Name: Solving the Housing Affordability Crisis
Uploaded: 2026-01-09T16:29:43+00:00
Duration: 362 s

Speakers

Elizabeth Bell — Co-Head of Real Estate, Hamilton Lane

Summary

Elizabeth Bell of Hamilton Lane discusses President Trump's proposal to limit institutional purchases of single-family homes and argues the affordability crisis is mainly a supply problem. She remains bullish on residential real estate, especially multifamily and build-to-rent, and sees opportunities in residential construction financing. She is also selective on data centers: cautious on expensive stabilized hyperscale assets but interested in co-location and carrier layers closer to the urban core.

Trump proposal targets institutional single-family home investors.
Bell says institutional investors own under 1% of housing stock.
She views housing affordability as a global supply-side problem.
Hamilton Lane is bullish on residential real estate broadly.
Multifamily is favored for liquidity and exit certainty.
Build-to-rent benefits from stringent mortgage standards and forced renters.
Residential construction financing offers opportunity amid tight lending.
Data center strategy favors outskirts development but is cautious on stabilized hyperscale pricing and evaluating co-location/carrier layers.

Ideas

Elizabeth Bell Co-Head of Real Estate, Hamilton Lane 1:22

Bullish residential real estate on supply shortage.

Bell is very bullish on the residential sector in general. She argues the housing affordability crisis is primarily a global supply problem, not an institutional-investor problem, and that bringing new supply online is the only way to solve it. The supply shortage and strong demand create attractive investment opportunities across residential real estate.

Elizabeth Bell Co-Head of Real Estate, Hamilton Lane 1:29

Favor multifamily for liquidity and exits.

Bell favors multifamily rental real estate, especially traditional multifamily, because it is a more established and liquid asset class with more certain exits. She also likes its urban locations, where population density, job growth, and desirable amenities support demand. She prefers traditional multifamily over single-family because its exit market is more robust and proven.

Elizabeth Bell Co-Head of Real Estate, Hamilton Lane 1:52

Tight lending creates construction financing opportunity.

Bell sees residential construction financing as attractive because lending standards are tight, creating an opportunity for private capital to step in and fund new home construction. That can earn strong returns while bringing new supply online to address the housing shortage.

Elizabeth Bell Co-Head of Real Estate, Hamilton Lane 2:23

Likes single-family housing despite weaker exits.

Bell says there is a place for single-family ownership and rental housing and that Hamilton Lane likes both single-family and multifamily. However, she sees single-family assets as more suburban or scattered, with less robust and proven exits than traditional multifamily, so it is a positive but lower-conviction area.

Elizabeth Bell Co-Head of Real Estate, Hamilton Lane 2:32

Build-to-rent benefits from forced renter demand.

Bell really likes build-to-rent housing because post-GFC mortgage standards are stringent, making homeownership difficult for many families and creating a large pool of forced renters. Building units specifically for rent can serve demand for safe, affordable, desirable neighborhoods and generate attractive returns.

Elizabeth Bell Co-Head of Real Estate, Hamilton Lane 4:50

Likes outskirts data centers despite rich pricing.

Bell likes the data center play on the outskirts, particularly hyperscale facilities leased to high-credit-quality tech companies, and notes that insurance capital fits that profile. However, she cautions that hyperscaler development yields have compressed and stabilized acquisitions are expensive, making the opportunity selective.

Elizabeth Bell Co-Head of Real Estate, Hamilton Lane 5:50

Looking at co-location data center supply chain.

Bell is looking at the next layers of the data center supply chain, including co-location facilities and carrier infrastructure closer to the urban core, because data must move from hyperscalers through these layers to reach end users. She views these as required, supply-chain-linked investment opportunities.

Solving the Housing Affordability Crisis

Summary

Ideas

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