The single-family rental market is on fire. As millennials have children, they crave the sprawl of the suburbs where homes are larger and equipped with yards—and investors and developers are hurrying to meet the demand. Brad Hunter, president of Hunter Housing Economics and the keynote speaker at GlobeSt.com Multifamily next month, predicts that the sector could produce 150,000 units within the next five years.

While Hunter doesn't anticipate that single-family rentals will ever match the volume of the apartment market, he says there is tremendous opportunity in the sector for savvy investors. "Demand is outstripping the industry's current ability to produce housing for rent," Hunter, who is speaking on this topic at GlobeSt.com Multifamily conference, tells GlobeSt.com. "We see this in the rapid lease-ups, the high occupancy rates, the rapid rise in rents, and in the underlying household formation rates. More capital is needed for the years ahead to sustain this trend. I think there will be a 20% increase in BFR production this year, and a similar type of increase the year after."

Within the build-to-rent market, a subsector of new construction single-family rental communities, a multifamily hybrid product is the most popular. "Some multifamily developers and investors are adopting a hybrid form of development, known as horizontal multifamily," says Hunter. "This is the fastest-growing segment within the built for rent sector, and it is being met with tremendous demand."