Agoura Hills real estate investment trust American Homes 4 Rent got listed on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday after its initial public offering raised nearly $706 million.

The company set out to sell about 44 million shares, with the price ranging between $16 and $18 per share, according to its prospectus filed with the Security and Exchange Commission. The shares priced at the bottom of its range in its opening day on the market.

Led by B. Wayne Hughes, the billionaire founder of Public Storage Inc., the company owns and rents 14,210 single-family homes in 20 states. Another 1,425 homes are in escrow.

The company said $50 million worth of shares are being bought by an LLC formed by Hughes, in addition to $25 million being bought by Alaska Permanent Fund.

American Homes 4 Rent, formerly based in Malibu, signed a lease in June to move its headquarters into a 42,000 square-foot office on Agoura Road.

Other real estate firms that have recently gone public include Minnetonka, Minn. firm Silver Bay Realty Trust Corp., which raised $245 million in December and Scottsdale, Ariz. firm American Residential Properties Inc. raised $288 million in early May.

Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are managing the American Homes offering.

In its SEC filing, the company reported a loss of $10.2 million in 2012. The company has $1.7 billion in assets as of March 31.

Shares closed down 40 cents or 2.5 percent at $15.60 on the New York Stock Exchange.