Investors bought 1 out of every 4 affordable homes last quarter

Houses as an Investment as a concept (banks and stuff obv not for people who actually use and live in their home) is such a self evidently and honestly demonstrably bad idea. I have no idea why this shit isn’t illegal (apart from the obvious it makes “people” money)

Housing as an investment is socially corrosive even for the individual owner-occupant. It gives them this deranged focus on property value which makes them actually materially benefit from housing becoming less affordable. Property value is also used as the logic of reaction from redlining to HOAs to car dependency.
- No one who thinks of their home in terms of its exchange value rather than its use value should be allowed to participate in local politics.
- I was actually thinking about how shitty most suburbs actually are here in the USA. Like not run down but just having nothing to offer.
  
  They aren't places anyone would want to go to if they didn't live there, even ones with million dollar homes are nothing but small plots with houses on them. The newer ones are lucky to even have many trees in them.
  
  I'm sure this is all due to profit maximization, but it makes me wonder if on some level this is totally intentional. No need for gates if you make a place no one wants to go.
  
  This is all just random stuff I thought up but I'd like to look into it more.
- I was more or less trying to refer to institutions that buy homes purely for ROI. Individuals who see their homes this way are also a problem but at least they’re actually using the home. Obv ideally I want full automated luxury communism and everything else but in the short term I would prefer for banks and investors to be made to keep their nose out of it at a minimum
Even Adam Smith wasn’t a full ancap for this very reason. His view of the free market included freedom from the landed gentry.

It honestly makes it a bit sad because I see some of the older liberal works as made by genuinely decent people who really were bright for their time, but just had aspects of their ideology that aged poorly. I genuinely do not dislike the following people: Thomas Paine (a literal founding father), Adam Smith, and Henry George.

Yeah, I’m showing off my lib credentials here but inside every comrade is a very disappointed liberal.
"Houses are for living in, not speculating on"
Maybe people shouldn't be allowed to own things they can't use....

The free market strikes again! porky-happy

They were affordable for us porky-happy

My neighbors sold their house to open door and it’s been on the market for over 4 months dropping in price by $30k over that time. These companies are ok holding potentially affordable homes hostage because they want to eek out an extra $5k

Return to serfdom speedrun lets goooo lets-fucking-go

geordi-no YIMBYism

geordi-yes PHIMBYism

Very swag agony-shivering

Archive.ph never validates me as human. I guess I'll never read it.

Only archive.is works for me
https://www.woodtv.com/news/nexstar-media-wire/investors-bought-1-out-of-every-4-affordable-homes-last-quarter/

copypasta of the article

Real estate investors bought 1 in 4 of the nation’s most affordable homes in the second quarter of 2024 as homeownership remains out of reach for many Americans.

Up 3% year-over-year, investor home purchases totaled $43 billion, marking the largest increase since 2022, according to a Redfin report. It’s a sign that investor activity is stabilizing in a market that endured volatility over the past few years. While that’s potentially good news for investors and sellers, soaring prices mean homeownership remains an unachievable goal for many first-time buyers.

“One reason real estate investors are coming out of hibernation is to take advantage of robust demand from renters,” said Redfin Senior Economist Sheharyar Bokhari. “Elevated home prices and mortgage rates have pushed homeownership out of reach for a lot of Americans, which is fueling demand for rentals. Investors, many of whom can afford to pay in cash to avoid the sting of high mortgage rates, are cashing in on that demand.”

The national median cost of buying a house increased 4.9% from a year prior, raising the value of an existing single-family home to about $422,100.

Out-of-reach home prices have created an opportunity for investors, whose home purchases more than doubled during the pandemic and fell nearly 50% last year. Investors bought 1 in 6 of all U.S. homes that sold in the second quarter of this year.

San Jose, California, and Las Vegas, Nevada, saw some of the highest growth in investor home purchases, rising 27% year over year in the second quarter. Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Francisco followed.

As investors buy up housing in the Golden State, California’s homeless population increased as much as 7.5% between 2022 and 2023, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. The state accounts for nearly a third of the homeless population in the U.S., with about 181,000 Californians in need of housing, The Associated Press reported.

Meanwhile, new construction that kept rent stagnant for a time is slowing — an indicator that rent costs may soon be on the rise. The apartment owner Equity Residential agreed to buy 11 apartment complexes for $964 million earlier this month. It’s the biggest U.S. multifamily acquisition by a public real estate investment trust in seven years and just one of many high-profile deals this year, Redfin noted.
- “One reason real estate investors are coming out of hibernation is to take advantage of robust demand from renters,” said Redfin Senior Economist Sheharyar Bokhari. “Elevated home prices and mortgage rates have pushed homeownership out of reach for a lot of Americans, which is fueling demand for rentals. Investors, many of whom can afford to pay in cash to avoid the sting of high mortgage rates, are cashing in on that demand.”
  
  Renters are actually forcing capitalists to buy up all the available housing because they demand rentals too much. People definitely aren't forced to become renters against their will by capitalists creating artificial scarcity. If people wanted to afford housing, they could simply choose to curb their excess demand and stop forcing the poor powerless investors to buy it all. Think of all the poor small mom and pop landlords that can't afford to buy new AirBnBs because greedy renters are forcing big investors to buy up all the housing stock with their excess demand!
- Thanks!!