[–] mattmaroon 21 hours ago
[–] grafmax 18 hours ago
But RealPage isn't a supply issue? It's easy to price gouge consumers because housing is inelastic. And the fine they got is a slap on the wrist!
Price gouging is more widespread than one isolated price fixing case. It's easy to achieve in an inelastic market. As one example, moving costs money so rentiers can raise rents as long as there is a switching cost to moving. Deregulation doesn't address the fundamental inelasticity of the housing market.
Your comment also seems to be oblivious to the role that interest rates play. Mortgages are not corporate-owned in the sense of the parent comment, but mortgages are a cash flow from home owners to corporate financiers - a cash flow from the working class to the wealthy. ZIRP led to high prices; with rising rates, homeowners are incentivized to hold on to their properties rather than move. These are issues of macroeconomic finance and wealth disparity, not "building codes and zoning".
While you're right that the parent's comment of corporate ownership of houses is off base, multi-family housing is majority corporate owned. Multi-family housing is a huge portion of the housing market, particularly in cities where prices are highest. Corporations aren't "just scapegoats" here either - they are parasitizing cash flow from workers here as well. Corporate profits is where the money in high housing prices ultimately goes.
There is a reason billionaires astroturf YIMBYism. It's precisely because it doesn't threaten their class interests.
[–] FireBeyond 15 hours ago
There's a disturbing amount of misinformation in this thread.
"So low as to be insignificant"? Apartments are a little different but for SFHs
Individuals held 59.6% of single-family rental properties in 2024, down from 70.9% in 2021.
(https://www.credaily.com/briefs/single-family-rental-ownersh...)
I don't know how you come to the conclusion of "insignificance".
[–] jeffbee 17 hours ago
[–] sokoloff 19 hours ago
Extremely low chance that I’m going to put my entire net worth on the line to own and rent out housing in my own name.
Exactly zero chance that I’ll do it in a multi-family or apartment building.
Holding these things in corporate title is sensible risk management and compartmentalization.
[–] hash872 17 hours ago
For example- do you have a mortgage? Almost certainly in your name, you have to be very large to receive a mortgage as a corporation. If you're holding a property in an LLC but the mortgage in your name, that's classic piercing the corporate veil and will take an attorney about 10 minutes to shred that in court
It is a supply issue caused by local building codes and zoning. Full stop. Everything else is just pretending to do something about the problem, and corporations are just scapegoats.