SFR Deal Highlights - Jan/Feb 2025
BTR developments, large & small Baltimore Deals, workforce portfolios
Executive Summary
The first few months of 2025 are showing strong momentum for lenders and local/regional SFR investors. By analyzing transaction-level data across single family acquisitions, dispositions, and financing events, we've identified several key trends.
Key observations from January/February include:
Baltimore emerges as a hotspot for private lending activity
Portfolio refinancings remain active, although concentrated by a handful of lenders
Competition among lenders is intensifying significantly
Highlighted Transactions
Genesis Funds a $62m BTR Development
While BTR starts have declined significantly overall, developers are still finding viable opportunities. Genesis recently originated a $62 million loan to Wolfson Development for a new 214 unit BTR community under development in Kissimmee, Florida.
Wolfson Development currently has more than 2,000 units under development (projected at over $1 billion in property value), with a primary focus on Florida markets.
Baltimore Continues to be a Hot Market
The Baltimore metro area has 4 of the top 6 ZIP codes by private lender borrower count for the start of 2025 (21213, 21215, 21516, 21218). This activity spans various investment strategies including fix-and-flips, BRRRRs, and standard DSCR loans. The median loan size was $158,000.
Competition among lenders is intense, featuring strong nationwide players (Dominion, RCN Capital) alongside established local lenders (Kaine Investments, Washington Capital Partners, Pimlico) all doing significant volume.
The largest loan we found from a private lender was a 34-unit, $2.47M multifamily deal funded by Renovo (pictured below).
On the flip side, the smallest loan we found funded by a private lender in these ZIPs this year was a $55,000 loan from Pimlico on two townhomes pictured below.
Portfolio Refi’s are Still Active
Riparian Capital Partners recently refinanced part of their Detroit portfolio through CoreVest for over $10 million. Riparian operates affordable workforce SFR properties across Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Baltimore.
Properties in their refinanced portfolio have distinctive characteristics:
Median construction year: 1946
Median size: 900 square feet
Business model: Substantial renovation before stabilization
Section 8 housing has been gaining attention, with major players like Pretium recently expanding their involvement in this space, as we've previously written about.
Competition For Deals Is Getting Tougher For Lenders & Investors
On the lending front, we hear from many of the lenders we work with that more deals are being shopped around, with competition intensifying significantly in early 2025.
Ambition Capital Partners, a large-scale investor in the DFW market, exemplifies this trend. Of the 14 deals they closed in January/February, they utilized six different lenders—including both top local options and the largest national private lenders.
