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SFR Demand Eats Into Home Sales

“For the past 10 years, the number of single-family homes that are rented has grown steadily and remains near the highest levels ever recorded,” says Aaron Terrazas at Zillow.

By Paul Bubny | Updated on December 13, 2017

Photo of Aaron Terrazas ““Many longtime owners have opted to hold onto their homes as rentals even after they decide to move somewhere else.,” says Terrazas.si

SEATTLE—Apartments aren’t the only cause, or beneficiary, of the trend toward renting rather than owning. Zillow said Wednesday that the number of homes that would sell in a single year is down by about 5% compared to 2006, due largely to demand for single-family rentals. Hundreds of thousands of homes that may have otherwise sold in a typical year over the past decade– particularly more-affordable homes—have instead been taken off the market and converted to rentals, a trend that exploded in popularity in recent years and is only now beginning to level off,” according to Zillow.

In large measure, that’s because SFRs tend toward the less expensive end of the housing market, i.e. where first-time homebuyers would gravitate, thereby limiting these buyers’ options and driving up prices. The inventory of SFRs grew by about 5.4 million between ’06 and early 2017, while at the same time new construction was occurring at a slower pace.

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