Lennar Corp. has formed a $1.1B joint venture that will develop apartment communities. In a statement released Wednesday, the largest US homebuilder by market value said it would invest $504M in the venture and provide 19 undeveloped assets it owns or has under contract. Lennar plans to develop the communities in 25 metropolitan markets. The company has changed its strategy since the housing crash and diversified beyond homebuilding. Lennar began planning to develop apartments in 2011 and will now maintain ownership. Previously, the company built rental communities through individual ventures and structured deals to sell the properties once they were leased. According to the statement, Lennar’s multifamily division had two operating communities and 24 under construction as of May 31, totaling about 7.1K apartments at a cost of $1.7B. Rental housing across the US has seen increasing demand as more Americans either can’t afford to purchase real estate or choose to lease. [BB]