re: WSJ: Wall Street Has Spent Billions Buying Homes. A Crackdown Is Looming.

This is all nonsense spouted by economics illiterates. There is a market for renting and a market for buying. If corporations buy so many homes to rent that it exceeds the rental market demand then they will have underutilized housing and they will lose their arse.

The would-be home buyers, who are supposedly being forced to rent, would actually drive up the price of starter homes leading to a boom in construction.

Notice that there is no boom in construction? That’s your tell that all of this is bullshite.

Now, here is what really happened. The high interest rates have squashed the market for starter homes. This is what has caused these people to become renters - not a lack of supply due to greedy corporations buying houses.

Here I speculate. There is some big money out there that has run from stocks and doesn’t trust bonds either. These investors have decided that the housing rental market is better than traditional ways of hiding out. Let’s see if they are right, but they are not hurting anyone.