Nearly 46% of the 49.5 million rental housing units in the United States are located in rental properties with one to four units. This is just one of the findings from the latest Rental Housing Finance Survey from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Census Bureau. Of these small rental properties, 70%, or 15.9 million, are owned by individual investors, and over one-third, or 8.1 million, have a mortgage or similar debt.
“The Rental Housing Finance Survey provides insight on the financial, managerial, and physical characteristics of rental properties nationwide,” said Solomon Greene, principal deputy secretary for policy development and research at HUD. “Given that the survey was in the field during 2021, it will help the administration to better understand how rental property owners responded to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The HUD-funded survey is collected every three years by the Census Bureau. It includes national-level findings among the 19.3 million rental properties and their 49.5 million units. Highlights include:
- Approximately 86% of all rental properties include only one rental unit;
- About one-third of all rental units are in properties with one rental unit, while another one-third are in properties with 150 or more units;
- About 70% of rental properties, which represent 38% of all rental units, are owned by individual investors; 15% of rental properties, which represent 40% of all rental units, are owned by limited liability corporations or partnerships;
- For properties that include 150 or more units, 67% are owned by limited liability corporations or partnerships;
- 84% of properties with 150 or more units are managed professionally, while only about 22% of small rental properties with one to four units are managed professionally;
- The median monthly rental receipt per unit is $1,000 compared with $750 in the prior 2018 survey;
- The median monthly operating expense, excluding debt service, is $380 per rental unit;
- The median estimated market value per unit is $175,000;
- The median purchase price per rental unit, not adjusted for inflation, is $99,000;
- About 76% of property owners reported making some type of capital improvement to their property in 2020; and
- Owners annually spend a median $840 per unit on capital improvements.
