Housing IPO

B. Wayne Hughes' American Homes 4 Rent's (AMH) initial public offering raised $705.9 million yesterday at $16.00 per share.  The stock is holding steady near this price this morning.  (For old '80's limited partnership trivia geeks, Hughes was the founder of Public Storage.)   AMH, which owns almost 18,000 single-family homes(!), had initially filed to raise $1.25 billion.  AMH and other large single family home owners, including Blackstone and its 30,000 homes (!!), have built an asset class of permenant rental single-family homes.  This opportunity was created by the housing collapse and widespread foreclosures of the late 2000s.  Institutional ownership in the hardest hit areas - like Las Vegas and Phoenix - has accelerated these markets' strong price rebound by eliminating inventory.