Arbor’s Single-Family Rental Investment Trends Report Q1 2025, published in partnership with Chandan Economics, is an up-close look at the single-family rental (SFR) sector as it enters a period of normalcy after explosive pandemic-era growth. SFR maintains its balance with the support of a healthy set of fundamentals while capital markets rebound and rent growth moderates.
Small multifamily price growth trends indicate a stabilization may be ready to take hold. Expanding on the findings of Arbor’s latest Small Multifamily Investment Trends Report, our research teams more closely examined valuations to determine if trends in pricing and other fundamentals are supporting a turnaround.
Elevated mortgage interest rates and high home prices boosted demand for single-family rentals (SFR) last year, supporting the growth of rents in almost all of the 100 largest metropolitan areas. Pricing momentum, which averaged 4.5% nationally, was concentrated in affordable markets in the Northeast and Midwest, an analysis of Zillow’s Observed Rent Index data shows.
Increasingly, single-family rental (SFR) operators have been relying on build-to-rent (BTR) development to satisfy their inventory needs. The popularity of BTR communities made economies of scale possible for the SFR sector in the recovery after the 2007 housing crisis and continues to fill a housing need nationwide. Now, newly released U.S. Census Bureau data shows that SFR development activity remained robust even as its momentum slowed, moving the sector into a more stable equilibrium.
With political headwinds reshaping the corporate responsibility landscape, commercial real estate (CRE) leaders, policymakers, and academics recently gathered in New York City for the NYU Stern Chen Institute for Global Real Estate Finance’s 3rd Annual Symposium on Innovation & Sustainable Real Estate to discuss the future of sustainable real estate finance, investment, operations, and technology. In a series of panel discussions, industry leaders offered their perspectives on how sustainability is evolving in a new political environment and why green policies still make business sense.
Rental housing remains uniquely positioned for continued growth in an environment of economic volatility and political uncertainty, Dr. Sam Chandan, founding director of the C.H. Chen Institute for Global Real Estate Finance at the NYU Stern School of Business and founder of Chandan Economics, asserts in his video overview of Arbor’s Special Report Spring 2025.
Arbor’s Small Multifamily Investment Trends Report Q1 2025, developed in partnership with Chandan Economics, examines a key commercial real estate sector that consistently shows stability amid ongoing economic volatility. Small multifamily continues to show positive trends in key indicators, such as asset valuations, originations volume, and construction, signaling that the sector should continue to overpower headwinds as it builds on its ongoing momentum.
With construction activity continuing to vary according to market, newly released U.S. Census Bureau data reveals emerging trends in multifamily building permits issued and how supply dynamics are poised to impact rent pricing patterns in the nation’s top 100 markets.
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San Antonio
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An experienced developer of luxury single-family rental (SFR) communities had begun construction on a 250-unit luxury build-to-rent (BTR) community in San Antonio, TX, poised to be the largest community of its kind in the metro. To continue construction velocity, the borrower was looking for ground-up construction financing to fund the development, with the goal of refinancing to a permanent agency loan once construction was completed and the property was stabilized. At the time, there were limited financing options in the SFR space. The borrower reached out to Arbor for assistance due to the strong relationship and previous successful projects together.