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cent in 2001 to 76 percent in 2015 as institutional investors gained a foothold in the market. But this decline in individual ownership likely overstates institutional investment in single-family rentals. Indeed, real estate corporations and investment trusts owned only 250,000 single-family rentals in 2015. In addition, many individual investors reportedly transferred ownership of their properties to LLCs in recent decades to protect against legal problems and to take advantage of tax benefits. Along with shifting patterns of ownership, motivations for acquir- ing single-family rental units may have also changed. While there is little research available on this topic, one study suggests that prior to the housing market crash, the two major reasons that owners bought single-family rentals were as primary residences, which they then decided to rent, or as income -generating invest- ments. However, the housing boom and bust encouraged more speculation in the single-family rental market, including by mom- and-pop owners, which may mark a shift in their expectations. Institutional owners also jumped into the single-family rental market after the bust, but their longer-term presence in the mar- ket is unclear. Understanding the evolving nature and financial motivations of rental property owners is important for designing policies that protect naturally occurring affordable units that may be at risk of either under -investment and deterioration or of upgrading and gentrification. In both cases, these units would be lost from the low-cost stock. DUILDING AGE AND ACCESSIBILITY The median age of occupied rental units in 2015 was 42 years— somewhat higher than the median of 37 years for owner -occupied homes. The age gap between owned and rented units has been growing since 1985, when both types of units had an average age of 23 years. This disparity reflects the slowdown in rental construction in the 1990s following the booms of the 1970s and 1980s, as well as significant construction of owner -occupied housing in the early 2000s. In addition, a minor but still sizable share (8 percent) of rental housing was built before 1920. With the recent uptick in multifamily construction since 2015, however, the age gap between owned and rental units may be narrowing. Today, the oldest units in the occupied rental stock are apartments in multifamily buildings with 2-4 units (median age of 51 years) and detached single-family homes (median age of 49 years). The typical renter -occupied single-family home is 10 years older than the typical owner -occupied home. Meanwhile, apartments in buildings with 20 or more units had a median age of 38 years in 2015, and the typical mobile home rental had the lowest median age of 29 years. Older rental housing is more likely than newer housing to have qual- ity and safety issues that may jeopardize the health of occupants. Under HUD definitions, 13 percent of occupied rental units built before 1940 have physical inadequacies, compared with 6 percent of units built in 1990 or later. Although overall inadequacy rates for renter -occupied housing are low (9 percent), they are still more than double those for owner -occupied homes (4 percent). Larger Multifamily Properties Attract a Significant Share of Older Renters Share of Renters Urercentl 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Undor25 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75orBy., Age of Household Bead Strurlure Type MSingle-pamilyHome 11 Multdamilywith 2-4Unds ■ Multifamily with 3- 19 N Multifamily with 20 or More Units Note, Single-family homes include detached and attached units, mobile homes, and other units such as RVs and boats. Source, Ji tabulations of US Census Bureau, 2016 Amehean Community Survey 1 -Year Estimates. 15