Pension funds want to mitigate risk and rental cash flow is a reliable and proven way to do it. When the economy pulls back, these funds will look for solid cash flow options. SFR, like a REIT, is a good choice. When money flows in, this will be used to acquire additional homes.
In short, pension funds looking to de-risk in equities will move towards SFR. This isn’t US-only, but the SFR will be US-only. So expect EU nations that allow their pensions to investment in US assets to move more money towards SFR. The number of homes managed under institutional SFR will grow substantially in the coming years.