Should be illegal.
Investors bought a quarter of US homes sold last year
121–130 of 691 posts
Re: Investors bought a quarter of US homes sold last year
#122I'm so frustrated by some of the conversations people get in around housing. They want to live in the most desirable places on planet earth, and seem to think that we should just abolish the concept of property ownership to accomplish this. What do you guys think happens when you get what you want, and nobody can "own" property anymore? Do you think there is an unlimited amount of single family 3000 square foot homes…
> Here's a house in Indiana for $125K
Laketon, IN, population 606, had its post office closed in 2010 and, from a quick perusal of Google Maps, probably doesn't have a single traffic light. Doubt there's much public transit out that way. Only 30 miles to a town I might be able to get a job in, though...
Re: Investors bought a quarter of US homes sold last year
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
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There are reasons for that, but they are generally bad ones involving people not wanting to live near other people who look like the author of the article, even if they won't say that part out loud. Higher density housing is a massive component of building lower carbon footprint cities, as well as making our cities more financially resilient. It's also something that can increase equity a lot by giving people with lo…
You're never going to win anyone over with the tired "if you disagree with me, you're a racist" BS.
Low-income, high-density housing attracts problems. It has literally nothing to do with race. You could guarantee that the high-rise apartment building you want to construct down the street from me would be 100% filled with people who look like me, and I'd still oppose it.
Keep your YIMBY nonsense IYBY.
Re: Investors bought a quarter of US homes sold last year
#124There are Billions of dollars in cash just sitting around at companies like Blackstone Group waiting for the housing market to crash - which of course it will.
Re: Investors bought a quarter of US homes sold last year
#125One insidious bit here is that as lower-income people are priced out by increasing rents , they can't even go downmarket because of things like this:
Investors Are Buying Mobile Home Parks. Residents Are Paying a Price https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/27/us/mobile-home-park-owner...
Re: Investors bought a quarter of US homes sold last year
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are ways to disincentivize toxic forms of investment (especially speculation) without banning it. A high land value tax, for example, would simultaneously increase investment and decrease speculation.
I don't see how a high land value tax increase investment & decrease speculation? If your talking about flipping homes that's one thing but REIT ownership isn't home flipping for the most part...
High LVT means you pay a high tax on the land itself and little or no tax on what you do on top of that land. It encourages highly efficient land development which means increased supply of commercial and residential units (thus reducing rents), and it makes lots of speculation prohibitively expensive. Since holding undeveloped land is just as expensive as holding developed land, you’re going to want to put it to productive use sooner rather than later.
Re: Investors bought a quarter of US homes sold last year
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
This article, speaking to your point, is pretty convincing in terms of the data: https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/22524829/wall-street-housin... > The role of institutional investors is still being studied, but the popularity of the narrative strikes at something dangerous: People want a convenient boogeyman and when they get it, they often ignore the structural problems that are harder to combat. Housing undersupply…
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LOL that is total bullshit. In SF, they oppose high-density high-income housing too. It's total motte and bailey shit. Here's the real algorithm:
if density == low:
return "This won't solve the problem"
if income == low:
return "This ruins the neighbourhood character"
if density == mid and income == high:
return "This is gentrification and soulless coffee shops!"
if density == high and income == high:
return "This is for Arab/Chinese/local-xenophobe-target-du-jour investors only"
return "This ruins the neighbourhood character"
Re: Investors bought a quarter of US homes sold last year
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
We have spent decades telling American families that homeownership is the safest investment. We then spent decades enacting policies to ensure this is true. Do we think investors were going to just sit that out and ignore a safe and government protected investment? Of course the more attractive we make home ownership as an investment, the more investors will flock to the market. We need policies specifically benefiti…
> We have spent decades telling American families that homeownership is the safest investment. We then spent decades enacting policies to ensure this is true. Do we think investors were going to just sit that out and ignore a safe and government protected investment? So one group wants to maintain a financial investment that was sold to them as a sure-fire way to make money with little work and little risk, and anoth…
No, it's not hard: investment = getting paid to take risks. That's the whole point. Profits come with responsibility.
Of course, if responsibility suddenly means losses instead of effort-free gains, investors will try to squirm out of their responsibilities. Morally, though, the situation is crystal clear.
Re: Investors bought a quarter of US homes sold last year
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are reasons for that, but they are generally bad ones involving people not wanting to live near other people who look like the author of the article, even if they won't say that part out loud. Higher density housing is a massive component of building lower carbon footprint cities, as well as making our cities more financially resilient. It's also something that can increase equity a lot by giving people with lo…
You're never going to win anyone over with the tired "if you disagree with me, you're a racist" BS. Low-income, high-density housing attracts problems. It has literally nothing to do with race. You could guarantee that the high-rise apartment building you want to construct down the street from me would be 100% filled with people who look like me, and I'd still oppose it. Keep your YIMBY nonsense IYBY.
It's a pretty well document fact that it has a lot of its roots in racism.
https://www.epi.org/publication/the-color-of-law-a-forgotten...
If that makes you feel uncomfortable, so be it.
Americans spend zillions of dollars every year visiting Europe, which is full of high density housing. And come home raving about how much they love it. It does not 'cause problems'.
Re: Investors bought a quarter of US homes sold last year
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I am not alright with paying absurd rent. Then you should either: 1) Buy a house to live in 2) Buy a house to hedge against rents going bananas The 30-year fixed rate mortgage at negative real rates is the biggest handout the world has ever seen.
Yep Millennials, Gen X and Boomers have all been handed a once in a lifetime gift here. Each of those generations made out like bandits with low housing prices until the last few years and low interest rates. Gen Z and the generations to come have a real reason to be pissed at the rest of us.
...and you are absolutely right that we're pissed. Hopefully y'all will be willing to help out with reasonable public policy at least.