Single-Family Rental Sector is a Trillion-Dollar Industry

Beasley says Roofstock opens local markets to worldwide investors.

OAKLAND, CA—One in 10 US households rents a single-family home today. And, rents have begun to rise sharply as the economy improves, according to the latest fair market rents set by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development . Rents for homes with three bedrooms, for example–which largely represent rental houses–grew 3.4% in 2016. That’s up from 2.2% in 2015 and 1% in 2014. The single-family rental (SFR) sector is now worth $2 trillion and growing. Launched in March with an exclusive curated inventory of rental homes in Florida, Roofstock is the first dedicated online marketplace for investing in leased SFR homes. It is now expanding into two new markets: Atlanta and the East Bay. “Atlanta and the San Francisco East Bay are very active SFR markets, each representing different but compelling characteristics, with attractively priced Atlanta properties offering higher current yields, and the Bay Area offering strong rental growth and appreciation potential, given the region’s growing economy and supply constraints,” said Roofstock CEO and co-founder, Gary Beasley . Beasley tells GlobeSt.com: “Investors are quite active in the East Bay markets of Antioch and Brentwood near BART, in addition to Vallejo. The yields are pretty good and there is rental price appreciation near transit. With its higher housing prices, rent growth, job growth and small amount of supply, we like this area with strong rental demand.” For sellers, properties can be sold without having to wait until tenants move out, avoiding the lost income while marketing a vacant home and the significant selling costs associated with traditional channels. For buyers, Roofstock offers a proprietary inventory of leased, certified, professionally managed homes that generate immediate cash flow and future home price appreciation potential. Homes can be virtually toured and purchased online, without the buyer having to be in the same geography, leveraging the extensive property diligence available pre-purchase. “What makes Roofstock unique is we are separating the investing and operational elements, so investors anywhere in the world can now diversify their portfolios with US rental homes without worrying about the day-to-day management responsibilities,” says Beasley. SFR industry pioneers Beasley, Gregor Watson, Rich Ford and Devin Wade started Roofstock on the belief that investing in SFR properties should be as easy and transparent as investing in the stock market. Beasley is the former CEO of Waypoint Homes and co-CEO of public SFR REIT, Starwood Waypoint Residential Trust . Watson is the founder of SFR investment firm, 643 Capital Management . Ford, as managing director at Jefferies , was widely regarded as one of the leading investment bankers in the SFR industry. And Wade is a payments and secure processing serial entrepreneur.