This Florida metro more than doubled its built-to-rent supply
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Tampa-St. Pete-Clearwater is one of the top metros in the U.S. adding the most new single-family homes for rent.
Why it matters: Built-to-rent housing can offer the perks of professional property management and other amenities, without the need to save for a down payment or commit to stay in place, Axios' Felix Salmon reports.
- Plus, the Tampa metro is short almost 28,000 homes for sale or rent, a new Zillow analysis shows.
What's happening: Those houses have found a growing niche among would-be buyers who can't afford — or find — a single-family home, and those opting not to buy for lifestyle reasons, Doug Ressler of real estate research firm Yardi Matrix tells Axios.
Driving the news: The metro's built-to-rent supply more than doubled in the last five years, surging by 156%, per a recent report from listing service RentCafe.
- The trend is expected to persist. Tampa made the top 10 for the number of such homes currently under construction, per the data.
Zoom in: Florida cities, Tampa included, were leaders in the BTR trend, per the latest Yardi Matrix/Rent Cafe analysis.
- Boomers are flocking to Florida in search of low-maintenance living, says Ressler, manager of business intelligence at Yardi Matrix, which provides data for RentCafe.
- "They don't want the maintenance, they don't want the upkeep, and they certainly really are attracted to it, especially in the Florida market," Ressler says.
What they're saying: "Built-to-rent housing is quickly emerging as an essential, and highly desirable, sector of America’s housing market," says David Howard, CEO of the National Rental Home Council.
- "America is facing a housing shortage of somewhere between 3 and 6 million homes. Anything that brings more housing into the mix is a positive."
Be smart: Single-family rentals are nothing new. Like multi-family housing, the market has developed over many decades, according to commercial real estate company CBRE.
The bottom line: Building more single-family rentals isn't going to solve the housing crisis, but it could help ease the supply crunch.
In Florida, there are 583 built-to-rent units planned or under construction per million inhabitants, according to the National Rental Home Council.
State of play: These houses aren't available everywhere. In 10 states, there is no single-family, built-to-rent construction ongoing or even planned, the group found.
- Arizona leads with 2,011 units planned or under construction per million inhabitants.
- Nationwide, the average is 345.
By the numbers: Across the Tampa metro, 838 single-family rentals were added between 2017 and 2022, bringing the total supply to 1,374 — the 12th largest in the country, according to RentCafe.
- Plus, 1,404 built-to-rent units are currently under construction and expected to be completed in 2023.
The big picture: National construction of new build-to-rent homes hit a record high last year, with more than 14,500 houses completed and three times as many under construction, per RentCafe.