Key facts
- Build-to-rent units under construction fell 18.5% year over year in Q3 2026, per the National Apartment Association's Market Pulse.
- Newly completed build-to-rent units declined 40.2% and community sales volume dropped 51.5%, the NAA reported.
- Quinn Residences CEO Richard Ross said Treasury's proposed 18-month certificate-of-occupancy window is too short for a process he said takes about 30 months.
- Amherst Group CEO Sean Dobson said there is no money to be raised for renovate-to-rent acquisitions while Treasury's repair exception stays undefined.
- AMH told the SEC that the ROAD Act and similar laws have hurt its access to capital markets and the appeal of its securities.
Build-to-rent construction and sales fell sharply in the third quarter of 2026, and operators say unresolved federal rules are keeping capital out of new projects. The National Apartment Association's Q3 2026 Market Pulse, released November 5, reported that build-to-rent units under construction fell 18.5% year over year, newly completed units declined 40.2% and sales volume of communities dropped 51.5%.
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, first introduced in March 2026, initially would have required investors and developers to sell newly built rental homes to individual buyers after seven years. The final version exempted build-to-rent housing from its institutional investor ban, but how the Treasury implements that ban remains open. Treasury released a notice of proposed rulemaking in October that would grant build-to-rent communities exemptions.
Quinn Residences CEO Richard Ross said in an interview with HousingWire that capital has not returned to prior levels. "I almost don't care what the rules are, as long as you tell me what the rules are," Ross said. "With uncertainty, people just aren't going to invest." In an open letter to Treasury, Quinn Residences argued that a proposed exemption requiring purchase within 18 months of a certificate of occupancy is too short, since building and stabilizing a community typically takes about 30 months.
Amherst Group chairman and CEO Sean Dobson said the capital environment had been softening before the ban was proposed, with modest returns on new projects and moderating or falling rent growth in Sun Belt markets. "When you add policy uncertainty to the asset, it just doesn't have the return to pay for that," Dobson said. He said no money is available to raise for renovate-to-rent acquisitions while Treasury's exception for homes needing substantial repairs stays undefined.