Measurement of Rental Property Ownership in the United States

• In Event: Using New Sources of Data to Study the Relationships between Housing Affordability, Location, and Inequality

Abstract

Approximately one-third of U.S. households rent their homes, and annual rent payments exceed $700 billion, making rental housing a central component of the U.S. economy. Despite its importance, it remains difficult to measure who owns rental housing. Property ownership is frequently obscured by limited liability companies (LLCs), partnerships, trusts, and other intermediary entities that separate legal title from economic control. As a result, administrative property records typically identify only the immediate legal owner listed on a deed, rather than the individuals or firms making investment, financing, and pricing decisions. This gap between legal and economic ownership complicates measurement of ownership concentration, limits the ability to distinguish between small and large landlords, and constrains research on how different types of owners respond to economic shocks and policy changes. Accurate measurement of rental housing ownership is essential for a wide range of questions in housing economics and policy. A growing literature studies how landlord characteristics affect rents, prices, and market power; how institutional ownership shapes neighborhood outcomes such as eviction rates and housing quality; and whether owners of different sizes or organizational forms respond differently to regulation, tax policy, or macroeconomic shocks. Progress on these questions depends critically on the ability to consistently measure landlord portfolios across space and ownership forms. However, there is no clear best approach to measuring rental property ownership. High-quality local administrative data can support careful studies in specific jurisdictions but cannot capture portfolios spanning multiple areas. Survey-based approaches provide national coverage but suffer from small sample sizes, response error, and incomplete portfolio measurement. Common methods that aggregate properties by owner name or mailing address can misclassify rental properties and both under- and overstate portfolio size. This paper introduces a new, nationally scalable approach to measuring rental housing ownership that traces control through corporate and legal structures. We combine deeds and property assessment data with administrative business records—including Census Bureau business data, IRS partnership filings, and SEC disclosures—to follow ownership chains from the legal owner listed in property records to a final set of underlying owners. By linking properties connected through shared economic ownership rather than mailing addresses or legal entities, we construct “Final Owner Networks” that more closely reflect the true economic decision-makers in the rental market.

Author

• Stephanie Kestelman, Arnold Ventures
  Presenting Author