Reflecting on the 2026 IMN Conference in Miami
May 26, 2026
The past several conferences have been dominated by the uncertainty of the housing affordability bill, something that is very much still on the minds of all of the participants. Instead of focusing on that since we still do not know what that will bring, I’d like to focus on some other themes that stood out. What stood out to me most from this IMN conference wasn’t any single statistic or prediction, it was the realization that the housing industry is adapting to a completely different type of consumer than it was built for twenty years ago. The American Dream hasn’t disappeared, but it has definitely evolved. Ownership used to be the end goal for almost everyone. Now, flexibility, convenience, and optionality are becoming just as important as equity.
That shift is influencing everything from development trends to operations to investment strategy. More people are renting by choice, not necessarily because they’re financially incapable of buying. Younger generations especially view ownership differently. This is a generation comfortable renting cars, clothes, music, movies, and even software. Housing is naturally moving in that same direction. The urgency to acquire a home simply isn’t what it once was, and I think the industry is finally starting to accept that reality instead of fighting it.
What’s interesting is that this doesn’t necessarily signal weakness in housing. In many ways, it is creating opportunity. Build-to-rent is a perfect example. For years, people associated build-to-rent with massive suburban communities containing hundreds of homes. Now, operators are realizing it can work at a much smaller scale. A scattered infill property or townhome development can fit the same model if the operations and resident experience are executed correctly. One speaker mentioned that nearly their entire pipeline is townhomes because density and infill have become such an important part of the equation.
At the same time, operators are being forced to become more sophisticated. Single-family rental owners especially have had to embrace technology faster than many traditional multifamily groups simply because scattered-site portfolios demand it. You can’t efficiently manage homes spread across a market without systems, automation, and data. Smart home technology, utility monitoring, maintenance tracking, and operational analytics are now necessities.
What I found particularly interesting was how much emphasis there was on customer experience. Real estate companies are starting to behave more like service platforms than traditional landlords. The focus is shifting toward resident retention, convenience, and lifetime value. People value time just as much as money now, and operators are trying to create ecosystems around that idea. Whether it’s smart home integrations, optional resident services, or cashback incentives for on-time rent payments, the industry is clearly experimenting with ways to make renting feel less transactional and more customized.
The word “optional” came up repeatedly, and I think that matters. Consumers today don’t want rigid systems. They want flexibility and personalization. The operators who understand how to present services correctly seem to be having the most success.
Another major takeaway was that technology and information are no longer reserved for institutional players. There’s a democratization of data happening right now. Smaller operators have access to analytics and tools that would have cost millions of dollars not that long ago. In many ways, the advantage gap between institutional capital and entrepreneurial investors is shrinking. That doesn’t mean scale doesn’t matter, but it does mean smaller groups can compete far more effectively than they could in previous cycles.
What also gave me confidence about the broader housing market was the economic discussion. There’s still a lot of fear online about an impending foreclosure wave or housing collapse, but the underlying fundamentals today are completely different than 2008. The speakers made the point that we’ve had many recessions throughout history, but only one true foreclosure crisis driven by reckless credit expansion. Today’s homeowners are simply in a much stronger position financially.
The numbers support that argument. Roughly 40% of homes in America have no mortgage at all. Current LTV ratios across the market are dramatically lower than they were leading into the financial crisis. Homeowners have equity. Credit quality is significantly better. And the 30 year fixed mortgage continues to be one of the greatest financial hedges against inflation ever created. When you lock in a payment for three decades while everything else rises around you, that becomes an incredibly valuable asset over time.
To me, the overall theme of the session was adaptation. Consumer behavior is changing, and the real estate industry is changing with it. The companies that succeed moving forward will probably be the ones that stop thinking purely in terms of units and transactions and start thinking more about experience, efficiency, flexibility, and long-term customer relationships. Housing is still fundamentally strong, but the way people interact with housing is evolving rapidly. The operators who recognize that shift early will likely have a major advantage over the next decade.
This week’s blog was brought to us by Chris de Treville.