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

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I never have dug into that 9% number much to see how true it is but that is what I have seen reported.

I know in my line of work, we have what we call "zombie" houses that we have had in our inventory to manage for banks. Some we carry for years vs the 18 months or so that we typically cycle through.

I am also not sure how many of those are AirBNB/STRs but I am sure it's a large number.

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But in the case of "zombie" houses, wouldn't we WANT someone with actual money to come in and get them back into the mainstream inventory? On top of relieving the huge shortage of SFH we have, it would serve to improve neighborhoods plagued by such.

I honestly believe all of this is much ado about nothing. The Blackstones of the world are going to own some portfolios of homes. Who cares? Also, home ownership is not for everyone - and certainly not for everyone at ALL times of their lives.

The #1 way to get the middle class involved (as per your preference, which I agree with) is to address the shortage of dwelling units, presently estimated to be 3-4 million. Almost everything else is window dressing. Prices simply aren't going to go down materially with such limited supply.