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☆ Why Builders Are Renting Out New Houses Instead of Cutting Home Prices
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-13 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Builders, meanwhile, are luring buyers with some perks but are barely budging on prices. That's partly because these companies have another place to turn: the rental market. Opportunistic investors — mostly small and midsize players, who own the vast majority of single-family rentals in the country — are happy to oblige. Builders have also started developing entire communities of single-family homes to be rented out rather than sold, a strategy known as build-for-rent. Their embrace of the rental market says more about the obstacles for buyers than for builders.

Persons: homebuilders, John Burns, Keith Hughes, —, Horton, Don Mullen, they've, Adam Stern, Sean Morgan, Alex Offutt, Ray Sturm, Sturm, Selma Hepp, It's Organizations: John Burns Research, Consulting, Builders, John, Houston, Owners, SFR, Sun, Dallas, Local, Business Purpose, Offutt Locations: Tampa , Florida, Carolinas, Nashville, Horton

☆ Average homebuyers are beating out Wall Street landlords
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

The shutdowns of 2020 created a perfect storm for the housing market — and supercharged the clash between Wall Street and regular homebuyers. Given the attention these markets received during the pandemic, it's no wonder that the battle between Wall Street and Main Street became the dominant story of COVID-era homebuying. Advertisement"If Wall Street was really gobbling up Main Street," Sharga told me, "we would see homeownership rates go down." Wall Street landlords have also been increasingly selling off homes to regular people, a Business Insider analysis found. Still circlingWhile average homebuyers have staged a comeback over the past three years, Wall Street isn't ready to jump out of the housing market altogether.

Persons: homebuyers, That's, Wall, elbowed, Rick Sharga, CJ Patrick Company, they're, who've, Axios, Sharga, CoreLogic, Pretium —, John Voorheis, Voorheis, —, Freddie Mac, James Rodriguez Organizations: Rage, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Parcl Labs, Labs, National Association of Realtors, Wall Street, Investor, Wall, Tricon, Associates, Investors, Center for Economic Studies, Census Locations: Phoenix, Chicago, homebuilders, homeownership, Dallas, Charlotte, North Carolina, Atlanta

An advertising board is seen during the first demonstration of the technology 5G in Lisbon, Portugal June 4, 2018. The review by the banks, including Lazard, BNP Paribas, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, will involve some of Altice's major assets in the region, including SFR, France's second-biggest telecoms group, the person said. Altice, Morgan Stanley and BNP declined to comment, while spokespeople for Lazard and Goldman Sachs weren't immediately available for comment. Drahi told investors in August he felt "shocked" and "betrayed" by the ongoing corruption probe in Portugal, which led to the suspension of fifteen employees in Portugal, France and the United States and dozens of suppliers. Altice is already close to a deal to sell its data centres in France to Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, French newspaper Les Echos reported on Wednesday.

Persons: Rafael Marchante, Altice, Lazard, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, France's, Goldman Sachs weren't, Patrick Drahi, Armando Pereira, Drahi, Les Echos, Mathieu Rosemain, Sharon Singleton Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, BNP, Lazard, Altice, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners, Thomson Locations: Lisbon, Portugal, Dominican Republic, Altice France, France, United States

A guest speaks on a mobile phone as she arrives for the French telecoms operator Iliad's media conference in Milan, Italy, May 29, 2018. REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsAug 30 (Reuters) - French telecom provider Iliad reported a more than 4% rise in half-year core profit on Wednesday, supported by gains across markets and the expansion of its activities in Italy. Telecommunications companies across Europe have been hit by rising energy prices, infrastructure costs to deploy fibre and 5G coverage, and a slowdown in subscriber growth. The group remains on the lookout for potential acquisitions in Italy after its 2022 Vodafone bid was rejected, he said. ($1 = 0.9204 euros)Reporting by Stéphanie Hamel and Victor Goury-Laffont in Gdansk; Editing by Milla NissiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Stefano Rellandini, Thomas Raynaud, Raynaud, Stéphanie Hamel, Victor Goury, Milla Nissi Organizations: REUTERS, French, Orange, Telecommunications, Free Mobile, U.S, Telecom Italia's, Vodafone, Thomson Locations: Milan, Italy, France, Poland, Europe, Laffont, Gdansk

Assets will be sold within Altice France or outside France to repay debt, Drahi told investors on a conference call. "(The aims is) to raise, one way or another, 3 billion (euros) of equity, plus or minus," Drahi said. Altice France's net leverage ratio at end of June was 6.3 times its yearly core operating profits. Altice France's net debt was close to 24 billion euros at the end of June, up from 23.6 billion at end of March, the group said. Total earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell to 1.02 billion euros from 1.08 billion euros a year earlier.

Persons: Patrick Drahi, Philippe Wojazer, Drahi, Dennis Okhuijsen, Altice, Portugal Altice's, Armando Pereira, Pereira, Mathieu Rosemain, Ingrid Melander, Silvia Aloisi, Mark Potter Organizations: Altice Group, REUTERS, Altice, Thomson Locations: Franco, Israeli, Paris, France, PARIS, Altice France, Portugal

☆ Factbox: Patrick Drahi, the telco tycoon facing debt woes, arrest of aide
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

* Drahi, who lives between Switzerland, the United States and Israel, controls France's second-biggest telecoms firm SFR on top of the most-watched news channel in the country, BFM TV. He also owns the largest telecoms firm in Portugal. * To ease investor concerns about the sustainability of the business, Drahi spun off the U.S. division, restructured debt and took the European arm private. * By 2023, Altice's combined debt, including its three units of Altice France, Altice International and Altice USA stood at around $60 billion. Altice's debt prices trade at stressed levels, having come under further pressure since Pereira's detention in July.

Persons: Patrick Drahi, Violeta Santos Moura, Altice, Drahi, Altice's, Armando Pereira, Pereira, Silvia Aloisi, Ingrid Melander, Sharon Singleton, Louise Heavens Organizations: French, REUTERS, Polytechnique, SFR, U.S ., Altice, Altice USA, BT, Thomson Locations: Paris, France, French, Israeli, Morocco, Drahi, Amsterdam, Belgium, Portugal, Israel, United States, Dominican Republic, Switzerland, London, New York

Fifteen employees have been put on leave in Portugal, France and the United States since news broke about the probe, which is currently limited to Portugal, said Drahi. Pressed by analysts on the call to lay out the role and extent of Pereira's involvement within the Altice group, Drahi said Pereira, whom he hired in 2003, had not held any stake in any Altice entity since 2005. Altice International, the entity that owns telecoms firm PT Portugal, is owned by Drahi's personal holding Next. The other two entities are Altice USA and Altice France, home to France's second biggest telecoms firm SFR. The debt has come under further pressure since Pereira's July detention, with longer-term debt issued by Altice France trading around 80 cents to the euro while those of Altice France Holding trade around 40 cents to the euro.

Persons: Patrick Drahi, Violeta Santos Moura, Drahi, Armando Pereira, Pereira, Altice, Mathieu Rosemain, Yoruk Bahceli, Ingrid Melander, Silvia Aloisi, Conor Humphries Organizations: French, REUTERS, Altice, PT Portugal, Altice International, Thomson Locations: Paris, France, Portugal, United States, Altice France

☆ Wall Street landlords are selling homes back to Main Street. Here's what it might mean for runaway housing prices.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The companies — Invitation Homes and AMH — have already sold 1003 homes this year, through July, to non-corporate buyers, according to Insider's analysis of data from real estate tracker Attom Data. The group, which has included Wall Street firms like Blackstone (which spun off Invitation Homes), has been blamed for exacerbating the housing shortage that has pushed real-estate prices sky-high. One exception might be in 2019 when Invitation Homes sold 785 homes to non-corporate buyers, versus 225 sales through July of this year. The lack of housing supply, which has kept prices high even as mortgage rates rise, makes selling homes in markets that cost more to operate rentals a profitable play. In reporting earnings last week, Invitation Homes increased its core revenue guidance for the rest half of the year because its rent prices actually outperformed expectations.

Persons: —, AMH, Jon Olsen, execs, Dallas Tanner, Tanner, Gary Beasley, Roofstock, Beasley, He's, Dave Singelyn, Singelyn Organizations: Attom, Wall, Blackstone, Invitation Homes, SFR, Invitation, MLS, Homes, Sun, Wall Street, Homeowners, Seller Services Locations: SFR, New York City, America

☆ Wall Street landlords with billions in their coffers have gone silent, patiently waiting for cheaper homes to buy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

For the first two or so years of the pandemic, it looked like big, corporate landlords would buy up so many rental homes that they'd soon control the market that had been the purview of mom-and-pop owners. But five months in, the lull that started the year persists, said analysts at John Burns Real Estate Consulting, a purveyor of real-estate data. According to JT Graham, a John Burns analyst who attended an April conference of the SFR lobbying group National Home Rental Council, the buzzword there was "patience." For those that do make the trip, they can console themselves that the industry's fundamentals are strong enough to offset headwinds such as soaring taxes and slowing rent growth, John Burns analysts said. They're also able to absorb defaults and vacancies in the way small landlords can't as their costs increase.

☆ Where is Goldman Sachs' David Solomon going on those private jets?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Insider's Dakin Campbell compiled flight data on Goldman Sachs' two private planes from the beginning of 2022 through March of this year. Much of the focus on Goldman's jets, as Insider has previously reported, has been Solomon's personal use of them. If Goldman and Solomon are playing by the rules, why does it matter? And while I've written before about corporate jets being the scapegoat for excessive spending, that was moreso regarding business travel. Click here for all the details on where Goldman's two private planes have flown since 2022.

☆ Single-family rentals were stars of real estate during the pandemic. Now the sector faces its biggest challenges yet.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The SFR sector is facing fresh challenges this year, however, two KBRA analysts said. If you were an institutional investor looking to invest in real estate during the height of the pandemic, single-family rental properties were probably on your list. Home prices were rising quickly, and borrowing costs were low, underpinning the fundamentals of residential real estate. What's more, real estate research and investment-banking firm Zelman & Associates has estimated there's $110 billion in investor capital waiting to be spent on homes. Labor and supply costs have risen consistently, and massive home price appreciation is resulting in higher real estate taxes.

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☆ Snakes, rats and reptilian squatters: single family rental investors get a rude awakening as landlords
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Single-family-rental landlords are like most other homeowners, just at scale. Indeed, rising interest rates have drastically reduced access to capital for everyone, including single-family landlords who've borrowed heavily to finance their purchases. Here are a few stories of the wild world of institutional single-family-rental property management. An iguana stuck inside a Divvy Homes property in Florida. Single-family-rental landlords face the twin challenges of customer service and homeownership, often at the same time.

☆ A big landlord who controls 60,000 homes is funneling money into a political action group that could urge lawmakers to curb renter protections
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Corporate owners of US rental homes are being scrutinized for making homes unaffordable. The landlords that control thousands of homes are girding for a political fight over regulation. As tenant advocates met with the White House and pushed the Biden administration to take action on high housing costs in November, one of America's largest single-family landlords was preparing its own move. AMH, formerly known as American Homes 4 Rent, did not respond to an Insider request for comment. Companies like AMH, Pretium Partners, and Invitation Homes have been building large portfolios of homes across the country since the last financial crisis.

☆ Botswana mining growth seen flat amid dim diamond outlook
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

GABORONE, March 1 (Reuters) - Botswana expects output from its mining sector to be flat this year, as the diamond industry loses its sparkle due to a contraction in consumer spending and weaker demand for diamond jewellery, a finance ministry official said on Wednesday. Diamond trading grew 41% in the year as Botswana also benefitted from Western buyers shunning stones from Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. In 2023, Botswana expects diamond output to decline by 1%, while diamond trading growth is seen slowing to 7% from 41% last year. Finance ministry estimates show that government expects mineral royalties to fall to 4,5 billion pula ($3.41 billion) in 2023, from 6.1 billion pula last year. Dividends due to the state will also decline to 11,3 billion pula from 15 billion pula in 2022.

☆ Wall Street landlords who've stockpiled $110 billion are lying in wait for their biggest American home-buying spree yet
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( James Rodriguez | Daniel Geiger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Institutional investors have earmarked as much as $110 billion to buy or build single-family homes. Institutional investors now own about 3% of the roughly 20 million single-family-rental homes in the US, according to Roofstock, an online marketplace for single-family investment properties. That would be nearly 9% of the roughly 88 million single-family homes in the US, according to the Census Bureau's most recent statistics from 2020. Better deals expected in the years aheadThere are signs the institutional investors won't have to wait long to begin buying. That leaves between roughly $70 billion and $80 billion that could still flow into the sector.

☆ This real estate name could gain 19% as demand grows for single-family home rentals, Goldman Sachs says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Alex Harring | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Real-estate investment trust American Homes 4 Rent is well-positioned as single-family home rentals become more in demand, according to Goldman Sachs. These factors all help single-family rentals, Luthra said, as more people get pushed away from buying but still need housing. Though rental prices are coming off pandemic highs, Luthra said American Homes 4 Rent should be able to keep them above pre-pandemic levels. American Homes 4 Rent has increased its number of new homes, moving from around 600 in 2018 to nearly 2,150 in 2022. Comparatively, Luthra said she sees a clearer growth story in American Homes 4 Rent than competitors such as Invitation Homes and Tricon Residential despite both also benefiting from the focus on single-family home rentals.

☆ Here are Thursday's biggest analyst calls: Amazon, Chevron, Chipotle, Lowe's, Hershey, AT&T & more
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Michael Bloom | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Here are Wall Street's biggest calls on Thursday: Bank of America reiterates Chevron as buy Bank of America said it's standing by its buy rating on the oil and gas giant after it announced its 2023 capital budget on Wednesday. JPMorgan upgrades Vulcan Materials to overweight from neutral JPMorgan said risks for the construction materials company are already priced in. UBS initiates Shopify as sell UBS said it's concerned about increasing competition. UBS upgrades Hershey to buy from neutral UBS said it's becoming bullish on the chocolate and candy maker's long-term growth. Bank of America reiterates Lowe's as buy Bank of America said shares of Lowe's remain attractive.

☆ Andreessen Horowitz just led a $43 million round into real estate financing startup Setpoint after seeing this 10-slide pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Setpoint, a property tech startup that provides financing for real estate, has raised $43 million. The Series A round was led by US investing giant Andreessen Horowitz. Setpoint provides access to financing for single-family residences (SFR), fractional ownership, and rent-to-own housing and works with property tech companies like Flyhomes. Setpoint's Series A funding round was led by Andreeseen Horowitz with participation from Stonecroft, 75andSunny, Fifth Wall, 645 Ventures, NextView Ventures, LiveOak Venture Partners, Vesta Ventures, and ATX Venture Partners. "Venture investors are certainly being more cautious, but in our experience, companies that have found great product-market-fit are getting funding," Wall added.

☆ Democrats who want to 'stop Wall Street landlords' and rein in the $4.4 trillion single-family-rental industry will likely be foiled by Republicans who will soon run the House
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

A recently introduced bill promises to rein in corporate owners of single-family rental homes. They scooped up thousands more during the COVID-19 pandemic as interest rates dropped and demand for rental housing soared. The introduction of the Stop Wall Street Landlords Act marks the latest escalation. "Low- and middle-income families in my district and across the country are being pushed out because of profiteering and unfair practices by large corporate landlords." But the watchful eye of federal lawmakers is sparking concern among large SFR companies.

☆ An investor with 35,000 rental houses is sitting on $3 billion of 'dry powder' as it waits for the perfect time to buy up thousands more homes
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Tricon Residential is one of the biggest owners of single-family rental homes in the US. Berman said the company expected to buy up 850 homes in the fourth quarter, for a total of 7,300 this year. Berman said the company was "slowing down today" so it could buy larger portfolios at discounted prices in the future. Single-family rental operators may be slowing down in the short term, but the biggest players have been adamant that the fundamentals of their business remain strong. "We also think that a lot of the startups in single-family rental may have trouble getting financing, and so maybe some portfolios shake loose.

Europe has nearly half a million telecom towers and most of them have battery backups that last around 30 minutes to run the mobile antennas. Swedish telecom regulator PTS is working with telecom operators and other government agencies to find solutions, it said. The telecom operators are also working with national governments to check if plans are in place to maintain critical services. Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE) will use mobile emergency power systems which mainly rely on diesel in the event of prolonged power failures, it said. France has about 62,000 mobile towers, and the industry will not be able to equip all antennas with new batteries, the FFT's president Liza Bellulo said.

☆ Big investors are buying fewer homes to rent out on a bet that prices will fall. Case in point: A 2,000-house portfolio just got yanked from the market after failing to lure buyers at its $500 million
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( James Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

That's left some big portfolios sitting on the market — but don't expect the lull to last long. This past summer, a huge portfolio of 2,000 homes hit the market. The market for single-family-rental portfolios, once red-hot, has slowed considerably as the biggest participants face higher borrowing costs and market volatility. The challenges aren't limited to big SFR portfolios. Deals are still getting done, too — one SFR portfolio traded in August for a little more than $140 million, according to a person with knowledge of the deal.

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