Lawmakers say investors that scooped up hundreds of thousands of houses to rent out are driving up home prices

Wall Street went on a home-buying spree. Now, more lawmakers want to stop it from ever happening again.

Democrats in the U.S. Senate and House have sponsored legislation that would force large owners of single-family homes to sell houses to family buyers. A Republican’s bill in the Ohio state legislature aims to drive out institutional owners through heavy taxation.

Lawmakers in Nebraska, California, New York, Minnesota and North Carolina are among those proposing similar laws.

While homeowner associations for years have sought to stop investors from buying and renting out houses in their neighborhoods, the legislative proposals represent a new effort by elected officials to regulate Wall Street’s appetite for single-family homes.

These lawmakers say that investors that have scooped up hundreds of thousands of houses to rent out are contributing to the dearth of homes for sale and driving up home prices. They argue that investor buying has made it harder for first-time buyers to compete with Wall Street-backed investment firms and their all-cash offers.

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  • Asafum@feddit.nl
    31·
    2 months ago

    I’m in NY and I literally have to quit my job and start over in another state because as it is right now there is literally 0 chance I ever own a home here… I’ve watched prices double in less than 4 years, it’s absolutely disgusting…

    • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
      220·
      2 months ago

      That’s not really true. Depending on where you live in NY, prices are very affordable. Also, NYC has neighborhoods that are also affordable.

      You mentioned that “prices double in less than 4 years”. What happened 4 years ago? People left the city during Covid. Yes, that meant prices went down, but a lot of sellers pulled places off the market too. There was very few available places, so it’s not a valid point of comparison.

      • Asafum@feddit.nl
        81·
        2 months ago

        I don’t live in or near NYC, and you’d have to define affordable because I’ve been looking all over and I can’t find anything in the 200k range that is anywhere close to available work. Unfortunately I’m not someone who has the luxury to WFH. This market is absolutely killing people like myself that don’t have the WFH option.

        • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
          25·
          2 months ago

          I have no idea where you’re looking, but I just looked at Syracuse (chosen at random). There are tons of places available under $200K. Are you even looking?

          • Coreidan@lemmy.worldEnglish
            8·
            2 months ago

            Syracuse NY is a shit hole. The reason prices are cheap there is because people are fleeing and no one wants to live there.

            So basically if you want an affordable house you have to move some where no one wants to live.

          • Asafum@feddit.nl
            42·
            2 months ago

            I stopped looking about 4 months ago, but when I was looking I was trying to stay within a 4-5 hour range of where my family lives so places like that were too far. Thanks for the suggestion though, if I get that desperate then that’s an area to look into.