The build-to-rent sector of the domestic housing market is booming, with developers churning out single-family rentals for those who either cannot afford to buy a home or are seeking a maintenance-free lifestyle.
Roughly 100,000 new build-to-rent (BTR) properties are being developed across the U.S. right now, coming on the heels of a banner year for the industry, which saw a record 39,000 rental single-family homes completed, up more than 15% compared with 2023, according to a recent report from Point2Homes.com citing March data from the real estate research company Yardi Matrix.
Build-to-rent housing works similarly to apartment buildings under property management companies, but offers a single-family living experience in a community setting. Rentals range anywhere from $1,500 to $3,500 per month, depending on the type of property, its size, amenities, and location.
The Southwest, with its large tracts of open land and bustling business hubs bursting with job opportunities, stands out as having the most BTR developments in the U.S.
Phoenix clinches the No. 1 spot among the top 20 metros with the most rental homes, at nearly 17,000 units as of 2024.
Arizona’s state capital and most populous city saw a surge in built-to-rent homes of more than 300% since 2019. Last year alone, 4,460 rental-only homes sprang up in Phoenix, the most of any metro.
(Realtor.com)
Phoenix’s latest BTR development, The Bungalows on Camelback, opened last year, becoming the third-largest community of its kind to be unveiled in 2024. It offers 334 units with varying prices based on size and features, ranging from around $1,500 per month for a one-bedroom to just over $2,500 for a three-bedroom.
And Phoenix’s BTR developers are not stopping there, with more than 13,000 rental units currently in the works, the most of any metro.
Dallas has emerged as the second-largest BTR market, boasting nearly 14,700 units as of last year, more than 3,000 of them completed in 2024. The surge should come as no surprise, given that the busy Texas hub added roughly 178,000 new residents from 2023 to 2024.
To accomodate all of these newcomers, Dallas is planning to add more than 8,000 BTR homes in the near future.
Another major Texas metro, Houston, was the third in the nation for the number of BTR homes, which stood at around 8,800 last year—with just under a quarter of them completed in 2024 across 16 communities.
Home to Nasa Mission Control, Texas’ “Space City” registered a 187% increase in single-family homes built exclusively for renting compared with 2023, with an additional 4,000 units coming down the pipeline.
Another metro seeing BTR homes rise is Atlanta, where the single-family rental sector has skyrocketed by a staggering 1,381% since 2019, with the number of available units reaching 8,100 as of last year.
Georgia’s state capital, which saw its population expand by 75,000 people in a year, ranked third—behind Dallas and Phoenix—for both the number of completed rentals in 2024, at around 3,000 units, and for homes currently under construction, at 6,880 units.
Kenneth Brown moved into a new rental townhome at the South Pine development in Fulton County, GA, just last month. Speaking to 11Alive a week after settling in, he gushed about the BTR community he now calls home.
“I love the backyard, I love the driveway, I love the garage, I love the space,” said Brown. “I enjoy having a maintenance team on site. I can call the office and say my refrigerator needs to be fixed instead of paying for that stuff out of pocket.”
Brown said he pays $2,100 per month for a spacious home where he gets to enjoy peace and quiet, with no noisy downstairs or upstairs neighbors.
(11Alive)
Sean Rust, vice president of development for NexMetro, the company behind South Pine where Brown now lives, told the outlet that there is a lot of demand in Atlanta for rental properties as home prices have soared, putting homeownership out of reach for many of the city’s working professionals.
According to the Realtor.com® April 2025 Monthly Housing Trends report, the typical home in Atlanta cost $412,000 last month, with the annual income required to afford it reaching $109,000.
Charlotte, NC, boasted just north of 4,000 rentals as of 2024, representing a nearly 900% upsurge compared with pre-pandemic levels.
Last year, the “Queen City” added 1,400 BTR homes spread across 15 communities, the fifth-highest number in the U.S.—and there are close to 5,000 units being built there now.
Affordability woes fueling growth of BTR developments
In pre-pandemic times, build-to-rent homes made up a tiny fraction of the housing market, with only around 107,000 units scattered around the U.S.
But as mortgage rates and home prices increased, so did the popularity of long-term rentals, offering a “house” feel, as well as greater privacy, flexibility, and more space to people who have been priced out of homeownership.
Young adults, especially millennials and Gen Z, many of whom have not amassed enough funds to afford a mortgage, have been flocking to built-to-rent communities, attracted by the new construction, spacious living quarters, and high-end finishes, as well as an array of desirable amenities from pools to fitness centers and community gardens.
Others come for the stress-free lifestyle, unencumbered by having to deal with maintenance and repairs commonly associated with homeownership, since professional management companies are there to take care of these issues.
Build-to-rent industry comes under fire
Not everyone agrees that the proliferation of communities made up of rent-only single-family homes is a net positive.
Experts have voiced concerns that BTR developments, which have been attracting major investors looking to cash in, could make it more difficult for everyday Americans to buy homes in the long run by reducing for-sale inventory levels.
“So much of the new stock of homes being built is going directly into the rental portfolios of these large companies, and potential homebuyers never have a chance to bid on them in the way they once would have,” Georgia State University associate professor Taylor Shelton told 11Alive.
Questions have also been raised about the quality of management at BTR developments in response to reports about poor maintenance and neglect at some subdivisions, according to WTXL.
Last month, the City Council in the Bainbridge section of Houston proposed new rules aimed at regulating build-to-rent communities.
The ordinance currently under consideration would require rental developments to be overseen by a single management company with on-site presence five days a week, and dedicate at least 5% of the property to recreational facilities.
Several states and municipalities have imposed outright bans or restrictions on BTR housing, including Georgetown, TX, and Clayton County, GA.
