In recent years, there has been a growing interest among investors in real estate businesses in the United States, and Chile has been no exception. According to data from ACAFI, investments by Chilean real estate funds in the U.S. have more than doubled over the past two years.

The United States has the world’s largest economy, with a GDP of USD 21.5^trillion in 2020¹^and a total population of 332 million people, of whom 206 million are in the workforce; all of this positions it as a major source of business opportunities.

The country's GDP per capita is currently USD 64,000 per year, and according to estimates by the International Monetary Fund, it is expected to reach USD 80,000 by 2026. (See Figure 1)

Opportunities in the Residential Rental Market

According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, 8.3 million households have been formed since 2010, but only 4.9 million homes have been built during that period, which means that the housing shortage in 2019 was approximately 3.4 million homes nationwide. To put this in perspective, this figure is equivalent to 50% of the total number of homes in Chile and, in monetary terms, amounts to nearly USD 1.181 billones.

On the other hand, buying a home has become increasingly less affordable, with prices rising by more than 60.9% over the past decade[1](see Figure 2) and access to financing becoming increasingly restricted in the wake of the 2008 subprime crisis.

In addition to this, there have been changes in social behavior, with people getting married at a later age and millennials—who account for 25% of the total population (75 million people)—being less likely to buy a home to live in.

In this context, it is evident that people are choosing to rent properties; since 2009, there has been an increase of approximately 8 million new renters, bringing the total to 108.5 million people who prefer to rent a home (see Figure 3), and it is estimated that by 2025 this figure will reach 115 million^renters.¹

Favorable market conditions for the residential rental business are leading investors to prefer investing in these types of assets, which offer an alternative that allows for portfolio diversification, generates stable cash flows, and delivers returns with lower volatility.

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[1] U.S. Census Bureau (2020).