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MortgagePoint » Your Trusted Source for Mortgage Banking and Servicing News 32 May 2025 C O V E R S T O R Y capital to make sure that housing is available for those who need it the most. Institutions are committed to provid- ing long-term quality, dependable, single-family rental housing. They're committed to investing in their homes, they're committed to working with resi- dents, to caring for their residents. They bring a lot of innovation to the business of single-family rental housing. The business of single-family rental housing has also been around forever, but it's always existed in this gray space between owner-occupied housing and apartment living. What institutions have done is they've helped to define what has traditionally been a middle ground in the housing market, this world of single-family rentals that has been dominated by small, local, mom- and-pop owners and investors. What institutions have done is, through their scale, through their access to capital, through their ability to direct capital to certain markets, they've brought a lot of innovation and new forms of technology to the business of managing single-fami- ly rental homes. For decades, people rented homes the same way that they did 50 years ago. The things that institutions bring to the market are new ways of doing business and new ways of managing portfolios of single-family rental homes. That's an important part of the puzzle that a lot of people don't see. But the reality is, you miss a lot of what's happening on the ground, what's happening in the neighborhoods, what's happening in the communities. We know, for exam- ple, that our members who tend to be larger companies in the industry invest $30,000 on average in every home that they purchase—in new windows and landscaping and ways to fix up the property. The average homeowner, for comparison, invests about $9,000 in the homes that they purchase. All of this goes to improve the properties, improve the resident experience, and raise property values throughout the neighborhood. That's something the institutions don't get enough credit for, to be honest. Q: How do you respond to criticisms sometimes leveled at institutional investors, such as that they're competing with homebuyers for already limited affordable housing stock? Howard: It's a good question. To some degree, this has been one of those issues that have gotten mixed up in a lot of different, seemingly unrelated issues that have impacted the economy and the world of policy over the past few years, and COVID-19, frankly, had a lot to do with that. At the beginning of COVID-19, there was a lot of focus on big compa- nies, whether they were in the housing market, whether it was Big Tech, whether it was Big Oil, whether it was Big This or Big That. All of a sudden, big was bad. Institutions in the rental housing space, both multifamily and single-family, got wrapped up in that. People like to have a villain. And there's always been this us-versus-them mentality when it comes to renters and landlords and property owners. And look, some landlords out there are not doing the right thing. We do a lot with our members to en- sure that they're focused on the resident experience, property management, and "For decades, people rented homes the same way that they did 50 years ago. The things that institutions bring to the market are new ways of doing business and new ways of managing portfolios of single-family rental homes. " —David Howard, CEO, National Rental Home Council