Higher mortgage rates may discourage some existing homeowners from selling and giving up record-low interest rates they got over the previous couple of years.
New listings during the four weeks that ended April 23 fell 22.4% nationwide from a year earlier, according to Redfin research. The lack of new homes for sale nationally may have had a positive effect on Dallas-based rental giant Invitation Homes, chief executive officer Dallas Tanner said Tuesday in a first-quarter earnings call.
Tanner said that “lock-in effect” limits supply, supporting home prices and rent growth and keeping renters in their homes. The company, which owned 83,000 rental homes nationwide as of March 31, faces the competitive market itself when selling its own properties.
“We’re seeing evidence of this supply-and-demand imbalance when we list our homes for sale and receive multiple competing offers at great prices,” Tanner said.
In addition to the lack of inventory of homes for sale, Tanner said rising costs of homeownership are further driving the demand for single-family home leasing.
Nationally, the average monthly cost of owning an entry-level home in the U.S. was $3,428, while the average monthly payment to rent a similar home was $2,130, according to John Burns Research & Consulting.
In the Dallas-Plano-Irving metro division, the average cost of owning a single-family home was $3,389, over $1,000 more than the average cost to rent a similar home at $2,346, according to John Burns data. In the Fort Worth area, homes cost $2,900 to buy versus $2,023 to rent, a difference of $877.
Tanner said during a recession, more people may stay in rentals and the company could see more opportunities to grow.
“Since our inception, we’ve matured and performed through a variety of operating and macroeconomic environments, including a global pandemic and record-high inflation,” Tanner said. “Throughout this time, we’ve witnessed the resilience and the relative strength of our business.”
The lack of new inventory may also give Invitation an edge over smaller single-family rental companies struggling to grow their portfolios, Tanner said. Invitation, meanwhile, struck a deal with PulteGroup in 2021 to help bring thousands more rental homes to the market.
“As we see some of these smaller operators who are having trouble getting scale or sizing up, there could be potential [mergers and acquisitions] over the next couple of years,” Tanner said.
Investors purchased about 30% of all single-family homes in the Dallas-Fort Worth area last year, according to John Burns data. Companies like Invitation that own more than 1,000 homes represent only a sliver of the local housing market, far surpassed by small investors.
As of March, Invitation Homes owned 2,847 homes in D-FW with an average monthly rental rate of $2,128.
Demographic trends are favoring the company with more millennials reaching its average resident age of 39 and individuals and families wanting the convenience of leasing but the features of traditional single-family homes such as more space, garages and yards for their kids and pets, Tanner said.
“Today’s residents are requesting flexibility and choice, along with the appeal of a down-payment-light lifestyle.”
