8.2.6.1Vertical

Affordable Housing Management

Property managers operating Section 8 and tax credit housing.

Market snapshot

These figures describe Residential Property Management (8.2.6), the segment that Affordable Housing Management sits within. They are not figures for Affordable Housing Management on its own.

Market size
~$70B
Growth
~8.7%CAGR (2017–22, nominal)
Companies
~40,091 firms
Firms by employee count

90.1% of firms have fewer than 20 employees: 36,125 micro-businesses, below most mandates.

The investable universe3,966 firms with 20+ employees
20–99
2,86872%
100–499
85221%
500+
2466%

Grew faster than its commercial counterpart on the back of institutional single-family ownership and rent growth. The revenue is a percentage of collections, so it inflates with rents without the manager taking any of the asset risk. That makes it an unusually well-positioned toll on the housing market.

NAICS 531311. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses; U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census.

Business model & economics

Revenue model

Management fees (% of rent) plus leasing and services

Key economics

Revenue per firm
$1,736,129
Revenue per employee
$134,179
Employees per firm
12.7
Recurring revenue
High

recurring management contracts

EBITDA margin
Asset-light service economics
Capex intensity
Low

Characteristics

  • Balanced cost base: payroll is 39% of revenue, leaving room to scale margin without cutting staff
  • Deep strategic-buyer pool: 246 firms exceed 500 employees, so a scaled asset has trade buyers
  • Largest PM segment; led by Greystar.
  • Institutionalization of rental housing (BTR, SFR).
  • Most active PM roll-up arena.

NAICS 531311. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses; U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census.

Geographic concentration

AlabamaAlaskaArizonaColoradoFloridaGeorgiaIndianaKansasMaineMassachusettsMinnesotaNew JerseyNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOklahomaPennsylvaniaSouth DakotaTexasWyomingConnecticutMissouriWest VirginiaIllinoisNew MexicoArkansasCaliforniaDelawareIowaKentuckyMarylandMichiganMississippiMontanaNew HampshireOhioOregonTennesseeUtahVirginiaWashingtonWisconsinNebraskaSouth CarolinaIdahoNevadaVermontLouisianaRhode IslandDistrict of ColumbiaHawaiiNew York

New York, Hawaii and the District of Columbia are markets dominated by multi-unit buildings and non-resident owners, the two conditions that make third-party residential management a necessity rather than a choice.

New YorkHawaiiDistrict of Columbia

U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Statistics of U.S. Businesses (firms by state), NAICS 531311. Concentration shown by location quotient.

M&A deal context

Deal activityHigh

Who’s acquiring

  • National residential managers
  • PE-backed PM platforms
  • Regional consolidators

What’s driving deals

  • Roll-up of fragmented residential managers.
  • Build-to-rent and SFR institutionalization.
  • Technology-enabled scaling.

Find Affordable Housing Management acquisition targets

Search Acquisera’s index for companies classified under Affordable Housing Management (8.2.6.1) and build a targeted deal pipeline.

Search companies