Single-Family REITs and Local Housing Markets

Marco Giacoletti, Rawley Heimer, Wenli Li and Edison Yu

No 25-37, Working Papers from Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

Abstract: We study the rise of single-family real estate investment trusts (SF-REITs) using a novel property-level dataset. SF-REITs tend to buy homes in neighborhoods near city centers, where housing supply is relatively elastic and residents are on the lower rungs of the homeownership ladder. Exploiting spatial differences, we find that SF-REIT growth modestly raises prices and increases overall housing supply, with individual ownership rising at a similar rate. However, we find no evidence that SF-REITs reduce house purchase financing accessibility—mortgage approval rates and borrower credit profiles remain unchanged. Overall, institutional landlords have had a limited impact on access to homeownership.

Keywords: REITs; House Prices; Homeownership; Institutional Investors (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 60
Date: 2025-11-13
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DOI: 10.21799/frbp.wp.2025.37

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