Corporate investors own 117,000+ Florida homes, report says
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Corporate investors own more than 117,000 single-family homes across Florida, per a new analysis by the Tampa Bay Times.
Why it matters: Critics say such a pattern can squeeze out individual buyers and allow corporations to exert more control over communities.
- Proponents maintain the trend provides more single-family rentals for residents who aren't in a position to buy.
- Either way, it's shaking up the market in a state with housing challenges.
State of play: Investors took advantage of Florida's explosive population growth and lax renter protections to get to this point, experts told the Times.
- Corporate buying spiked in 2021, when mortgage interest rates were low and tons of people were moving here. It's since cooled off, but experts anticipate the trend will continue at a slower pace.
Stunning stat: Investment firms with ties to Wall Street and private equity own more than 10% of Florida's single-family rentals, the Times reported.
Case in point: The Enclave at Twin Rivers in Parrish.
- The Times found that builder Lennar Homes had sold about 100 houses in the neighborhood to Invitation Homes, an investment company that owns thousands of properties across the state.
- That means the firm gained a controlling share of the 126-home neighborhood. It installed two employees who live in Texas on the three-person homeowners association board.
What they're saying: "It was supposed to be homeowners that reside in the community, taking care of their own community," one resident told the Times.
- "If you haven't set foot in the community before, how can you look out for its best interests?"
The other side: An Invitation spokesperson told the Times the firm's goal "is to be part of a community, not in control of it."
Zoom in: Investors own 27,000 homes across Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco counties, per a previous Times analysis.
Zoom out: Other hot spots for investor buys include the Interstate 4 corridor and suburbs of Jacksonville and Orlando, per the Times.
Worthy of your time: Read the deep dive by reporters Teghan Simonton and Rebecca Liebson here.
- It's the latest installment of the newspaper's "Buying up the Bay" series that examines the impact of the trend on tenants' rights, gentrification and other issues.