re: Oregon likely to become first state to enact state-wide control on rent

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Biggest issue to me is you can never evict a tenant, without cause. There’s no 1 year lease, etc. You get a tenant, you have them for life as long as they pay and behave.

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Why would you assume standard lease terms don't apply?

High rent is a symptom of a housing stock shortage. Rent control exacerbates that shortage because developers cannot expect higher rents when creating new housing stock causing them to just sit on the properties they have (no tearing down two-story brownstones to build high rises). Less housing built means the prices under rent control actually go up, not down because the supply stagnates in the face of increasing demand.

Typically, it is building restrictions, geography, and zoning laws that cause housing shortages in the first place. When cities run out of room to build out, they have to knock down existing buildings to move up. However, historical designations, zoning, etc can prevent that from happening, causing demand to outstrip supply.

Throw in section 8 creating an arbitrary price floor and unlimited student loan money creating a bubble around college campuses and you have the perfect recipe for a housing bubble.

Had an interesting discussion with a resident of CA (San Diego). He said property taxes are too low. Raise them and people will sell those generational homes with super low prop taxes. The market floods with inventory and prices go down.

Thought that was an interesting take.