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Affordable Housing Trends Report Spring 2024

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What Is Driving Lifestyle Renter Demand?

Lifestyle renters — those who have the means to own but prefer to rent or are willing to pay more for apartments with amenities — have become a key driver of rental demand in single-family rental homes, build-to-rent communities, and other types of high-quality multifamily housing. With this small yet influential demographic growing, our research teams examine and explain the factors driving lifestyle renter demand.

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$18.4M Freddie Mac Permanent Loan to Refinance a BTR Portfolio

54

Units

TN

Knoxville

2022

Year Built

Situation

Haven Realty Capital needed end-to-end financing for a 54-unit built-to-rent (BTR) community in Knoxville, TN. The property was unique in that its individually parceled homes did not have the types of amenities, such as a pool, gym, or clubhouse, commonly found in multifamily real estate. Haven Realty Capital was looking for an innovative and experienced lending partner who could develop a creative solution to secure permanent funding through a Government Sponsored Agency (GSA).

Arbor Action

On behalf of the borrower, Arbor engaged in extensive conversations with Freddie Mac to develop an out-of-the-box solution to refinance this dedicated rental community with permanent financing. Our team had the pleasure of accompanying several senior representatives of Freddie Mac to Knoxville on a full-day tour of the property. We were delighted to see them determine that this community was a good fit for Freddie Mac multifamily financing because many of its features, including two-car garages, upscale interior design, and premium rental packages, would help attract and retain tenants.

Result

Arbor was uniquely positioned to handle the complexities of this type of BTR transaction from start to finish. Our team was instrumental in helping Freddie Mac understand that this asset was consistent with traditional multifamily deals because it has the potential to attract quality, long-term tenants with wide-ranging amenities. Arbor created a new financing structure that allowed our borrower to purchase and lease up this community of two-story, four-bedroom, single-family homes, paving the way for similarly unique deals in the future. Over the years, Arbor has become one of Haven Realty Capital’s lenders of choice.