Renters have more options than ever these days. You can lease a micro-unit that packs a kitchen, bathroom and sleep space into 200 square feet or a grand mansion on sprawling acres of land, or anything in between. That bounty of choices helps keep rent prices competitive at every tier of the rental market. At Invitation Homes we pay very close attention to that rental market because it helps us determine the rents our residents will pay. Even though we are the largest single-family home leasing company in the United States, our rents are driven by the same market forces that set rates for all rental units in a particular area. Most of our homes are concentrated in quickly growing areas of the country along the sunbelt from the Southeast to the Southwest, and up the West Coast. The population growth in these desired locations puts upward pressure on rental rates because more people means higher demand for quality homes.
Market Factors
We work hard to ensure our rents conform to the market rates in the 17 locations where we operate. We rely on much of the same public data other renters check to determine rates. And we compare our homes to similar properties in each location to ensure we offer competitive rates. Because we operate in high-growth markets, competition is serious. Despite our relative size, we have very little power to influence the market. Invitation Homes represents just a sliver of the single-family rental market – less than one half of 1 percent of the nation’s 16 million single-family rental homes. And we’re even a smaller piece of the overall rental market – about 1/10th of one percent. Even in areas where our properties are more concentrated, we still own a small fraction of the rental units available.
The High Quality of Our Homes Matters
We also consider the value proposition that Invitation Homes brings to any rental relationship. As one example, Invitation Homes is able to provide around-the-clock service to our residents. Residents can submit service requests 24/7 via our call center and online portal, and we have hundreds of professionals in the field dedicated to quickly responding to resident needs. More often than not, our homes are among the nicest in the neighborhood. We have invested an average of about $22,000 into each property up front. These investments ensure our residents are leasing a high-quality, move-in ready home.
Stats Speak for Themselves
On average, our residents remain in our homes about three years, which is twice as long as most people stay in a multi-unit rental property. Further, roughly 70 percent of our residents renew their leases. In part due to this high renewal rate, we maintain about 96 percent occupancy. The renewal rates and high occupancy are a testament to the excellent service we provide our residents. Though we are always seeking to better serve our residents, we believe that our numbers related to resident satisfaction speak for themselves. Year-to-date, our residents have given Invitation Homes an average satisfaction score of 4.3 out of 5 across the thousands of surveys the company regularly circulates to gauge our performance. We believe that these strong numbers reflect the fact that our residents recognize that Invitation Homes offers them a quality housing option and a fair deal. To view available homes, visit InvitationHomes.com .