Build-to-Rent
Single-family living, built for the rental market
Build-to-rent communities address a structural gap between what renters want and what the housing market supplies — purpose-built for long-term tenancy, not eventual sale.
housing demand
Built for Family Office Capital
The U.S. housing market has failed to build enough units to meet household formation for over a decade. Build-to-rent sits at the intersection of this shortfall and a structural change in how renters relate to homeownership.
3.9M
Units below what household formation requires, per the National Association of Realtors
39K
Single-family BTR homes delivered in 2024 — a record — still a fraction of the gap
49%
Of U.S. renter households cost-burdened in 2024 — a record high for the fourth consecutive year
Why traditional apartment supply doesn't fill it
The housing demand shortfall is not simply a shortage of units — it is a shortage of the right kind of units. Renters priced out of ownership are not looking for high-density urban apartments. They are looking for the space, privacy, and yard access of a single-family home.
Conventional multifamily cannot serve this product preference. Build-to-rent was purpose-engineered to close that gap, delivering single-family-style communities with the professional management and operating structure of institutional apartment investment.
Where BTR fits in the capital stack
For institutional allocators, BTR occupies a differentiated position: necessity-driven demand at the product level (renters who cannot afford to buy) combined with single-family-style construction (typically lower density, suburban, lower operating complexity than large apartment communities).
The result is a demand profile more resilient to discretionary pullback than luxury apartments, with tenant tenure and income durability that underpins the investment thesis across rate cycles.
sources
1. National Association of Realtors, “Housing Is Critical Infrastructure: Social and Economic Benefits of Building More Housing,” 2021.
2. Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, “Housing Unaffordability Soared to New Highs in 2024,” February 2026. Tabulations of U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 1-Year PUMS Estimates. Cost-burdened defined as spending more than 30% of income on housing.
3. Yardi Matrix, single-family BTR delivery data, full-year 2024.
Strategies · Build-to-Rent
55%
of BTR demand is driven by Millennials
The largest renter cohort in U.S. history is aging into a life stage that demands more space, private outdoor access, and proximity to school districts — without the financial commitment homeownership currently requires.
This is not a transitional demographic. It is a structurally locked-out one: household formation is occurring, children are arriving, but mortgage qualification rates and down payment requirements have extended the renting window by years, sometimes permanently.
Demand By Renter Cohort
Millennials
55%
Ages 28–43. Household formation peak. Family-stage living requirements.
Gen Z
48%
Ages 18–27. Entering rental market with preference for space and flexibility over urban density.
Gen X / Boomer
28%
Downsizing or relocating without re-entering the purchase market.
sources
1. National Association of Realtors, “Housing Is Critical Infrastructure: Social and Economic Benefits of Building More Housing,” 2021.
2. Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, “Housing Unaffordability Soared to New Highs in 2024,” February 2026. Tabulations of U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 1-Year PUMS Estimates. Cost-burdened defined as spending more than 30% of income on housing.
3. Yardi Matrix, single-family BTR delivery data, full-year 2024.
Suburban Migration
Where Demand Is Going & Why It's Staying
Remote and hybrid work has permanently altered where renters choose to live. Migration out of high-cost urban cores into Sun Belt suburbs has created concentrated, durable demand in corridors where land is available and lifestyle infrastructure — schools, retail, employment nodes — is accessible without urban density.
These are not emerging markets. They are the same metros Viking Capital has operated in for over a decade, where the demographic and economic tailwinds that drove multifamily performance are now extending into the BTR product type.
The markets that drove Sun Belt multifamily for a decade are now driving Sun Belt BTR.
Driver 01
Remote Work Permanence
Hybrid and fully remote arrangements have decoupled employment location from residential location for a material share of the workforce, enabling suburban relocation without career sacrifice.
Driver 02
Urban Affordability Pressure
Renters leaving high-cost coastal markets bring income levels that support Sun Belt BTR rents while still representing a significant monthly savings relative to their origin market.
Driver 03
Family-Stage Infrastructure
Suburban school districts, yard access, and lower density are not amenity preferences for BTR’s primary renter — they are requirements. Migration patterns reinforce BTR demand specifically, not apartment demand generally.
Driver 04
Sun Belt Job Creation
Employment growth across Atlanta, Dallas, Nashville, and surrounding metros continues to diversify beyond any single sector, underpinning income stability within the BTR tenant base.