Wall Street is selling more rental homes, as buying ban takes effect - CNBC

What the report says

CNBC reports that large institutional owners of single-family rental houses are increasingly listing properties for sale after newly enacted housing legislation restricted them from buying more homes. Citing an analysis by real estate data provider Parcl Labs, CNBC said the number of institutional-investor-owned homes on the market rose from 4,166 on Feb. 1 to 9,447 this month, with a combined asking price of about $3.1 billion.

The law defines institutional investors as owners of 350 or more homes, a lower threshold than the industry’s commonly used 1,000-home benchmark, according to the report. It does not require current owners to sell, but it blocks additional purchases unless they qualify for exceptions, including build-to-rent projects. Lawmakers backing the change argued that cash-rich investors were contributing to higher prices and making it harder for owner-occupants to compete.

Parcl Labs estimates that investors covered by the new threshold own about 589,000 homes, equal to 3.9% of the roughly 14 million single-family rental homes in the U.S. The largest landlords — including Progress Residential, Invitation Homes, AMH, Tricon, FirstKey, Amherst and VineBrook — have sold 3,180 more homes than they have bought since Jan. 1, while still holding about 400,000 homes overall.

CNBC noted that this does not amount to a broad liquidation, though VineBrook has nearly 10% of its portfolio listed. The report also said institutional listings are seeing more price cuts than the overall market, while some companies are shifting attention to permitted areas such as build-to-rent housing.