After years of testing and sporadic investments, multifamily developments are beginning to gain scale in Brazil. Names like Brookfield , Kinea Investimentos , and Greystar are expanding their bets on the segment, even in a still challenging scenario of high interest rates.
A survey by CBRE Brazil, obtained by NeoFeed, shows that the inventory of residential properties for short- and long-stay rentals (less than 12 months and more than one year, respectively) should reach 20,600 units by 2028, a 67% increase compared to the 12,300 units in operation registered in the second half of 2025. These figures do not include student housing.
Only in 2026 is the total inventory expected to reach 16,100, a 30.5% increase, according to a survey by CBRE, signaling the advancement of a thesis that until recently raised doubts among investors and traders.
“We are in the initial stages of the formation of this sector,” says Danilo Monteiro, vice president of CBRE Brazil. “Multifamily is still very small in Brazil, but it is beginning to attract institutional investors who see it as a strategic asset class for long-term portfolios.”
Most projects are aimed at the middle class, a segment that represents half of the Brazilian population, according to a survey by Tendências Consultoria, and where Brookfield and Greystar, two of the leading names in the market, intend to focus their expansion in the coming years.
The Canadian management company is the largest operator of this type of property in the country, with a portfolio comprising 33 projects distributed across eight cities, including five state capitals. Of the 6,200 residential units, approximately 2,700 are already in operation, and the goal is to end 2026 with more than 4,000 units in operation. Brookfield has R$ 25 billion in real estate assets under management in Brazil.
The multifamily strategy combines acquisitions, development, and retrofitting of existing buildings. The management company recently purchased three projects in Rio and acquired the operator Tabas .
Brookfield also closed a deal in early June with Kinea to launch a real estate fund that aims to raise R$1.9 billion to incorporate more than 4,500 residential units distributed across 22 projects by the Canadian asset manager.
Greystar, in turn, currently operates approximately 2,500 units, including multifamily and student residences, and aims to reach approximately 5,300 units within two years, considering its own projects and operations for third parties.
"That average ticket price of R$4,000 to R$5,000 per package is where we're going to have enormous demand," says Cristiano Viola, executive director of operations for Greystar in Brazil.
This has to do with the fact that this segment of the public is under a lot of pressure from high interest rates. While the upper classes have sufficient resources to buy real estate without significantly harming their finances, and the lower classes have help from government programs, the middle class sees interest rates weighing heavily on them, leading them to rely heavily on renting.
Simulations by CBRE with mid-range apartments in São Paulo show that mortgage payments can exceed the equivalent rent by more than R$1,000 per month.
This issue caught Brookfield's attention, and in 2018, inspired by their experience in the United States , they began studying how to implement multifamily housing in Brazil.
“In a survey we conducted early on, we asked: why are you looking to rent and not buy? The answer was almost always the same: lack of money for a down payment, to furnish the apartment, or to prove income,” says André Lucarelli, senior vice president of real estate investments at Brookfield.
However, the demand is not only linked to access to housing. According to Lucarelli, there is also a growing search for properties with professional management and a better experience for the tenant, attracting another audience that prefers to rent rather than buy.
“We realized there was a very strong demand for quality rental housing with professional management. The market was extremely fragmented, dominated by individuals, and offered a poor experience for the tenant,” he says.
Learning curve
Despite existing demand and high interest rates being nothing new in Brazil, multifamily ownership was slow to take off, with early experiments proving unsuccessful. In addition to the challenge of introducing the concept to consumers, investors needed to learn how to efficiently manage residential income-generating assets.
“Multifamily housing started out with few people knowing how to operate it,” said Rodrigo Abbud, partner and head of real estate at Patria Investimentos . “It began with the purchase of unsold inventory from developers, with the intention of renting it out and monetizing it. But it often became clear that this wasn't the most appropriate approach.”
According to Viola from Greystar, many of the early developments were conceived with the logic of building for sale, when the dynamics of an income-generating asset are completely different.
“The developer sells the property, hands over the keys, and their work is over. In multifamily development, the operation begins when the resident moves in. It’s necessary to maintain the relationship, provide services, and ensure that the asset retains value over the years,” he states.
The learning curve involved everything from defining the ideal unit size to offering services, common areas, and operational solutions capable of generating occupancy and profitability.
The macroeconomic environment, with the Selic rate remaining in double digits for a considerable period over the last decade, also hampered expansion. According to Monteiro, from CBRE, multifamily development requires a longer investment cycle: land purchase, construction, leasing, and maturation of the operation until it reaches its income-generating potential.
In recent years, the segment has had to compete with the residential sales market, which offered faster returns to developers. "When the sales market is very hot, it's difficult to convince a developer to allocate a project for income generation. The cycle is longer and requires more capital," he says.
This situation led Greystar to begin its operations in Brazil in 2020, targeting the top of the social pyramid, but with an eye on the middle class. "We arrived through a partnership with Cyrela and CPPIB to develop high-end projects in premium locations, but this was one thesis within other theses that we are always working on," says Viola. "Where we believe there is significant scalability is in the middle to lower parts of the pyramid."
Even in the face of these obstacles, operational indicators have been reinforcing this thesis, encouraging large investors to increase their exposure to the segment. In São Paulo, where approximately 70% of the sector's projects are located, the occupancy rate of long-stay assets inaugurated in 2024 reached 82% in the second half of last year.
Some are still waiting. Patria, for example, says it continues to evaluate new opportunities. The firm has approximately R$1 billion invested in residential rental properties and roughly 5,000 units in its portfolio.
According to Monteiro, the definitive consolidation of the Brazilian multifamily market depends on greater participation from real estate investment trusts (REITs). Currently, residential income-generating assets represent less than 1% of the industry's assets.
“Market maturation involves the entry of new players, the formation of larger portfolios, and the strengthening of real estate funds. This is the natural path for multifamily to achieve a relevance similar to that observed in more mature markets,” he states.
But all development in the sector depends on improved macroeconomic conditions, especially with lower interest rates.
"The drop in interest rates will greatly encourage people to reinvest, to start projects again, to bring in more companies, because the numbers improve," says Lucarelli. "The speed [of development] could be much greater if interest rates helped, because the demand exists."
