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MortgagePoint » Your Trusted Source for Mortgage Banking and Servicing News 26 April 2025 C O V E R S T O R Y What's Ahead for SFR? T he first few months of 2025 have been turbulent ones, driven by mas- sive changes in Washington, D.C., driven by the returning President Trump, who has prioritized hugely impactful shifts such as a widespread crackdown on im- migration and deportation enforcement, downsizing of government agencies, and tariffs levied against numerous other countries, the full economic weight of which remains to be seen. While the dust still needs to settle before it will be apparent what all this will mean long- term for both the housing market and the SFR space, there's no question that these factors will shape the landscape for the remainder of the year, and possi- bly beyond. Elsey notes that Trump's tariffs and immigration policies "could lengthen tenant turn times and substantially increase costs of capital items like appliances and mechanical equipment produced outside the U.S. Labor rates may increase as well due to a reduction in the number of workers available to perform the work. These costs would, of course, be passed along to the consumer in the form of higher rental rates." Elsey also notes that several bills in Congress are designed to "some- what throttle the SFR industry." Elsey explains that "they cover everything from limiting the number of homes an institution may own to outright bans on institutional ownership of single-family residential properties." Elsey says he doesn't expect these bills to gain much traction, however, "as they do nothing to increase the number of available homes and could actually make the supply of available homes worse than it is now." He adds that the creation of Build- to-Rent communities—entire neigh- borhoods constructed as single-family homes strictly for rent—provides a low- er-cost alternative for families to enjoy the benefits of a new home without the hurdle of current high interest rates. Looking further down the road, Elsey speculates that issues such as tar- iffs, inflation, and ongoing high interest rates "could lead to stagnant portfolio growth, reduced rent rolls, and higher costs for tenant turns and general main- tenance." He adds, "I don't foresee any of these being overly impactful, but they are risks just the same." In such an uncertain time, SFR investors will rely even more on the stability and responsiveness of partners such as Safeguard. "The institutional SFR industry has become a major provider of the benefits of homeownership without the burden of costly maintenance," Elsey says. "It also provides flexibility of mobility for work or other life requirements without the un- due stress of selling a home to enable it. Safeguard provides the services needed to maintain the earning potential of a port- folio of properties with the same swiftness and professionalism it is renowned for in the preservation industry." "The institutional SFR industry has become a major provider of the benefits of homeownership without the burden of costly maintenance." —John Elsey, VP of Single-Family Rental, Safeguard