Students from all backgrounds can now attend better schools thanks to single-family rental properties, according to new commentary from Alex Kerstetter, content contributor for Virginia Tech. The effects of a family relocating across a school district boundary might go much beyond simply changing addresses. A child’s academic trajectory and subsequent economic mobility may be influenced by the school and opportunities that come with moving to a new neighborhood.
Following the 2009 Great Recession, which resulted in a boom in new single-family rental homes due to a surge of investors, Virginia Tech research revealed that children who moved into these newly available homes, especially those from economically disadvantaged households, also achieved academic success.
“Expanding rental opportunities for these households presents an opportunity for kids across the socioeconomic spectrum to perform better academically,” said Tom Mayock, Associate Professor and Michael G. Miller Professor of Real Estate in the Blackwood Department of Real Estate in the Pamplin College of Business and author of the article published in the Journal of Housing Economics.
SFR Properties Giving Americans More Opportunities
Between 2007 and 2016, there was a roughly 30% rise in the supply of single-family rental properties, which opened up new housing options for families looking to access better educational systems without ever owning a property. These results highlight the significant relationship between housing and educational opportunities. Housing serves as a gateway to communities, schools, and potential economic mobility in addition to being a place to live. As the market for single-family rentals expands, it will probably become more significant in providing families from all socioeconomic backgrounds with access to high-quality education.
According to the results, students’ academic attainment as determined by standardized test scores significantly increased when their families relocated to single-family rentals in areas designated for better schools. These advancements demonstrate how the school environment has a significant impact on students’ progress. Stronger academic support networks, greater educational resources, and settings that promote learning and success are frequently associated with access to higher-quality institutions.
“This suggests that the expansion of single-family rental housing is helping reduce long-standing barriers that have historically limited access to high-performing schools,” Kerstetter said. “By increasing the availability of rental homes in stronger school districts, the evolving housing market is providing families with greater flexibility and expanding access to educational opportunity.”
Recent data tracking an estimated 44,000 student-move observations was developed by Mayock and his co-author, Kelly Vosters of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The study tracks student performance both before and after families move into single-family rental homes in higher-performing school zones using a special dataset that connects real estate records from Zillow’s real property repository with student education records from the North Carolina Education Research Data Center.
“The housing policy conversation in the U.S. always seems to focus on expanding homeownership,” Mayock. said. “I think we need to recognize that many families cannot afford to, or do not want to, be homeowners.”
Mayock’s study shows how shifts in the supply of housing can have significant effects outside of the housing market. The expansion of single-family rental housing is contributing to better educational equity, long-term upward mobility, and new opportunities for students by increasing access to higher-performing schools.
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