jeffwulf

jeffwulf t1_j4r7jhh wrote

Depends on how big an entire area is. It would have to be pretty sizable before it's meaningful.

There's like 30,000,000 millionaires in the US alone.

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jeffwulf t1_j4r3lk9 wrote

They own about 300k houses country wide versus housing stock over 100 million. They don't meaningfully effect prices and have no meaningful market power. However, we do know from their shareholder reports that the reason they're investing in single family homes is because they think that local homeowners have successfully put in policies that prevent new housing from being built so their profits will be protected and the largest risk to their portfolio is new housing supply being built.

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Your article even says as much.

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After all, investors are driven to rental-family homes because of existing demand and limited supply, while housing cost burdens among low-income people have been rising for decades.
“Private equity firms and other institutional investors benefit from tight housing supply, but they did not create the problem. Local governments across the U.S. have adopted policies that make it difficult to build more homes where people want to live,” Schuetz said. “Zoning rules that limit the construction of small, moderately priced homes are politically popular with existing homeowners and local elected officials.”

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