US home-rental firms trade below IPO prices

Washington

WALL Street landlords bought thousands of homes and sold stock to the public before they had even filled many of the properties with renters. Now those companies are struggling to persuade investors that they can operate efficient businesses.

Shares of the four publicly traded US home-rental firms are below their 2012 to 2013 initial public offering (IPO) prices, and have fallen as much as 5 per cent in the past month. The companies are learning to operate at the same time that they are trying to please investors, unlike landlords backed by Blackstone Group LP, Colony Capital Inc and Goldman Sachs Group Inc alumnus Don Mullen, which have not turned to equity markets for capital.

"Companies should be built privately," said John Bartling, chief executive officer of Blackstone's Invitation Homes, the largest US owner of single-family properties. "Unless you can communicate it and forecast it well, you're going to struggle with investors as they try to determine how to forecast your earnin…