Rentals

The company was an aggressive buyer of rentals during the pandemic, but it is reversing course as the housing market cools.

These buyers snagged 20% of listings in metropolitan areas tracked by Redfin in the first quarter, the highest share since 2000.

As the market slows down, property owners are awaiting opportunities for discounts from builders.

The total number of short-term rentals of entire homes in the city’s five boroughs — those listed on Airbnb Inc. and Expedia Group Inc.’s Vrbo — is more than 13,000, according to third-party data tracker AirDNA. Meanwhile, rental inventory in Manhattan, Brooklyn and a portion of Queens hovers just over 7,500, according to an April report from broker Douglas Elliman Real Estate.

A property management and acquisition platform for single-family landlords is going public through a blank-check merger in a bet that investor appetite for rental houses will outlast waning enthusiasm for real estate technology stocks.

Partners Group Holding AG has agreed to buy more than 2,000 rental houses owned by Fortress Investment Group, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The share of existing properties acquired by single-family rental providers has fallen by 24 percentage points since 2019, while surging BFR numbers made up much of the difference.