JPMorgan Chase is the latest private equity player to bet big on build-to-rent housing.

The investment giant partnered with Georgia Capital and Paran Homes to launch Laseter Development Group. The new entity will operate as a vertically integrated build-to-rent development firm focused on new construction in the Southeast.

Atlanta-based investment firm Georgia Capital and homebuilder Paran Homes collectively hold a 50% stake in the new venture, while institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management own the other half of the new company.

The decision to stand up a new BTR developer is part of the JPMorgan Chase asset management arm’s strategic focus on the sector, Head of Real Estate for the Americas Chad Tredway said in a statement.

"Demographic shifts and job growth in the Sunbelt are driving increased demand for single-family housing,” he said. “With Millennials seeking more space and housing prices at record highs, many are turning to rentals, fueling the growth of this sector."

Laseter is set up to partner with other developers on projects and provide third-party contracting services to other developers. It has two projects already in the pipeline — 165 homes in the Atlanta suburbs and 126 homes outside Nashville — that are expected to break ground this year.

Georgia Capital and Paran Homes began developing BTR homes in 2020 after a decade of partnering to build traditional housing.

“The institutional world and the production homebuilding world are very different,” Whit Marshall, a partner at Georgia Capital who will be Laseter’s CEO, said in a statement.

“We believe that the combination of our land development and production homebuilding expertise with J.P. Morgan's scale and investing perspective positions us to be at the forefront of this unique opportunity in the early stages of this new real estate sector," said Marshall, a former NFL linebacker who has spent the last two decades in real estate.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management already owns a $2B portfolio of 65 single-family rental communities with over 6,000 total units.

The BTR sector has exploded in recent years. Just under one in 10 homes that broke ground in the U.S. in 2024 was being built as a rental, according to John Burns Research and Consulting data.

Investors poured $6.3B into the sector last year after a sluggish 2023, but another $57B was deployed into space between 2021 and 2022. Analysts expect the growth to continue.

“This niche is only 6, 7 or 8 years old, but it gained a ton of traction, not only on the demand side from tenants moving into a purpose-built rental community but also on the development side,” Chris Nebenzahl, vice president of rental research at John Burns, told Bisnow this month. “Developers have seen that demand and have really met the demand.”