Private Equity Taps Builders as Foreclosures Vanish: Mortgages

Investors seeking single-family homes to rent are buying land and newly-built properties as foreclosures dwindle and existing home prices in the U.S. rise at their fastest pace since 2006.

Landsmith LP paid $32.5 million this month for 250 Houston-area houses that were built last year. The firm, which began buying properties to rent in 2009, has 2,000 lots for new homes under contract and expects to purchase a total of 4,000 new houses this year, according to San Francisco-based Chief Executive Officer James Breitenstein.