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Towards a Methodology for Measuring Rental Property Ownership in the United States

Author

Listed:
  • Stephanie Kestelman

    (Harvard University)

  • Rebecca Diamond

    (Harvard University)

  • John Eric Humphries

    (Yale University)

  • Kate Pennington

    (U.S. Census Bureau)

  • Winnie van Dijk

    (Harvard University)

  • John Voorheis

    (U.S. Census Bureau)

Abstract

Roughly one-third of U.S. households rent their homes, yet measuring who owns rental property is difficult: ownership is frequently obscured by LLCs, partnerships, and other intermediary entities that separate legal from economic control. We develop a method that traces ownership through administrative recordsÑcombining deeds and property assessments with the Census Bureau's Business Register, IRS Schedule K-1 filings, and SEC filings on REITsÑto identify ultimate owners and construct property portfolios across the full landlord size distribution. Applying the method to 11 large CBSAs, we find that individual landlords own a large majority of rental units, though their share varies meaningfully across markets. We also show that the widely used mailing-address aggregation approach both under- and over-states portfolio size in systematic ways. The method is designed to scale to national coverage and to support measurement of landlord identity, portfolio composition, and ownership concentration in U.S. rental markets. We also discuss the method's current limitations and outline directions for refinement and validation.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephanie Kestelman & Rebecca Diamond & John Eric Humphries & Kate Pennington & Winnie van Dijk & John Voorheis, 2026. "Towards a Methodology for Measuring Rental Property Ownership in the United States," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2531, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    • Handle: RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:2531
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    File URL: https://cowles.yale.edu/sites/default/files/2026-06/d2531.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lauren Lambie‐Hanson & Wenli Li & Michael Slonkosky, 2022. "Real estate investors and the U.S. housing recovery," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 50(6), pages 1425-1461, November.
    2. Rohan Ganduri & Steven Chong Xiao & Serena Wenjing Xiao, 2023. "Tracing the source of liquidity for distressed housing markets," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 51(2), pages 408-440, March.
    3. Forrest Hangen & Daniel T. O’Brien, 2025. "Linking landlords to uncover ownership obscurity," Housing Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(4), pages 940-965, April.
    4. Umit G Gurun & Jiabin Wu & Steven Chong & Serena Wenjing & Tarun Ramadorai, 2023. "Do Wall Street Landlords Undermine Renters’ Welfare?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 36(1), pages 70-121.
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