Homes 4 Rent Joint Venture to Build Houses in Las Vegas

A joint venture of American Homes 4 Rent and J.P. Morgan Asset Management has launched its first project to build 34 single-family homes in the Sovana and Spring Valley neighborhoods of Las Vegas. The project will comprise 12 three-bedroom homes and 22 four-bedroom homes, the first of which are expected to be ready in June. Completion of all 34 homes is anticipated for October. American Homes 4 Rent, in Agoura Hills, is a real estate investment trust that buys and develops single-family homes to rent rather than to sell. The Las Vegas project is the first manifestation of a joint venture with J.P Morgan Asset Management, which has put up $625 million of equity to build 2,500 single-family rental homes throughout the West and Southeast United States. That calculates to $250,000 per home. Mike Kelly, head of Real Estate Americas at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, said the joint venture aims to capitalize on the increasing number of people leaving cities in search of more space and higher-quality living in the suburbs. “We see this shift as particularly prevalent among the millennial generation, the largest U.S. age cohort, who are looking to transition away from apartment living,” Kelly said in a statement. “The move towards more spread-out living is also expected to accelerate in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and we anticipate strong occupancy and rental growth rates across properties.” As of March 31, American Homes 4 Rent owned 52,776 single-family properties in 22 states. The companies announced the project on Thursday. Shares of American Homes 4 Rent (AMH) closed Friday up 3 cents, or a fraction of a percent, to $23.09 on the New York Stock Exchange.