January 10, 2026
Executive Summary
America's housing affordability crisis is fundamentally a supply problem. The U.S. faces a shortage of 3-4 million homes, driven by nearly two decades of underbuilding, population growth, and reduced housing turnover as existing owners stay in place.
Following the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, single-family housing starts collapsed—falling below 500,000 annually—and have only briefly returned to historical norms. This persistent underproduction, combined with higher mortgage rates and rising ownership costs (taxes, insurance, maintenance), has pushed homeownership out of reach for many Americans. Today, owning a median home costs nearly $1,000 more per month than renting.
At the same time, access to homeownership has narrowed. Nearly half of U.S. adults lack viable access to a mortgage, due to credit constraints and tighter lending standards. Borrowers with high credit scores now dominate mortgage approvals, leaving millions of working families dependent on rental housing.
Single-family rentals play a critical role in bridging this gap. Renting allows families to live in quality homes near schools, jobs, and amenities while building credit through on-time rent payments—often serving as a stepping stone toward future homeownership.
Private capital is part of the solution, not the problem. Institutional investors own less than 4% of single-family homes, yet their capital helps finance, build, and preserve high-quality rental housing—much of which would not exist otherwise. As banks have reduced lending to homebuilders by roughly 50% over the past 20 years, private capital has stepped in to fill the financing gap.
Through lending and liquidity support, private investors are enabling builders to construct new housing at scale, recycle capital, and accelerate supply growth—directly addressing the root cause of the housing crisis.
Source: Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7415520496064110593/?originTrackingId=G7z%2FcUO%2B4zL1bMROL2pnXw%3D%3D