More than two years after the first single-family rental securitization, the single-family rental market continues to evolve and grow. The rise of single-family rentals reflects both a demographic shift among the American population and a reactionary change in consumer habits resulting from the financial crises. According to U.S. Census Bureau, the percentage of Americans that own homes has decreased from almost 70% in 2004, to 63.6% in the first quarter of 2016, the lowest percentage in over 25 years. Over 13% of Americans rent single-family homes – a 4% increase from before the crises, accounting for approximately 36% of all rental homes. The decline in homeownership and the increase in the percentage of Americans that rent single-family homes reflects several key demographic and economic changes:
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Observations from ABS Vegas: The CLO Perspective
Over the past few years, the ABS Vegas conference has been the place for industry participants to congratulate each other on a job well done (most recently on a record-setting 2015 for CLO primary issuance), meet-and-greet with clients and generally unwind, making sure to sprinkle a few “important” meetings across the three-day span. However, following a January and February where CLO primary issuance was down well over 50% year-over-year with little sign of an upturn before the conference, most of us went into ABS Vegas 2016 with uneasy feelings.
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If Interesting and Prosperous is a Choice, I’ll Take Door Number Two: Perspectives on 2016
As we do each year at Crunched Credit, we take the end of a calendar year as an opportunity to stop and reflect on where we are, and what the next year might hold. Recognizing the certainty that a successful prediction is more a random event – a blind cat finding a dead mouse, than a product of wisdom and analytic prowess, it remains an important exercise. It bears repeating that refusing to take a view is actually to make a choice, and a pretty silly one at that. So as we at Dechert churn through our budgeting and planning process for 2016, we will make some assumptions about the economic environment and adjust our planning accordingly. Let’s agree, we are going to be wrong about a lot of stuff – maybe everything – but that fact doesn’t excuse the critical need for having a macro view.
Continue Reading If Interesting and Prosperous is a Choice, I’ll Take Door Number Two: Perspectives on 2016