Will B. Payne and Eric Seymour released a new report, “Trends in Investor Acquisition of Residential Properties in New Jersey.” Corporate ownership of single-family homes and other small residentialproperties has drawn growing concern from housing advocates andpolicymakers in New Jersey and nationally. While the large rental homecompanies that sprang up in the aftermath of the foreclosure crisis are virtuallyabsent from New Jersey, prior research has found that corporate owners accountfor a rising share of property sales in Newark (Troutt & Nelson, 2022) and ofownership of small residential properties in multiple jurisdictions across thestate (New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, 2022). These trends have raised concerns about investors competing for the state’s already limited stockof moderately priced homes, making homeownership even harder to attain, and about rental conditions, as corporate landlords are often associated with stricter screening, higher rents and fees, and faster resort to eviction.

With support from the New Jersey State Policy Lab, this report analyzes corporate ownership of 1–4-unit residential properties in New Jersey, excluding condominiums, using parcel-level property tax data from 2012 to 2022. It examines how the share of corporate-owned homes haschanged over time, how corporate entities fit within the broader landscape ofowner-occupants and non-corporate investors, and how properties have movedinto corporate ownership, distinguishing the conversion of existing rentalsfrom the loss of owner-occupied housing. The analysis also assesses portfolio size as a measure of market power and considers whether corporate owners are local, in-state, or out-of-state, raising questions about absentee ownership and accountability to tenants, neighborhoods, and municipalities.