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Top Markets for Rental Demand Growth

Population growth, a critical factor in assessing rental housing demand, increased 0.9% in the U.S. during 2024, the fastest annual rate since 2008. However, growth rates were much higher for many markets, especially those in Texas, Florida, and the Carolinas. As first explored in Arbor’s Top Markets for Multifamily Investment Report Spring 2025, we dive deeper into metro-level population growth in markets with at least 500,000 residents to find the nation’s top markets for rental housing demand growth.

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Arbor Recognized for Excellence from Agency Partners

Arbor’s platform of diverse multifamily financing solutions, combined with our strong industry relationships and our commitment to accuracy and close collaboration with our government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) partners, drives us to the top of the multifamily lender rankings year after year. Through decades-long relationships with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and FHA, our best-in-class team delivered results for our borrowers in 2024, propelling Arbor to the top of the partner rankings.

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Renters See Apartments as ‘Forever Homes’

Today’s renters are in it for the long haul. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s recently released 2025 SCE Housing Survey shows that the average renter thinks there is a two-in-three chance they will rent for the foreseeable future. With home prices and interest rates unfavorable to would-be homebuyers, we explore renters’ perceptions and how they could impact future rental housing demand.

Current Reports

Top Markets for Multifamily Investment Report Spring 2025

Arbor’s Top Markets for Multifamily Investment Report Spring 2025, developed in partnership with Chandan Economics, is your roadmap to the best locations to deploy capital. Based on the findings of our exclusive Multifamily Opportunity Matrix, this in-depth analysis assesses economic strength and market capabilities to navigate evolving conditions of the top 50 largest U.S. metros.

Research

Arbor’s data-driven articles and research reports empower multifamily and single-family rental investors and developers to make more profitable financial decisions.

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Renters Account for Majority of Household Growth

The number of rental households climbed nearly 2% last year, as 848,000 more households became renters, an analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Housing Vacancies and Homeownership Survey shows (Chart 1). Rental households also hit a new high of 45.3 million, accounting for more than half of all U.S. household growth in 2024. Weakening affordability, evolving lifestyle preferences, and a limited supply of quality housing all contributed to surging multifamily and single-family rental (SFR) demand.

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Solar Panel Usage Accelerates in Rental Properties

Solar panel installations, which skyrocketed in the U.S. over the last half-century, are projected to double to 10 million in just six years. While installations soared in all types of residences, owner-occupied properties significantly outpaced rentals. However, the evolving economics of solar power may be approaching a tipping point for single-family rental (SFR) operators looking for a differentiator.

General: 800.Arbor.10

Ivan Kaufman on TD Ameritrade Network: Behind the Build-to-Rent Boom

Ivan Kaufman on TD Ameritrade Network

Arbor Realty Trust’s CEO discusses the factors contributing to the build-to-rent market’s growth and Arbor’s role in the space

While Arbor’s primary business is multifamily lending, it has an “extraordinarily large footprint in the single-family rental build-to-rent market,” noted Ivan Kaufman, founder, chairman and CEO of Arbor Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: ABR) in an interview on TD Ameritrade Network’s Morning Trade Live.

The asset class has been one of the most resilient parts of the market amid the pandemic, with strong fundamentals including stable rent growth. Increased demand for homes has resulted in surging prices, leaving those who can’t afford to buy to look into renting a home.

“That’s a phenomenon we’ll be experiencing in the next 12 to 24 months,” Kaufman forecasted.

Demographics are also supporting build-to-rent’s climbing market share. Millennials are starting to form families and looking for homes in more suburban areas. Builders are stepping up to meet this demand, developing communities of homes for rent or designating a portion of their single-family communities as for-rent homes.

Arbor identified the potential of the build-to-rent business in 2019, when it launched a proprietary Single-Family Rental Portfolio platform. Since then, it’s build-to-rent financing portfolio has grown from about $100 million last year to nearly $1 billion expected by the end of 2021, Kaufman noted.

The build-to-rent model has become “very viable, very cost-effective and now with people being priced out of homes or needing to move into homes because of covid, it’s going to explode,” he added.

Watch the full interview here.