A few months after Fannie Mae inked a $1 billion financing deal with Invitation Homes, one of the nation’s largest rental home companies, fellow government-controlled mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac is looking to follow suit.
The New York Times reports that Freddie Mac intends to provide tens of millions of dollars to midsize landlords that operate 50,000 rental homes across 13 markets.
There are about 17 million homes being rented in the U.S. this year, up from 11 million in 2008. Invitation Homes controls 300,000 rentals.
The vast majority of rentals are still managed by mom-and-pop operators who own a small number of homes. And Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have long provided financing to small investors. But financing has been hard to come by for nonprofit housing groups and midsize investor landlords who have had to rely mainly on private-equity-backed firms for financing.