PRIVATE EQUITY OWNED
FirstKey Homes
Includes FirstKey
single-family rentals · Atlanta, GA
- PE Firm
- Cerberus →
- Acquirer
- Cerberus Capital Management
- Year Acquired
- 2015
Cerberus Capital, named after the three-headed dog guarding the underworld, bought 20,000+ homes and became one of America's most aggressive corporate landlords.
What They Did
- Cerberus Capital Management founded FirstKey Homes in 2015, building a portfolio of 20,000+ single-family rental homes across Sun Belt and Midwest markets
- Operates primarily in Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix, and Memphis, markets where corporate landlords compete directly with first-time homebuyers for affordable housing
- A PE Stakeholder Project report documented a 'three-headed attack on homeowners and tenants': high eviction filing rates, code violations, and competition against individual buyers
- FirstKey joins Tricon Residential and Progress Residential as part of the PE-backed corporate landlord wave that has reshaped the American housing market
Since the Acquisition
- High eviction filing rates documented in Memphis, Atlanta, and Phoenix, including filings during COVID-19 when many communities had eviction moratoriums
- Dozens of code violation citations in Memphis for failure to maintain properties, while tenants paid market-rate rent in homes with deferred maintenance
- Tenants in Memphis described water leaks, mold, and cockroaches to the Washington Post, and a former FirstKey maintenance worker admitted the company 'was not prepared for the workload' as homes piled onto its rental rolls
- Every home a PE firm buys is one fewer home available for a family to own — FirstKey's portfolio directly contributes to the housing affordability crisis in the cities where it operates