As the pandemic created both the need for roomier homes and the conditions for people to work remotely and move further away from congested and expensive urban centers, developers understood the assignment: Building more single-family rentals and expanding the build-to-rent supply became the solution to renters’ problems regarding lack of space and lack of affordability. For a fraction of the price and effort needed to buy, renters can now enjoy more spacious, more private, and more amenity-rich homes.
And those are the main conditions that set the single-family build-to-rent sector on its upward path. According to the most recent Point2Homes build-to-rent report, no fewer than 110,727 new houses for rent are under construction in 613 communities across the nation, in an attempt to diversify housing options and renters’ access to more spacious homes and better amenities.
Key Highlights:
- Texas is the absolute leader when it comes to single-family rentals in the pipeline, with a total of 21,812 units in various stages of development across its largest metros.
- When completed, these new house rentals will expand the state’s build-to-rent (BTR) inventory by an impressive 70%.
- To put things in perspective, Arizona and Florida round up the podium but they trail behind Texas, with developers in each of these states working on nearly 14,000 new units.
- Top metros for growth: The Dallas metro alone will add 8,470 houses for rent in the following months, with Houston (4,613), Austin (4,313) and San Antonio (2,994) also making it into the top 10 best metros for houses for rent construction in the nation.
- Cities like San Antonio; Fort Worth; McKinney; Hutto; and Cypress are the biggest contributors to the momentum of BTR housing: Each city will add between 1,000 to 2,000 single-family rentals to the existing inventory of house rentals in these markets.
Texas is spearheading the single-family rental revolution. Of the 110,727 units underway at the national level, nearly 22,000 are in the Lone Star State alone. Home to the most Fortune 500 companies and boasting the second-largest economy, behind only California, Texas’s growing population and continuous development come as a natural result. Sustained housing demand, therefore, is just as natural. That’s why the addition of single-family rentals within build-to-rent communities brings a healthy diversification of housing options.
Texas Has Most Units Underway; 7 Other States Are Set to Expand Their Inventory by More Than 100%, and up to 255%
Looking at the raw numbers, the Southwest is clearly in the lead. Build-to-rent giants Texas and Arizona, with their sprawling metros and more relaxed building regulations, are adding dozens of new communities, adding thousands of houses for rent to the existing rental inventory. This means renters in Texas and Arizona are reaping the benefits of a robust rental housing boom, mainly fueled by two key drivers: The states’ thriving business and job markets and their pivot toward diversifying housing options. These factors are drawing remote workers, entrepreneurs, and professionals to the region, creating surging demand for rental homes.
While Texas and Arizona lead the charge, other states are quickly catching up. Florida, North Carolina, and Georgia round out the top five states with the most single-family rental homes in the pipeline. Local developers are working on thousands of rental homes aimed at upgrading renters’ quality of life. These new developments offer house renters access to modern homes in well-planned neighborhoods, signaling a shift toward creating more tenant-focused rental options.
And it’s not just the net numbers. States with smaller rental markets, such as Nebraska, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire, are also seeing significant inventory increases, some as high as 255%. While these numbers reflect smaller absolute growth, they signal a growing trend: More states are joining the build-to-rent movement, expanding rental housing availability even in less traditional markets.
Texas is America’s #1 Builder: Dallas, Houston, Austin & San Antonio Are the State’s Top Metros for New Houses for Rent
Phoenix, AZ may steal the spotlight with a total of 13,113 house rentals underway across the metro, but Texas has four metros in the top 10: Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio have thousands of units in the pipeline.
In Dallas, developers are on track to complete 8,470 single-family rentals in the months and years to come. Specifically, Fort Worth will add 1,816 new units, while McKinney is the only other city within the metro that will see its current inventory increase by more than 1,000 house rentals.
In fact, Fort Worth will soon be home to one of the largest communities of single-family rentals: At Living Fully Orchard Farms on 3000 Shelby Road, there are 643 new units under development. The second and third largest communities currently under construction in the Dallas metro are in Princeton and Melissa: Oxenfree at Princeton and Wolf Creek Farms will add 408 and 343 units, respectively.
Dallas proper lags behind, the city only aiming to add a meager 64 new houses for rent to its existing supply. In fact, only Red Oak (57 units currently under construction) is posting smaller numbers.
Although they are only building about half the units that Dallas metro is currently working on, Houston and Austin will each be adding north of 4,000 new single-family rentals. Startup hub and major energy and biomedical research player, Houston is one of the most populous metros in the nation, the issue of housing being at the forefront. That's why large communities like Pradera Oaks; Willow at Marvida; and Lakeside Conroe, which will provide renters with hundreds of new options, are expected to really make a difference.
Similarly, Austin is one of the fastest-growing large cities in the nation, its graduates and new residents naturally attracted to the area's booming high-tech sector, as well as its emerging pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, which all contribute to the metro's strong job market. It's no wonder then that developers are hard at work in the metro, building hundreds of new single-family homes for rent, the largest ones being The Mansions Eight65; YardHomes Cottonwood Creek; and Avilla Rio Oaks in Hutto and Liberty Hill.
However, despite boasting truly impressive numbers of new units, most of Texas's big cities and metros are outshined for another important metric: When it comes to increases in inventory, it's mostly the smaller markets that steal the show. In 18 cities, the supply of single-family rentals available will increase between 100% to a staggering 843%. Additionally, six more cities are set to expand their inventories by more than 50% once all units currently under development hit the market.
These cities may have smaller rental inventories, so the addition of a few hundred houses for rent creates a more noticeable impact statistically. However, while this might seem less significant at first glance, it highlights the growing trend of more cities and metros embracing the build-to-rent movement, ultimately providing renters with more diverse and improved housing options.
Obviously, the surge in build-to-rent construction is driven primarily by local economic growth creating jobs and attracting newcomers. However, the pandemic played no small part in the BTR trend taking off. Remote work and stay-at-home trends redirected renters from small apartments in expensive coastal areas to larger homes in affordable secondary markets. Also, additional factors like the soaring home prices and discouraging down payment amounts made renting more appealing, adding fuel to the BTR fire. Collectively, these factors support the rising demand for spacious rentals, drawing both renters and developers to the thriving single-family rental market.
Methodology
Point2Homes.com is a real estate listing portal for rental homes across the United States. Part of Yardi Systems, Point2Homes covers housing trends and news through comprehensive studies that draw from internal data, public records, governmental sources, and online research.
This study is exclusively based on data related to build-to-rent communities containing at least 50 single-family rental units.
This analysis was performed by Point2Homes using data provided by our sister company, Yardi Matrix. The data includes only properties defined as single-family homes for rent that are located in build-to-rent, professionally managed communities in the markets covered by Yardi Matrix research. Data for some markets may not be available and data for the locations included in the analysis may be subject to change. This analysis does not include other types of single-family rentals that are not located in build-to-rent communities.
Build-to-rent communities are defined by Yardi Matrix as communities where at least 50% of the units fit one of the following criteria: (1) They do not share any walls with other units, or (2) they have shared walls, but do not have neighbors above/below or have a direct-access garage.
For the purposes of this study, we considered "units in the pipeline in 2025" as all units that are (1) currently under construction and (2) currently planned (units that have already been permitted).
"Units under construction" hadn't received a certificate of occupancy by the end of December 2024 or are currently being built. Under-construction data may be incomplete and is subject to change. "Planned units" are units for which all zoning issues have been resolved and the appropriate legal institution has signed off on and approved the development proposal submitted.
Fair use and redistribution
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