It's not just the pandemic. The build-to-rent market has been growing rapidly for the last several years. In fact, going back to 2017, BTR properties have outperformed multifamily, according to Dennis McGill, director of Zelman & Associates, who spoke on the fundamentals of the BTR market during Beyond the Basics of Build to Rent, a webinar hosted by Walker & Dunlop.

From 2017 to 2019 the blended rent growth of BTR properties averaged 4.1% from 2017 to 2019. During the same timeframe, multifamily properties had 3.2% rent growth. Growth in the BTR space only accelerated during the pandemic, outperforming multifamily ever quarter since the onset of the health crisis in 2020. Over the last four quarters, rents have increased 6.3%, an increase of 1.5x the rent trend prior to the pandemic.

The widest gap between BTR and multifamily was during the fourth quarter of 2020, according to McGill. The narrowest gap came in the third quarter of this year as the multifamily market rebounded from the pandemic. Multifamily had 8.2% blended rent growth during the quarter, while BTR product rents grew 8.6%.