Balcara Group Finishes Florida BTR Community
The Tampa townhouses were unscathed by recent storms.
Balcara Group, a specialist in developing build-to-rent communities, has completed Balcara 301 at Sun City, its latest BTR community. The property, on Sun City Boulevard near highway US 301, is in the southern reaches of the St. Petersburg-Tampa area.
Balcara 301 consists of 120 townhomes offering either two or three bedrooms. Each home comes with a private covered lanai, an attached garage and upmarket finishes such as stainless steel appliances and full-sized washers and dryers. The community features on-site management.
Resident amenities include a pool, fenced and shaded dog park and a playground. The community’s infill suburban location puts it close to grocery stores, restaurants and indoor and outdoor recreational opportunities. It is adjacent to the Southshore Bay and Sereno Master Planned Communities in Wimauma in Florida’s Hillsborough County.
READ ALSO: What Will 2025 Bring to the SFR/BTR Sector?
The communities were fortunate to have sustained minimal impacts from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, Balcara Group CEO Paul Davey said in a statement. He further noted that rental costs at the property are “substantially below” the all-in costs of homeownership.
Balcara Group has been active in the Tampa-St. Petersburg market in recent years with two other BTR developments completed. The company has also developed two BTR communities in Greater Houston.
BTR slows, but still strong
Total national BTR inventory remains relatively small at approximately 350,000 units, according to CBRE, citing its own research and Yardi Matrix data. BTR development peaked at almost 80,000 units under construction in mid-2023, but since then starts have slowed due to lower rent growth, higher borrowing costs and tighter lending conditions.
BTR rent growth during the second quarter of 2024 came in at 1.5 percent, according to the CBRE BTR Overview report, with a 6.9 percent vacancy rate market-wide. And research by Parcl Labs shows that, contrary to popular belief, BTR may be losing its pricing edge when compared to scattered site rentals.
Increased interest among BTR institutional investors has brought about greater competition in the industry, putting a lid on pricing, the Parcl Lab report indicated. In the seven core markets studied, BTR outperformed scattered site rental pricing in just one.
