By Robert Dietz | Eye on Housing
The number of single-family homes built-for-rent has posted solid gains over the last year. However, the built-for-rent market is a small portion of the total single-family development, so care must be taken when identifying trends.
According to data from the Census Bureau’s Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design and NAHB analysis, the market share of single-family homes built-for-rent, as measured on a one-year moving average, stood at 4.5% of total starts as of the second quarter of 2016. Given the small size of the market segment, the quarter-to-quarter movements are, however, not typically statistically significant. The current market share remains higher than the historical average of 2.8% but is down from the 5.8% reading registered at the start of 2013.
