There’s a lot of talk about massive corporations swooping in to buy up homes, driving prices higher, and leaving regular homebuyers in the dust. But does this narrative reflect reality? Not entirely. Large landlords do take up a slice of the market, but vast swathes of single-family rental homes are still owned by mom-and-pop investors. Yet when it comes to multifamily apartments, that story shifts significantly.

In this article, we will unpack who is really owning single-family rental homes and multifamily apartments in the U.S., dive deep into the strategies of the largest landlords, and investigate how companies like Blackstone have reshaped approaches to housing investments.

Who owns single-family rental homes in the U.S.? 

To put the market in perspective, it’s often easier to start with the big picture. Of the 146 million housing units in the U.S., about 132 million are occupied, while the remaining 14 million are vacant. Of the units that are occupied, owners occupy 87 million, while the remaining 45 million are being rented out.

Out of this, in the rental segment, 29 million comprises the apartments in multifamily buildings, 14 million are single-family houses, and the rest include mobile homes and other types of housing. Furthermore, drilling down into those 14 million single-family rentals, the ownership landscape becomes crystal clear: about 80% is held by mom-and-pop landlords owning less than ten properties. Of that remaining portion, about 14% of the rentals are held by smaller landlords with a scale of from 10 up to 99 units, while large landlords-with portfolios ranging from 100 to 999 properties-hold only about 3%.

Another 3% are the purview of a small cohort of corporate mega-landlords having portfolios in excess of 1,000 homes-the approximate total being 400,000 homes. Combined, these large companies will total 2.4 % of the single-family rental market-a huge contrast from the idea that might be suggested by media headlines.

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The Largest Single-Family Rental Landlords

Meanwhile, the single-family rental market is dominated by mom-and-pop landlords, but a small cadre of significant corporate players has managed to carve out substantial portfolios within the sector. These major landlords operate on different scales because their concentrations are in focus growth markets and sophisticated operational models.

1. Progress Residential

Portfolio size: Approximately 85,000 homes.

Geographic focus: States like Texas, Florida, and Arizona.

Strategy: Targets areas with strong economic growth and population increases.

2. Invitation Homes

Portfolio size: approximately 80,000 homes.

Background: Blackstone founded the company in 2012 during the housing crash.

Target Market: Suburban neighborhoods in cities like Dallas, Atlanta, and Southern California.

Operational edge: leverages technology to further enhance property management and tenant services.

3. American Homes 4 Rent AH4R

Portfolio size: about 60,000 homes across 22 states.

Key markets: suburbs with highly-rated schools and family-friendly amenities.

Integrated Model: It handles all the property operations from acquisition right to tenants’ services.

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4. FirstKey Homes

Portfolio size: approximately 50,000 properties.

Strategy: The focus is on highly demanding markets where a streamlined management will ensure quality service.

5. Blackstone

Recent re-entry: Acquired Home Partners of America-17,000 homes and Tricon Residential-38,000 homes in recent years.

Total Portfolio: Tens of thousands of single-family properties across the United States;.

Market approach: This approach targets large-scale acquisitions and avoids purchasing of properties in an individual manner.

Combined Market Impact

Together, the five corporate landlords are the owners of approximately 330,000 single-family rental homes, which also comes to just 2.4% of the total single-family rental market. It is true that their scale of operations is high, but the combined pool of houses remains relatively low compared to a total of 14 million single-family rental houses across the nation.

Who are the owners of multifamily apartments in the United States?

The story differs considerably for multifamily rentals. Due to the fact that there are 34 million apartments available for rent in the U.S., ownership is decidedly more consolidated compared with the single-family rental market. Because of their cost and complexity to operate, larger apartment complexes tend to be owned by institutional investors and large corporations.

The giants include MAA and Greystar Real Estate Partners, which each have about 100,000 apartments. Morgan Properties follow with 94,000 units, while AvalonBay Communities and Equity Residential follow with about 80,000 apartments apiece. Other major players managing ten thousands of properties each include Cortland, Nuveen Real Estate, and Monarch Investment & Management Group.

Incidentally, despite the scale, even multifamily’s biggest landlords do not have more than a single-digit market share. In fact, the top 50 combined manage approximately 2.4 million apartments or roughly 7.1% of all rental apartments nationally. Blackstone’s recent $10 billion takeout of Apartment Income REIT (AIR Communities) added 22,000 units to its portfolio, underscoring how competitive and fragmented the market still is.

Key Takeaways 

The narrative of corporate landlord dominance of the U.S. housing market is truly misplaced. In matters concerning single-family rentals, small landlords and individual investors are overwhelmingly in control of the market. This would also include the largest players, such as Progress Residential and Invitation Homes, who each own a slice of the pie, albeit a small one. 

Larger landlords within the multifamily sector indeed hold more commanding positions of influence, but even then, no single company remotely reaches a majority share. The diversity and competitiveness of the housing market prevail as more institutional players operate in unison with small-scale investors. 

Since these corporate landlords continue with the expansion in their portfolios, their effects on rents and home prices cannot help but attract widespread attention. Yet today, the U.S. housing market is still largely one of everyday owners and landlords. Understanding what’s really happening in this market is a key part of forming informed opinions and policies on housing affordability and availability.

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