Single-Family Rental Rush Draws Pension Manager for MountiesSingle-Family Rental Rush Draws Pension Manager for Mounties

(Bloomberg)—PSP Investments, which manages pensions for Canadian public servants including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, is making a bet on single-family rentals.

The Ottawa-based pension fund has teamed up with investment firm Pretium to launch a joint venture that will initially invest $700 million into single-family rental properties across major markets in the southeastern and southwestern U.S., including Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, Phoenix and Raleigh.

Single-family rentals have become a hot commodity in recent months as the Covid-19 pandemic accelerates demographic shifts to the suburbs. With hotels, offices and shopping malls taking a hit from social distancing, institutional investors are betting on demand for homes from American renters.

That’s encouraged investments in single-family rentals, including from JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s asset management arm to homebuilder Lennar Corp.

The new joint venture “demonstrates the increasing level of interest in single-family rentals from leading institutions,” Donald Mullen, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pretium, said in a statement.

Pretium describes itself as the second-largest owner and operator of single-family rental properties in the U.S. Earlier this month, a partnership led by Pretium acquired single-family landlord Front Yard Residential for approximately $2.5 billion.

PSP wanted to partner with the firm because of its “proven track record of generating robust, uncorrelated returns by applying its specialized, resident-centric and scalable approach to its large and growing portfolio of homes,” Carole Guérin, a managing director at PSP, said in the statement.

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