05/15/2026
BTR Relief is Sight
The House of Representatives finally released its reconciliation version of the 21st Century Road to Housing Act, which has stripped out a provision that would require build-to-rent owners to sell to individual homeowners after seven years.
The mere threat of the restricted hold time has paralyzed the BTR industry over the past two months since the Senate passed its version of the bill, with lenders and investors alike refusing to act when their exit strategies could be obliterated.
Developers and affordable housing advocates were united in their opposition to the provision, which was seen as a death knell for an industry that has become a growing force for new housing supply. While multifamily development has screeched to a 15-year low, BTR construction grew 455% from 2019 to 2024. It still accounted for only 7% of single-family groundbreakings last year, with 69,000 starts.
The White House released new estimates last month indicating that the U.S. is short at least 10 million single-family homes, an escalation from previous estimates. The report attributed the shortage to a steep falloff in construction since the Global Financial Crisis.
The new version of the housing bill still prohibits institutional owners with at least 350 homes from buying existing single-family houses, but it narrows which properties qualify for the ban and adds exceptions, including for manufactured homes, traditional single-family houses that have always been rentals, and neglected properties that don’t meet living standards.
It also created 12 community banking provisions to lighten the regulatory load on housing lenders, mirroring a Federal Reserve effort to loosen capital requirements for smaller lenders.
The House aims to push the bill through next week under a suspension of rules, which streamlines the process but requires a two-thirds majority vote, and then the Senate would take it back up.
— Catie Dixon, Managing Editor BISNOW
An amended version of the Senate’s 21st Century Road to Housing Act released by senior House lawmakers removes forced-sale provisions for BTR operators.
