NEW YORK: Blackstone Inc plans to spend US$1bil (RM4.18bil) to acquire rental houses and lease them out at below-market rates, billing the programme as a private-sector answer to soaring housing costs.

       Home Partners of America, a single-family rental company that Blackstone bought last year, is offering the programme, called Choice Lease.

       It will provide tenants who meet an income threshold a 10% discount on monthly rent payments and the option to purchase their homes at below-market rates.

       The move comes as a United States housing shortage pushes rents and purchase prices higher. With many first-time buyers struggling to crack the market, politicians have raised concerns about the role Wall Street investors are playing in the housing market.

       “The lack of housing supply is a national crisis,” Kathleen McCarthy, global co-head of Blackstone Real Estate, said in a statement.

       “We are proud to support Home Partners’ mission of addressing housing access and affordability while also providing underserved populations with a new path to homeownership.”

       Home Partners, which Blackstone acquired last year through BREIT, its nontraded real estate investment trust, has a somewhat different business model than most single-family landlords.

       It buys a home on behalf of its client, who then rents it back on a series of one-year leases. At the end of each lease, the tenant can buy the house.

       The company owned 17,000 houses at the time Blackstone agreed to acquire it for US$6bil (RM25.07bil).

       Households must earn 80% or less of the area median income to qualify for the Choice Lease programme.

       That’s similar to government affordable housing programmes that cap rents on certain apartments based on how much a household earns. — Bloomberg