JLL Income Property Trust Makes First Investment In SFR

JLL Income Property Trust has announced it has invested $560 million for a 47% stake in a national portfolio of over 4,000 single family rental homes, its first foray into that market.

“This is a unique and attractive opportunity for us to enter the single-family rental market at scale through a previously acquired, renovated and stabilized portfolio with broad nationwide diversification,” said the trust’s president and CEO Allan Swaringen.

He added the acquisition has grown the residential allocation of JLL Income Property Trust to over 40% of its portfolio, a strategic overweight objective he asserted it has had over the last few years.

Swaringen said this is a good time for the REIT to put money into this commercial real estate niche with the diverse set of cross generational tenants seeking single-family home living, increased demand as people look for more living space

amid and post-pandemic, along with a constrained supply of new homes and rising construction costs.

The portfolio was assembled and is managed in a venture with affiliates of Amherst Residential, an Austin, Texas-based investor and manager of single-family rental homes and an institutional investor. Amherst operates the fourth largest single-family rental platform in the US.

The portfolio, which is 96% leased, has homes in 14 major markets, including Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix, and Nashville.

Investor home purchases hit record levels in the second quarter at $49  billion, officially  surpassing pandemic levels, according to Redfin. It reports that Q2 figures are up 15.1% over first quarter numbers and up a whopping 106.7% year-over-year. 

“Investors see soaring home prices as an opportunity,” said Redfin Senior Economist Sheharyar Bokhari. “With housing values consistently on the rise, solid returns are pretty much guaranteed—especially when you’re an investor who has access to extremely cheap debt.”