Aspen Heights Partners Launches Single-Family Rental Brand

Aspen Heights Partners, a vertically integrated developer, builder and operator of lifestyle-oriented residential communities, launched Bell Yard, a single-family rental community brand. 

Already one of the leading cottage-style housing developers, this new brand looks to capitalize on the still roaring single-family rental market.

The unveiling of Aspen Heights Partners’ new brand coincides with its acquisition of a 36-acre site in the rapidly growing Austin suburb of Hutto, Texas, where it will develop its first Bell Yard community.

SFR Market Continues to Expand

There appears to be plenty of room for the SFR market to expand.

The John Burns Real Estate Consulting (JBREC) overall Single-Family Rental Market Index cooled slightly to 84 in 2Q21, down from an all-time high of 90 in 1Q21. While down sequentially, the index is still sharply higher year over year (YOY) from 76 in 2Q20. 

Same store new lease rent growth of 10.4 percent and renewal rent growth of 5.1 percent drove blended rent growth of 6.5 percent in 2Q21. For perspective, new leases grew 8.7 percent in 1Q21 and renewals rose 5 percent, equating to 6.1 percent blended growth.

This is the highest blended rent growth in the survey history back to 2019 and more than double the 2.8 percent blended rent growth back in 2Q20.

This jibes with single-family rental growth forecasts earlier this year by Walker & Dunlop, which said it is expected to outpace multifamily, office, retail, storage, and hospitality growth by 2022, GlobeSt reported earlier.

Aspen Heights ‘Identifies an Emerging Need’

During the past decade, Aspen Heights Partners has developed 24 cottage-style rental properties across 13 states totaling 14,844 beds and 4,582 units. With the addition of its Bell Yard brand, Aspen Heights has developed a robust single-family rental pipeline, with more than 1,000 homes under contract in Austin and the surrounding region and an additional 400 homes in North Carolina — totaling $440 million in value.

“The roots of our company were formed by identifying emerging needs within the housing industry and taking swift action to create purpose-built communities that fulfill those needs,” said Greg Henry, founder and CEO of Aspen Heights. 

“There’s incredible demand right now for single-family rental options from various age groups who are seeking space, comfort and privacy, but want to maintain the service, amenities and flexibility they’ve grown accustomed to.”