Air Conditioners Break Faster in Work-at-Home Era, Landlord Says

Landlords have been worried about the extra wear-and-tear on their properties as more people hunker down at home during the pandemic. One of the areas this is showing up: Air conditioning.

American Homes 4 Rent, which owns roughly 53,000 homes that it rents out across the U.S., said it spent an extra $1.3 million replacing tenants’ heating-and-cooling systems in the second quarter “due to abnormally high HVAC usage during stay-at-home orders.”

The company, which has a joint venture with JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s asset management arm, posted revenue of $283.1 million, up 0.4% from a year earlier. Adjusted net income slipped to $4.7 million, according to a statement on Thursday.

Single-family landlords are riding a surge in demand as renters look to leave cities for the suburbs in search of more space to spread out. American Homes said leasing and occupancy levels across its portfolio reached all-time highs in June and July.

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