'The single-family operators are looking for new supply,' said Lipar, who declined to name the companies buying from the builder. Lipar said the sales represent a small percentage of the company's overall business, but he expects the number of sales to grow. Net profits on what the company calls its wholesale business are similar to the retail side, he said. In Houston, the homes were in the Cypress area.ĬEO Eric Lipar said the homes are generally sold at a discount to retail prices because the builder is able to save on selling and administrative expenses. In the third quarter, the company sold and closed 96 homes to single-family-rental operators in four states, including Texas. LGI Homes, an entry-level builder based in The Woodlands, launched a program this year to sell some of it to rental companies. Now some of the larger rental companies are starting to offer newly built homes. That's a 2.8 percent increase from a year earlier. Houston's average single-family home leased for $1,776 per month in October, data from the realty association show. On the high end, it offers a five-bedroom brick and stone home in Sugar Land for $2,950. National companies such as Starwood Waypoint Homes and American Homes 4 Rent have robust local and statewide operations.Īmerican Homes 4 Rent lists dozens of suburban rentals on its website, including a two-story home with three bedrooms in Humble priced at $1,250 per month.

In recent years, large institutional investors have been buying big clusters of homes to rent.

Until the last few years, single-family home rentals were owned largely by small, local investors or individual homeowners who couldn't sell their properties and rented them instead. Now the market for single-family rentals is underserved.Īs the need has grown, more landlords are getting in the business. I think the great recession took a big toll on people already on the edge,' said Tirey 'Ty' Counts, a real estate agent who specializes in rentals.Ĭompounding the problem is a dearth of homes priced for the first-time buyer.Īs Houston's economy boomed in recent years, single-family home prices spiked 45 percent from 2012, said David Jarvis, senior vice president with John Burns Real Estate Consulting. 'I have so many people call me with low credit, a broken lease or they had a bankruptcy. Millennials are often saddled with student debt. They may not have a down payment or high enough credit scores to qualify for a mortgage. While a portion of the new renters don't have any intention of buying in Houston, many others would like to own but can't. Through October of this year, renters signed leases on 30,617 homes. Last year, Houstonians rented 30,166 single-family homes, a 14 percent increase over 2012, data from the Houston Association of Realtors show. Some of the new demand is from residents displaced by Hurricane Harvey, but the numbers were growing even before the storm. 'There's a surprisingly large number in the suburbs.' 'We've seen a precipitous rise in that single-family rental market,' housing analyst Scott Davis said. The movement is taking hold in outlying neighborhoods across the area from Pearland to The Woodlands. 'We wanted to be sure the kids were happy and we liked the area,' Stacey Connor, 34, said. Suburbia, often associated with for-sale signs, mortgages and homeowner associations, is increasingly becoming a place for renters. Their four-bedroom home has many of the things they were looking for: a large living area and a yard for their two dogs.īut unlike most of their neighbors who own their homes, the Connors rent.

When Stacey and Cliff Connor decided to move to Houston be closer to family and expand their mattress-selling business, they found a nice house in a far northern suburb with playgrounds, walking trails and good schools for their five kids. ( Melissa Phillip / Houston Chronicle ) Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle Show More Show Less Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle Show More Show Less 2 of2 Cliff Conner, left, and Stacey Conner with their children, Grace, 11, sitting left, Isaac, 9, Shepard, 8, Cliff, 6, and Kelley, 4, right, as they play outside the home they rent in Spring Wednesday, Nov. 1 of2 Cliff Conner, second from left, and Stacey Conner with their children, Shepard, 8, left, Grace, 11, Cliff, 6, Isaac, 9, and Kelley, 4, right, as they play outside the home they rent in Spring.

Suburbia game houses