ROAD map: AMH and Invitation Homes plot BTR’s way forward

After a near-existential brush with legislative uncertainty, recent earnings calls from AMH and Invitation Homes offer a glimpse into how the two largest public single-family rental operators expect the market to fare now that the policy questions are settled.

Following the removal of provisions in the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act that largely froze capital flows into the build-to-rent (BTR) industry and could have severely damaged their business models, executives at both companies said investor interest and deal activity are returning, but at a cautious pace.

Executives at AMH and Invitation Homes now view the new bill as supportive of their existing business models and growth strategies. However, perhaps the biggest industry impact, they say, may be felt by smaller institutional investors that lack the scale, capital access and operating capabilities of the sector leaders.

AMH and Invitation Homes: two differing paths to growth

First, it’s important to understand how AMH and Invitation Homes compare and contrast in their respective strategies. Although both are positioned to benefit from a reopening of capital markets, their differing approaches to growth, acquisitions and development reveal two distinct business and operational strategies. 

AMH was founded in 2012, and in its early years, it initially purchased many homes through the MLS. However, that has changed over the last several years. The company now primarily grows through its in-house development program, launched in 2017, supplemented by partnerships with homebuilders and selective acquisitions of newly constructed rental communities.

AMH has been actively selling off its older homes acquired in the earlier years to free up capital and align the company’s operations with its changing strategy. Over the last two quarters, AMH sold off 1,318 of these homes, up from 786 during the same period in 2025. This uptick in dispositions of “non-core assets” reflects AMH’s ongoing effort to recycle and rotate capital from older, scattered-site homes into newer, purpose-built rental communities.

Invitation Homes, on the other hand, acts predominantly as an acquirer rather than a developer. The company typically acquires single-family rental inventory by purchasing purpose-built BTR communities or entering into forward-purchase agreements with builders. However, Invitation Homes hasn’t utilized forward-purchase commitments as much lately. Rather, it has favored discounted, nearly complete builder inventory that can be acquired within 60–90 days at more attractive returns.

Most of these are bulk purchases, but Invitation Homes does acquire some scattered-site single-family rental inventory. The scattered-site strategy will continue following the passage of ROAD, as the legislation still permits partnerships with homebuilders to acquire newly constructed scattered-site homes. 

The operator also works on the lending side, offering debt and construction financing programs to support BTR developers. Invitation Homes also provides third-party property and asset management services for single-family rental home portfolios. 

However, Invitation Homes recently entered the development arena following the $89 million acquisition of ResiBuilt in January. The acquisition gives the company an in-house development and general contracting platform that management expects to expand over time.

Going forward, AMH’s growth strategy now focuses on internally developed communities, while Invitation Homes continues its historical reliance on acquisitions and builder partnerships, although the ResiBuilt acquisition signals a gradual expansion into in-house development.

How quickly is capital flowing back into BTR?

From Invitation Homes’ perspective, deal flow was quite stagnant during the first half of the year, largely due to legislative uncertainty. Now that the housing bill has passed, more sellers are coming to market, creating opportunities for operators like Invitation Homes. 

However, that doesn’t mean that capital came back to the market all at once. It will likely take a little while to make up for lost time. 

“For the first six months of the year, things were really quiet just because people were waiting to see where the legislation turned out. Now that the act has been passed, we’re seeing capital start to open up again and start to test the waters and see where the market is,” Invitation Homes CIO Scott Eisen said during a Q2 2026 earnings call on July 30.

Invitation Homes President and CEO Dallas Tanner added: “It definitely froze capital. I don’t want to give the impression that capital is thawed, but it’s starting to poke its eyes up and sort of say, ‘Okay, how can we participate in this sector? How could we be meaningfully committed to creating new supply?’”

Since Invitation Homes bought ResiBuilt shortly before the legislative uncertainty began, contributions from the in-house development program didn’t come as quickly as anticipated. While the long-term development strategy remains intact, near-term disruptions arose at a time when Invitation Homes had just begun to integrate ResiBuilt. 

“Projects that were in flight continued, but there were a number of projects that were scheduled to start in the first half that were delayed, and in some cases even canceled. We’re going to have a little bit of a shortfall that we want to try to overcome there. The good news is the team is doing a really great job of refilling that pipeline now that the uncertainty overhang has been removed,” Invitation Homes CFO Jon Olsen said. 

Invitation Homes’ lending business has also picked up over the last few weeks since the passage of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. 

“Similar to what we’re seeing on the acquisition side, since clarity has been realized, there’s a lot more interest and inbound activity,” Olsen explained. 

AMH executives echoed a similar sentiment: while deal activity is now returning to BTR, the industry is still playing catch-up. 

“There were a couple of deals that closed in January, and then it really was in a little bit of a wait-and-see. Post-legislation, we’ve seen a little bit more activity. There are some deals that are coming. We’re talking to some owners,” AMH CEO Bryan Smith said on the company’s Q2 2026 earnings call on July 31. 

How ROAD may impact smaller operators and spur consolidation

From the perspective of AMH, the final version of ROAD protects the company’s core business of expanding through its AMH Development Program and consolidating single-family rental portfolios. 

“On the other hand, it affects the growth opportunities for some of the other smaller companies that are relying on MLS purchases. These additional regulations are going to make that more difficult,” Smith explained. 

Essentially, Smith argued that the final version of the legislation could make it harder for smaller operators that rely on buying individual homes through the MLS. As a result, some may choose to sell their portfolios, potentially creating acquisition opportunities for larger, scaled operators such as AMH and Invitation Homes. This would mirror the consolidation taking place in for-sale homebuilding. 

These potentially impacted firms are the “in-betweener” companies that own more than 350 homes but lack the scale and capital access of the major institutional operators. 

Invitation Homes also expects increased consolidation as smaller, capital-constrained operators seek partners or buyers. This would create opportunities for larger players to gain more market share. 

“We believe there’ll be an evolution here where you’ll see more consolidation. Particularly, you’ll see a lot more of it around BTR,” Tanner added. 

In a recent LinkedIn post, rental economist Jay Parsons noted that while the final version protects much of the build-to-rent market, “less-than-ideal edge cases” remain for smaller institutional owners, potentially limiting their ability to sell BTR assets to larger institutional buyers.

That dynamic, Parsons argued, could further widen the gap between scaled operators with deep capital resources and smaller firms seeking strategic partners or an exit strategy.

Fee-building opportunities

Both AMH and Invitation Homes, through their development programs, see an opportunity in fee building, which is when a developer hires a builder to manage the construction process for a set fee. The opportunity is especially relevant now, as both AMH and Invitation Homes are now involved in homebuilding. 

The recent legislation may also result in a greater reliance on new construction for rental housing, potentially creating more demand for experienced single-family rental developers.

“Fee building is going to continue to be a big part of our strategy going forward. That is a very accretive, profitable business, and the ResiBuilt team is exceptionally good at that,” Olsen said. 

The near-term outlook for BTR

Now that the earlier policy threat has been defused, Invitation Homes expects market fundamentals to improve as new housing supply moderates and supply becomes more balanced in oversupplied markets. 

This includes Sun Belt markets such as San Antonio, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and Phoenix, which all experienced negative rent growth over the past year due to a glut of new supply. Although some excess supply remains, particularly in the Sun Belt, Invitation Homes executives believe that the trend is moving in the right direction.

AMH expects rent growth to remain moderate for the rest of the year, with blended rent growth in the low-2% range, new lease growth roughly flat and occupancy remaining strong at high-95% levels for the full year. 

Lincoln Palmer, COO at AMH, pointed to improving supply conditions as a factor that will position the company’s portfolio for healthier performance heading into next year.

“We’re seeing this demand set against a modestly improving supply picture. That’s encouraging given what we were hoping for at the beginning of the year,” Palmer said, adding that he’s observed “just a little bit better supply, and the same foot traffic competing for lower inventory.”