix.
Specifically in Atlanta, the BTR trend has been cemented into the intown market. Most all of the new larger developments being delivered are apartment, townhouse or house rentals, furthering the shortage of homes available for purchase. This new reality is alarming, and is costing Atlantans and Americans their dream of owning a home. The market will continue to appreciate even as rates continue to rise above 7.5%. Simply put, this is because there are not enough homes for sale.
As always, I am here for you anytime and look forward to working with you now, or in the future. Hopefully sooner than later, before Wall Street buys all the houses!
Reach out to me, Ian Calabria, your trusted Atlanta Realtor.
