The estimated value of the single-family rental (SFR) market last spring was $3.4 trillion — and quickly growing — according to a report by Walker & Dunlop. The sector is projected to outperform multifamily, office, retail, warehouse and hospitality growth in the foreseeable future, and an increasing number of institutional investors have entered the market. The fundamentals of the market are such that institutional ownership will only accelerate this trend, as today’s interest rate environment will push more consumers to rent rather than to buy their home.

Born out of the 2008 Great Recession and housing crisis as a “boutique” investment class, SFR has become an asset class unto itself, with tremendous trajectory and billions of investment dollars.

What’s driving the SFR boom?

Today, institutional investors own only a sliver of the total housing stock (around 2 percent), but with approximately 84 million single-family homes in t