Build-to-rent (BTR) housing, once a niche investment concept, has evolved into a mainstream sector driven by demographic demand, affordability pressures and a rapidly expanding development pipeline.
The model was a natural offshoot of the 2008 recession and subsequent housing crisis, when investors began purchasing single-family homes and found them much easier and more profitable to rent than sell. While individuals and some developers built houses that they ultimately rented, it was not yet recognized as a distinct housing type or investment class.
In the mid-2010s, as the country was in full recovery mode from the recession that had brought homebuilding to a halt, the early success of BTR led many developers, including Material Capital Partners, to focus on what was becoming a new asset class, particularly across the Sun Belt. It was a small share of the overall rental market at first — and remains so today, with existing BTR units representing less than 1 percent
