Wall Street has invaded Main Street. It’s truly stunning to see that a company like Invitation Homes owns over 10,000 units in California. Today, I want to debut an interactive map I made to show where these homes are located.
UPCOMING (PUBLIC) SPEAKING GIGS:
12/08/23 Free Q&A event for appraisers only (on private work)
11am PST one hour – click link here (see pass code)
Meeting ID: 832 2414 3890 Passcode: 007
01/31/24 Joel Wright & Mike Gobbi Event 9am (on Zoom here)
2/09/24 PCAR WCR Event (details TBA)
3/11/24 Yolo Association of Realtors (details TBA)
4/25/24 HomeSmart iCare Realty (details TBA)
UPDATED MAP on 12/18/2023
I updated my post title to say 10,000+ instead of 9,000+ in light of new information. This map now includes nearly 1,600 extra units. Invitation Homes merged with Starwood Waypoint years ago, and I found an extra 1,586 units owned by Starwood Waypoint. These units are now being included in what Invitation Homes owns. Frankly, this number is likely still conservative, but I’ll keep adding as I get better data (difficult to track).
INTERVIEW ON KQED on 12/19/2023:
KQED did a one hour special on Invitation Homes, and I was honored to be a guest along with a legislator and writer for Time Magazine. Listen here.
CHECK OUT THIS INTERACTIVE MAP
I created this map to help show exactly where Invitation Homes owns properties throughout California. Scroll through Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Riverside County in particular. Or see map here.
Invitation Homes owns 10,761 units throughout many counties, but it’s mostly Greater Sacramento and Southern California. Nothing in the middle.
Counties with Largest Number of Invitation Homes Units:
– Los Angeles (3,017)
– Riverside (2,353)
– Sacramento (1,881)
– San Bernardino (1,383)
– Solano (774)
– Ventura (289)
– Placer (212)
– San Diego (216)
– Other (636)
The wider Sacramento region has 30.21% (or 3,255) of Invitation Homes units owned in California. This wider area includes Solano and San Joaquin. If it’s just Sacramento, Placer, Yolo, and El Dorado, that would be 20.2% of all units in California (2,180 units).
What’s mind-blowing to me is to click the map and zoom in to see how many units they own in various neighborhoods. Yikes.
SOME THOUGHTS
1) MAIN STREET INVADING WALL STREET: It’s sobering to see this company’s holdings on the neighborhood level because then it starts to feel really personal. This is a very local trend – not just a national stat where we can say Invitation Homes owns about 80,000 units across the country. Anyway, there needs to be discussion here. Is this what America should look like? Should big companies become giant landlords? How does this evolve in the future? How does this affect affordability and neighborhoods?
2) NOT BLACKSTONE: Often we see Invitation Homes confused as Blackstone, but Invitation Homes is not Blackstone. There used to be an affiliation with Blackstone, but that’s no longer the case.
3) NOT BUYING RIGHT NOW: The bulk of these units were purchased five to eleven years ago. I’m not aware of any location in the state where Invitation Homes is currently acquiring a large number of units. In Sacramento, Invitation Homes went on a rampage in 2012 and 2013, and purchased more steadily in subsequent years. The last unit they bought was in mid-2022 as far as I can tell.
4) NOT SELLING MUCH: They haven’t sold a massive amount through the years other than some non-performing assets. Many have said things like, “Bro, just wait until they sell,” but they really might not do that.
5) HOW I GOT THIS DATA: First, Invitation Homes is difficult to track because they have so many DBAs (over 50 in Sacramento alone). This means it’s extremely challenging to account for their properties. I honestly have wanted to share a map like this for years, but I finally cracked the code to figure out how to account for their properties by using the tax billing address instead of the owner name. 9,175 properties have the corporate headquarters in Dallas, TX as the listed tax address, and I found additional units with the Starwood Waypoint address in Arizona as the tax billing address (1,586 units).
Are there more? It’s possible there are other units not on my list, but this is the best way I’ve found so far to account for the properties. If anyone knows a better way to search, or if there are other properties with a different owner address, speak up.
NOTE: I scrubbed a few properties on the list due to address issues, so my map has 10,696 out of 10,761 units.
6) SHARING: You can share by linking to this post, linking to the map, embedding the map on your website (see code below), or take screenshots of images to share anywhere you want. I’d appreciate being cited since this took a good deal of effort. Let me know if you have any questions.
Code for embedding:
<iframe src=”https://www.google.com/maps/d/embed?mid=1SClN1Z5VG_ESHimkjNH4S1STDHacUAE&ehbc=2E312F” width=”640″ height=”480″></iframe>
BLAMING BIG FUNDS ONLY (AN UPDATE):
Thanks for being here.
Questions: What stands out to you most about the map or information I shared today? I’d love to hear.
If you liked this post, subscribe by email (or RSS). Thanks for being here.
Gloria says
Yikes!! what I would like to know is :who is invitation homes ???are they American? Are they Asian?? are they European?
Ryan Lundquist says
Hi Gloria. This is an American company. Here’s a Wikipedia page for more information. This was the company purchasing all those homes back in 2012. It’s sobering seeing how many there are locally. I knew there were over 2,000 locally, but I never saw them in actual neighborhoods like this until now. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invitation_Homes
Christopher Kroschel says
Great post Ryan. Also folks should donate a $1 or $2 to Wikipedia.
Ryan Lundquist says
Thanks so much. Hope you are well.
Cameron C says
Thank you Ryan for this information. You mentioned that this Invitation Homes went on a buying spree about 10 years ago, but have slowed their operation down in CA a lot recently. Are you aware of any other Private Equity Firms which may currently be active in CA? Particularly in Los Angeles County?
I am a first time home buyer and the area I’m in seems to be experiencing a housing boom. It’s very disheartening to be outbid over and over again; and while it is my understanding that economic forces are causing a mass-migration of people from the LA metro area to more “rural” parts of LA county, I just can’t help but wonder how many times I’ve possibly been outbid by one of these firms rather than an actual single family.
Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated, as is all the work you’ve done already with this map.
Ryan Lundquist says
Hi Cameron. Thank you so much for reaching out. I know it’s tough out there. I wish it wasn’t so hard to get into contract and of course afford the market. I’m not aware of any institutions who are buying on a massive scale right now in California. I suspect the numbers simply don’t make sense for many big funds to be in a buying position right now. Well, there are some build-to-rent outfits, but these companies aren’t actively making offers against consumers for older existing homes. If anyone has different information, please speak up. Otherwise, one of the bigger issues right now is simply the market. We have a real imbalance when it comes to supply vs demand at the moment, and that has made it competitive. My advice for anyone trying to get into contract is to be patient, work with an agent who can give you good advice and an agent who gets results, bring a strong offer with strong terms, and be creative as need (for instance, trying to find an off-market property to buy). Please let me know if you ever have any questions. Happy to help in any way. Best wishes.
Sabina Straley-Klempa says
I believe they are based out of Texas
Ryan Lundquist says
Thanks. Yeah, their HQ is in Dallas.
Jacob says
That is truly disheartening that these big companies can buy up so much housing in California just to make a profit. What can be done about this? I assume state legislation is the only answer…
Ryan Lundquist says
Hi Jacob. I hear you. I’m concerned that Wall Streets seems to be salivating over residential real estate. While they are mostly on pause right now, what happens when prices do at some point get more affordable? This isn’t something that helps he American people in my opinion.
Patty says
Thanks for the ultra tenacious sleuthing Ryan!
As I have previously posted, personally I am terribly concerned about the lack of affordable housing in the US. These stats support the fact that rental property monopolies are real. Are these monopolies doing anything to help provide affordable housing to our low and medium income individuals and families??? I think not.
Ryan Lundquist says
Thanks Patty. This is definitely a concern. On one hand, institutional investors really own just a few percent of the entire housing stock in the United States, so it’s easy to minimize. Yet, when we see it on a graph, it hits differently I think.
Gary Kristensen says
It is sobering when you see it on a map and even more so if they own a percentage of the subdivision you live in. Thank you for your work on the map. I’ve used the same approach in the past by searching a tax mailing address rather than the owner.
Ryan Lundquist says
Thank you, Gary. Agreed, it is sobering. Now I’m wondering what else I can visualize on a massive scale. 🙂
Truett Neathery says
and hold or alienate real property in the USA !!!
Ryan Lundquist says
Corporations have been salivating over residential real estate. Probably not a good thing for Americans…
Cory L says
Wow, it’s shocking to see the clusters in neighborhoods. Reading it is one thing, but when you realize the sheer number of corporate owned homes in a particular neighborhood… Yikes, indeed!!! Ryan, any idea of how many companies there are like this? We are only talking about one company here. What percentage of homes in California are big corporate owned?
Ryan Lundquist says
Hey Cory. Thanks for the comment. It is shocking. I totally agree there. This is by far the largest company, but there are others too. I don’t have any specific numbers, but there are definitely bigger companies. Invitation Homes actually merged with a company called Starwood to create over 80,000 units years ago, so clearly there was at least one other firm that had collected a huge number of units. My understanding is America Homes 4 Rent owns nearly 60,000 properties across the country too. The thing to keep in mind is these companies all have their pet locations, and not everyone buys in California. I may have to add to the list here.
If any onlookers know the corporate addresses of some of the bigger funds you see purchasing in California, let me know.
Stephanie Wedge says
I can’t imagine how many hours this took you to find out. Thank you!
This is very alarming and we need to come together as a community to see what we can do to stop this from continuing to happen. This drastically changes the possibility of home ownership for first time home buyers.
Ryan Lundquist says
Thanks you Stephanie. It took some time. Nothing too crazy, but I definitely invested time and effort. Looking to add more to the list eventually. I’m also looking for other statewide pieces of data I can visualize too.
Margo Kelly says
Bezos just announced yesterday that he launched a new firm investing in single-family homes across the country to use as rentals. Called Arrived, it is a program based on fractional ownership of homes for investors.
Ryan Lundquist says
Hmm, interesting. Seems like the former CEO of Zillow has something similar right now called Picasso. The goal with that is more of a vacation home though. Thanks for the heads-up. Hadn’t heard that yet.
Rick R. Johnson says
Great information Ryan. Thanks for all you do.
Ryan Lundquist says
Thanks Rick. I’m glad this is resonating. I think it’s really important.
Geneva Lewis says
Mr. Potter (the archetype evil money man from “It’s a Wonderful Life”) is indeed taking over America- and a whole lot of California. Thank you for your stellar sleuthing and investigational work. I’m afraid capitalism has run amok, and it will have to get more out of control before there is a correction.
Ryan Lundquist says
Thanks Geneva. This is not what we want to see. What are the solutions too? I think that’s the big question. Not sure I know the answer to that.
Joda says
INCREDIBLE! WOW what work to find that data. You’re truly at the top in your field. I’m interested to hear if you get into AI for your research in the future… And maybe you could teach a course on it or something.
I noticed, at a glance– They don’t own ANY in Downtown/Midtown, East Sac, Land Park, Curtis Park. The most desirable neighborhoods and the ones where prices tend to “crash” the least in a downturn IIRC.
This could be seen as a map of where investment properties are most profitable, or said another way, where renters are overpaying the most. Ouch.
Ryan Lundquist says
Thanks Joda. Honestly, I am very excited to push this out. I’ve been wanting to do this for years, and I was glad to crack the code. I have lots of ideas for what to visualize next, but it’s all about access to data. And you know, do you notice how they basically avoided Oak Park and Del Paso Heights?
Josh says
This is a natural outcome of Neo-Liberal / Supply-Side economic policy. When you create tax and fiscal policies that redistribute wealth from the broad 60% middle-class to the top 10% and mostly the top 1%, and mostly again to the top 0.1%, this is but one of myriad natural socioeconomic outcomes. THIS is the actual “trickle-down.”
Other outcomes include greatly increased social / political polarization, greatly increased household debt, greatly reduced household savings rates, ridiculously disproportioned C-suite salaries, and a list too long for a comment section.
The U.S. 60% middle-class has lost HALF of its real wealth between 1980 and today. Where did that wealth go? It was redistributed into the top 10%. This was not a “natural outcome of free markets.” This was BY DESIGN from the same economic forces now buying up middle-class homes, sucking up middle-class wealth, and influencing tax / fiscal policy via absurdly corrupted campaign finance rules.
Ask yourself: why have our DC lawmakers, on both sides of the aisle, sustained supply-side policies for 40 years in the face of profound and worsening social harm?
merv Conlan says
Uniparty. Cheap labor Cheap votes.
but the real culprit is not ‘supply’ side anything.
Until we get rid of the Central Federal Bank…..
the polarization in wealth distribution (no polarization in politics, no matter what you may think) will just gradually get worse
Josh says
Agreed, to a point. The FED, as designed and operated today, is one of the main generators of our severe and worsening disparity and class-disconnect. Suggested reading:
https://www.amazon.com/Engine-Inequality-Future-Wealth-America/dp/1119726743/
U.S. campaign finance laws are one of the other primary generators of this consuming social cancer.
A third is regulatory capture — banking and the financialization of, well, everything — which ultimately circles back to the FED — privatizing profits while socializing losses.
Further suggested reading:
https://www.amazon.com/Big-Myth-American-Business-Government/dp/1635573572
Dana OHara Smith says
Ryan- great job on providing this info!
Ryan Lundquist says
Thank you Dana. Appreciate it.
Debbie Olson says
Wow. Certainly Sobering and Concerning to see it in Black and White. Thanks for your unwavering commitment to share the most accurate information.
Ryan Lundquist says
Thank you Debbie. Yeah, it’s stunning to see. Very different than talking about this academically.
Jane Gray says
There have been numerous articles about how Wall Street try the same approach as managing stock (which doesn’t require fixing leaking toilets or mold, etc.) to managing their rental properties. They don’t have a very good reputation. It also hurts first time home buyers to have less housing stock to purchase from. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/07/12/invitation-homes-corporate-landlord-permits/ Thanks Ryan for the interactive map and bravo on looking for the address versus all their dba’s! Pretty interesting!
Ryan Lundquist says
Thanks Jane. I appreciate you. Yeah, I wish I would’ve thought of this years ago. It was actually fascinating to find over 50 DBAs in Sacramento alone. No wonder why they’ve been nearly impossible to track. Thanks for the link.
Helen says
Investors are controlling the market. I’m seeing pushback from towns that are now prohibiting STR , making theses properties less profitable and less attractive. At what point will they dump them? Will they cut their asking prices and run?
Ryan Lundquist says
Thank Helen. It probably varies from market to market. Laws really do matter, and changes to laws regarding short-term rentals can be particularly motivating for some investors to list their homes. Yet, the investors doing Airbnb might have a back-up plan too. I know someone who bought in a saturated Airbnb market, and now the property is being converted to a long-term rental. The best investors often have more than one plan, but clearly there are some people who only have one plan. I don’t see a company like Invitation Homes dumping properties. They have a well-oiled machine as a business as a property manager. Of course, I don’t know their plans, but I’ve watched them sell very few units through the years. They are in a position of advantage right now with massive equity and large rental gains since so many of these units were acquired.
On a related note, there was a startup in the past two years that was seeking to buy homes and then sell them privately to tenants. I’m curious to see what happens in that space too.
Cheryl Waybright says
Hi Ryan…I am a real estate agent in Central Florida and we are overloaded with Invitation Homes rentals. Some neighborhoods they own 1/3 of the homes. If you have any suggestions I would really love to know how to find that information for Florida.
Ryan Lundquist says
Hi Cheryl. Thanks for reaching out. I’ve heard they own quite a few in Florida. I’m assuming you have access to Tax Records, so here’s my advice:
1) Look up one property you know they own, and see if there is a listed tax billing address. If so, it’s likely going to be an address in Texas for their HQ (1717 Main St #2000 in Dallas to be precise).
UPDATED COMMENT: Invitation Homes merged with Starwood Waypoint, and I was able to find nearly 1,600 extra units in California with the Starwood Waypoint HQ in Arizona. There might still be more (I think there are). Anyway, I would do thee search above with this address too: 8665 E Hartford Dr #200 (Scottsdale, AZ).
2) On that note, see if you can search in Tax Records by this tax billing address. In Realist locally it’s not possible to search that way as a default, but I can customize the search to include this extra field. If you can do that too, then hopefully you can locate these properties.
Let me know if that helps or if you need some clarity. Getting the data is the first part, and then visualizing it can happen later.
Jeb Smith says
Great Info, Ryan. I appreciate you sharing. It’s pretty clear in looking closer at the map that they were focusing on more “affordable” areas especially when I look at SoCal. There’s only 1 house in my market (Huntington Beach) but as you go inland and north to South LA County, there are a lot more and typically those are more affordable areas where rents are still pretty good.
Ryan Lundquist says
Thank you Jeb. I appreciate hearing your SoCal perspective. I wonder how that one lone ranger in HB happened too. Haha. Similar vibes here in Sacramento where they avoided some high-priced areas, avoided some other neighborhoods on purpose seemingly, and seemed to focus primarily on 3 to 4-bedroom units in markets with lots of rental demand.
Phil says
Wow! How in the world did you map this many homes? Did you write some code or is there a bulk upload I’m not aware of?
Thanks
Ryan Lundquist says
It’s a trade secret. I cannot divulge. Haha. Kidding. No, I had to search tax records for each county and simply export. Thankfully this goes into Excel. There were definitely steps involved, and it was tedious, but this wasn’t a one property at a time situation thankfully. It wasn’t instant though either.
Matt says
Fantastic post, Ryan! I follow your posts religiously and you do not disappoint. I’ve known about the Invitation footprint in the greater Sacramento area for years now but to see it on your map graphs is staggering…In terms of market share, it reminds me of that foreign investor who offloaded a few hundred homes I believe in the early 1990’s in Sacramento after serving his tenants 30 days notice to vacate. After the local uproar, the investor delayed having the tenants vacate, but then still ended up liquidating his portfolio. I was young at the time so my memory is foggy but is any of this ringing a bell, Ryan, or am I way off base? Regardless, it’s not good when any investor entity owns a large share of single family rentals in any given area.
Ryan Lundquist says
Thank you Matt. I appreciate it, and I relate to the sentiment. It’s one thing to be aware of stats, but another thing to see it visually. I don’t recall the exact details of that, but there was something to that effect. If I remember correctly, there were many homes in Antelope. I’ve been told about this a few times, but it’s been many years since I’ve thought about it. I’m going to email someone who will know. I’ll report back if I hear something. And agreed. The game of Monopoly isn’t very fun when one person owns too much, and it seems like real estate is the same way in the real world.
George Brown says
Hi Ryan,
A big concern is the idea that if one of these large funds sees a significant downturn coming in the Ca. housing market, they might decide to divest and that could start a race to shed single family housing prior to additional loss of capital. It’s never a good scenario. As I responded to your email, locally in the 90’s in Sacramento it was Genshiro Kawamoto who bought entire subdivisions from builders as part of a massive flow of capital from Japanese investors flush with money in California and Hawaii. In the early to mid 90’s they divested billions of dollars in real estate here in Ca., exacerbating an already supply dominated market and causing prices to fall further.
Ryan Lundquist says
I knew you would know the history. Thank you for pitching in George. I appreciate your expertise.
Brian Hankins says
Interesting information. I appreciate your work.
Here’s a link to the Top REITs – Residential that if you haven’t pulled before you may find informational.
https://finance.yahoo.com/industry/reit_residential
Ryan Lundquist says
Thank you so much Brian.
Kyle Paquin says
I may be the only one with this opinion but large investors like Invitation Homes were the ones who saved the market back in 2010-2012 by creating a price floor to buoy buyers back into the game. As long as these large investors are actually providing a good experience for their tenants, I have no issue with them buying up homes and renting them out. Not everyone can afford a home and well-maintained rentals are needed in all areas.
Ryan Lundquist says
Thanks Kyle. I appreciate the opinion. We have to realize there is a place for investors in the market, and this is a loaded conversation too. I’ve talked for hours with people over the past two days, and I think people have different takes depending on their position in life also. Often in real estate there is a bias toward owning, so it’s easy to not see things from the perspective of a tenant who might look at more rentals as a plus. In contrast, the buying side only sees the negative of lower supply for buyers. Thus, it’s been pretty interesting to see different reactions to this data I pushed out.
The only thing I would split hairs over is Invitation Homes didn’t start purchasing until mid-2012 in Sacramento, and the market was already on its way to healing at that time. For instance, REOs were nearly 73% of the market in Sac County in Q1 2009, but they were 30% in Q2 2012.
Ultimately, I would say Invitation Homes played a role in helping the market heal from the pain of the foreclosure crisis, but the real “investor saviors” so to speak were those who did the heavy lifting in 2009 through 2011. Of course, one of the things we have to concede too is there were buyers for these properties that Invitation Homes bought, but Invitation Homes very quickly basically bought all they could in a very short period of time on both MLS and the court steps. So, yes they helped, but they also just gobbled up the market, and it felt very unnatural to flex cash like that.
So, yes, they were part of the solution, but I don’t want to give too much credit here because there is some context to consider in my opinion.
Thanks Kyle. I really like this take. I’m glad you said something, and I agree to an extent. I’d love to hear what others think.
Sherry says
Wow, that’s interesting you wrote on Invitation Homes because my next door neighbor is renting a home owned by them. It was really neat using the map, thanks for sharing that. I can’t believe how many homes they own! It’s really sad because my neighbor has shared with me that they would love to purchase the home but Invitation Homes will not sell it. It’s surprising to me that with how many homes they own, they can’t sell one? They are a great family too that would love to own the home.
Ryan Lundquist says
Thanks for sharing. Yeah, it’s really stunning to see this. I’m still blown away when looking at the map. Yeah, not a shocker that they won’t sell. I really haven’t seen them sell much at all besides some non-performing assets. Just a few. Yet, whenever they do list something, we often hear, “Bro, the flood is coming.” And it just hasn’t. Thanks again.
Ryan Lundquist says
One more thing. I mentioned foreclosures, but I do want to say something else for the sake of context and objectivity. An improvement we saw post-2012 was a dramatic change in the number of short sales. Lenders were getting better at doing them finally (lenders sucked at this in 2009). Basically, the peak of short sales was 2013 locally. So, on this level, Invitation Homes did come into the market when short sales were about to climax, and I have to think they played a role in helping these properties go away. After the investor gut of the market from 2012 through 2013, short sales were only about 10% of sales in early 2014. So, here’s the best way to say it. Yes, Invitation Homes played a role. Bank-owned sales were already more than trimmed in half, but short sales hadn’t peaked yet in 2012.
Truett Neathery says
How about the homes owned by the Zillow-connected company ?
Ryan Lundquist says
Not sure if there is a different company you have in mind, but Zillow exited completely after announcing failure as an iBuyer in 2021. Sold everything. Redfin exited as an iBuyer in 2022. Opendoor owns just over 40 units in Sacramento right now. They used to routinely own over 300, but then 2022 happened and altered their business model. They’ve basically dealt with carnage, and they’re trying to pivot. Their numbers have been increasing lately, so there is progress on their end.
Owen says
Hi Ryan, do you know their business model with these homes? I assume they do little to no rehab and rent them out. But wouldn’t the debt service force them to operate at a loss unless they are paying cash? Are rents strong enough to support this scale of ownership in Sacramento?
Ryan Lundquist says
Hi Owen. They are managing all of these properties. They have a well-oiled machine to look after this many. I can’t speak to what they did with every unit, but they did a ton of cosmetic work to many units in 2012 and 2013. Home prices and rents have grown exponentially since most of their acquisitions, so they are sitting on a ton of growth. There has been a real need for more rentals, so they have likely been doing very well. Here’s a post I wrote about rents earlier in the year (and rents have rebounded some this spring). https://sacramentoappraisalblog.com/2023/01/24/its-not-just-home-prices-rents-are-dropping-too/ And here’s a link from Apartment List that shows Sacramento only. So much growth in recent years especially. https://www.apartmentlist.com/rent-report/ca/sacramento
One thing to keep in mind is the median price in early 2012 in Sacramento County was $160K, so many of these properties were dirt cheap so to speak. I may do some follow-up analysis on acquisition price if I can get the stats (very possible, but we’ll see how tedious it is). Keep in mind they also tended to focus on 3 and 4-bedroom units, so they bought properties theoretically that are in high demand as rentals. I may follow up with actual stats on that too.
Keta says
Wow, just wow. Without knowing anything more than the locations of those properties one clearly sees a story of exploitation and blight. Thank you, Ryan.
Ryan Lundquist says
Thanks Keta. It’s wild to see. These companies have been very successful to date in implementing their strategy.
Michael Weiss says
Great article. However, pricing of most everything in our world is based on supply and demand. There is limited supply of housing in relation to the demand. With such a high concentration of work in a limited number of cities, gives way for upward pressure on housing prices. If work were spread out and away from the cities, land is cheaper, thus lower housing costs. But will people live in more remote areas is another question! Will companies establish themselves in more remote areas? I don’t think they will.
Ryan Lundquist says
Thanks Michael. Yeah, you are likely right. These companies are targeting areas with high rental demand and economic strength.
Alessandra says
Are these REITs?
Ryan Lundquist says
Invitation Homes is a REIT.
LeMel says
More and more, I’m becoming convinced that shelter should not be an investment vehicle at all. In fact, no basic human need (water, air, food) should be an asset class. The current schema bore a lot of fruit re: building personal family wealth (red-lining notwithstanding), but it’s clearly time for fundamental adjustments to the model.
Wonderful work, and great job making it clear for non-experts like me (listening on Forum). I’ll definitely be following this work.
Ryan Lundquist says
Thanks so much. Appreciate it.
Nikole says
Wow. I stumbled upon your article after thinking about an acquaintance here in Santa Barbara who sold his house to a corporation. Personally I was frustrated by his decision when our inventory of homes here in SB is in the dumps. I was curious how many homes are owned by corporations and REIT’s in our area and your article popped up.
Honestly, it’s depressing to see this map. Especially when so many of my friends here in SB can’t purchase a home here, I can only imagine what it’s like in other neighboring cities. Ironically during covid/post covid our town saw a big influx of folks from the bay which really drove up our prices.
But bringing it home was to read another commenter’s story posted above of how her neighbor rents from Invitation Homes and wants to purchase the home but they are not interested is frankly just sad.
I have no idea who the corporation that bought my friend’s home is, but I’ll try to track down that information. I’m wildly curious now.
Thank you for time working on this project and sharing it with the wider community.
Ryan Lundquist says
Thank you Nikole. I appreciate hearing your take. Yeah, it’s sobering when seeing the map.