Private Equity, Institutional Investors and Large Corporate Landlords
We investigate the ongoing consolidation of single family rental sector by large corporate landlords, and the consequences for renters and neighborhoods. Early research uncovered the high eviction rate of large corporate landlords, and the way in which policymakers supported the creation of single family rental securitization, encouraging the rise of private equity and institutional investor presence in this sector. More recent research links private equity and institutional investor purchases of multifamily housing to racialized gentrification and evictions.
In ongoing research funded by the Housing Crisis Research Collaborative at the Urban Institute, we describe how large corporate landlords and private equity firms invested in Tampa, Miami and Atlanta during the pandemic. We find that rent-to-own investors, and large corporate single family rental firms increased purchases in these three southeastern cities during the pandemic, and increasingly focused in areas that were hardest hit by COVID19 and had the greatest housing instability risk. These firms purchases were concentrated in low-poverty Black and non-white Hispanic neighborhoods. You can read the report here.
Publications
Raymond, E; Miller, B; McKinney, M; Braun, J. (2021). Gentrifying Atlanta: Investor Purchases of Rental Housing, Evictions and the Displacement of Black Residents. Housing Policy Debate. link
Fields, D; Raymond, E. (2021). Racial capitalism and geographies of housing financialization. Progress in Human Geography. link
Raymond, E. L., Duckworth, R., Miller, B., Lucas, M., & Pokharel, S. (2018). From Foreclosure to Eviction: Housing Insecurity in Corporate-Owned Single-Family Rentals. Cityscape, 20(3), 159-188. link
In the Press
Ferrer, A. “The Real Problem with Corporate Landlords”. (June 21, 2021). The Atlantic. Retrieved from: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/06/real-problem-corporate-landlords/619244/
Mahoney, E and Weider, B. “Multi-millionaire French heirs to Hermès fortune own stake in Tampa rental houses”. (February 19, 2021.) Miami Times. Retrieved from https://www.tampabay.com/news/real-estate/2021/02/19/multi-millionaire-french-heirs-to-hermes-fortune-own-stake-in-tampa-rental-houses/
Mari, F. “A $60 Billion Housing Grab by Wall Street.” (March 4, 2020). The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/04/magazine/wall-street-landlords.html
Mendelson, Aaron. Will Corporate Landlords Gobble up Homes During the Downturn? (May 28, 2021). LAist. Retrieved from https://laist.com/2020/05/28/will_corporate_landlords_gobble_up_homes_during_downturn_california_politicians_are_concerned.php
Buttigieg, Pete. Coming Home: An Agenda for Housing Justice in America. (July, 2019). Pete for America. Retrieved from http://www.peteforamerica.com/policies/economic-agenda
“Home ownership is in decline”. (2019, January 16). The Economist. Retrieved from https://www.economist.com/special-report/2020/01/16/home-ownership-is-in-decline
Frankel, T.; Keating, D. (2018, December 25). Eviction Filings and Code Complaints: What Happened When a Private Equity Firm Became One City’s Biggest Homeowner.’ Washington Post. Retrieved from
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/eviction-filings-and-code-complaints-what-happened-when-a-private-equity-firm-became-one-citys-biggest-homeowner/2018/12/25/995678d4-02f3-11e9-b6a9-0aa5c2fcc9e4_story.html
Ross, B; Galli, C; Park, C; Madden, P. (2017, November 16). ‘Billion Dollar Landlords: Rental home giant once led by Trump ally is under fire from some tenants, critics.’ ABC Good Morning America; ABC Nightline; ABC World News Report. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/US/billion-dollar-landlords-tenants-rental-home-giant-slow/story?id=51190693
Glantz, A. (2017, June 10). ‘After the Bubble Burst.’ Reveal News for the Center for Investigative Journalism. Syndicated on NPR radio stations nationwide and other outlets. Retrieved from https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/after-the-bubble-burst/
Gopal, P. (2017, January 3). ‘Wall Street, America’s New Landlord, Kicks Tenants to the Curb.’ Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 2017, from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-03/wall-street-america-s-new-landlord-kicks-tenants-to-the-curb
Stokes, S. (2017, January 11). ‘Study: Investor Landlords More Likely To File Eviction Notices.’ WABE 90.1. Retrieved from http://news.wabe.org/post/study-investor-landlords-more-likely-file-eviction-notices