U.S. REITs: 2Q26 Multifamily & Single-Family REIT Preview

Research evidence excerpt

U.S. REITs: 2Q26 Multifamily & Single-Family REIT Preview

Barclays | U.S. REITs

the sector to bottom in 2026 and accelerate into 2027 (Figure 9), and we expect FFO growth

eventually to follow the inflection in reported same-store metrics.

Finally, in part given the sector's recent outperformance and relative re-rating against REITs

overall (Figure 16), we believe the bar for "good enough" (i.e., the FY26 guidance

increases required for Apartment REITs to outperform in 2H) is higher than the

companies are likely to produce this quarter. Although we believe (ditto above) that

Apartment earnings will bottom this year, recent earnings revision momentum has been

noticeably more powerful across several other REIT sectors. And if in the end it's all relative,

it would not surprise us to see investors utilize Apartments as a 'source of funds' into

and through the 2Q prints.

• Single-Family Rentals: With Saturday's automatic passage of the 21st Century ROAD to

Housing Act, what once had the potential to become a permanent overhang on the

institutional single-family rental industry writ large (much less merely the public REITs) has

now become, in our view, essentially a non-issue. Although the new law broadly bans the

purchase of existing single-family homes by institutional investors (i.e., those owning 350+

scattered-site rental properties), the industry comes away with several notable wins,

including: 1) Trades between institutional investors are still allowed; 2) Build-to-rent is

largely untouched, including the ability to purchase new homes from homebuilders; 3)

"Renovate-to-rent" for existing home purchases is permitted within certain defined

parameters; and 4) Existing home purchases are permitted (within certain limitations) for