The debate surrounding the institutional push into the solidly “mom-and-pop” single-family rental sector has been fun to watch. Can they manage far-flung assets effectively? Will they build scale at the right prices?

But like the sector itself, the debate has entered new territory: the world of data and results. As large public players build and stabilize portfolios — and file details of their progress with the SEC — market watchers can now begin to analyze more and speculate less.

Analysts are poring over the data and offering some encouraging, if tentative, forecasts. “We expect the large single-family rental companies to continue to grow over the next 12 months to 24 months as they apply some additional leverage and as smaller players consolidate,” says Jade Rahmani, real estate analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. “We expect increasing lease-up activity to drive improved occupancy and