Key points:
- The basic right to secure housing is increasingly out of reach for millions of Americans.
- Rents have surged and homelessness is rising across the United States.
- Nearly a fifth of all homes sold in early 2024 were bought by investment firms.
There are few things more fundamental than a home. Beyond providing shelter, homes are places where families create memories, where communities form, and where people find stability. Yet across the United States, the basic right to secure housing is increasingly out of reach.
Rents have surged, homelessness is rising, and the dream of homeownership is slipping away for millions of Americans. While there are many factors driving this crisis — from zoning rules to stagnant wages — housing advocates and researchers say one force stands out: the financialization of housing by Wall Street. Massive private equity corporations and hedge funds are purchasing homes in bulk, ranging from single-family houses to apartment complexes and mobile home parks, and then driving up costs.
The trend has roots in the 2008 financial crisis, when foreclosed properties were sold off at fire-sale prices. Investment firms snapped up those homes by the thousands, converting them into rentals at a time when many Americans, locked out of mortgage lending, had no choice but to rent. What began as an opportunistic response to the collapse of the housing market has since grown into a national business model that critics say has created an epidemic of corporate slumlords.
Studies suggest the impact has been sweeping. Nearly a fifth of all homes sold in the first quarter of 2024 were purchased by investment firms. The share was even higher for low-priced homes, with more than a quarter bought up by corporations. Housing advocates argue that this squeezes out working families who might otherwise buy, since corporations can outbid them with cash offers and bulk purchases. In many cases, firms pay premiums to secure homes before they even reach the open market. This practice not only reduces supply for individual buyers, but also pushes developers to build at higher price points tailored to institutional buyers rather than local residents.
Once purchased, homes are rented at prices often determined by proprietary algorithms rather than neighborhood norms. That has pushed rents upward nationwide, straining household budgets and exacerbating inequality. For families hoping to build generational wealth through homeownership, the trend has been devastating.
Blackstone, one of the largest private equity firms in the world, has emerged as the most prominent corporate landlord. With a portfolio exceeding 300,000 residential units in the United States, Blackstone has raised rents in some of its properties by as much as 64 percent over a two-year period. Critics note that while many of its tenants struggle to make ends meet, the company’s CEO, Stephen Schwarzman, has amassed a personal fortune of more than $50 billion.
The city of Atlanta illustrates how deep corporate ownership can run. A Georgia State University study found that the Atlanta metropolitan area has the highest concentration of Wall Street-owned single-family homes in the country. Over the past 15 years, corporations have bought more than 70,000 homes there, representing over 30 percent of all single-family rentals. In some districts, corporate ownership has reached nearly total dominance, with 99.6 percent of rental properties held by institutional investors. Longtime residents have been displaced, prices have risen sharply, and inequality has deepened. For many Atlantans, the possibility of buying a home in their own neighborhoods feels increasingly out of reach. Researchers warn that this story is not unique to Atlanta, but one that is playing out in cities and suburbs nationwide.
The long-term implications extend beyond affordability. Housing experts warn that when Wall Street firms treat homes as commodities, the social and civic role of housing is eroded. Instead of being a place of stability, homes become another investment product, vulnerable to the same speculative pressures that drive other financial markets. That, critics argue, undermines community life and accelerates displacement.
As policymakers search for solutions, tenant protections and rent control have emerged as immediate tools to shield renters from rapid cost increases. But many advocates say such measures can only mitigate the damage at the margins. To truly transform the market, they argue for a broader shift toward social housing.
Social housing refers to housing developed by entities outside of the corporate profit system, including nonprofit developers and government agencies. These units are permanently affordable, managed democratically by residents and communities, and insulated from speculative resale. While models vary, all share the principle that housing is a human right, not a financial asset.
Seattle offers one of the most visible examples. After a citizen-driven referendum, the city created a publicly owned social housing developer funded by a new tax on wealthy corporations. That initiative aims to build mixed-income housing that remains permanently affordable and outside the speculative housing market. Advocates say the Seattle program demonstrates how local governments can take proactive steps to counter Wall Street’s influence.
Supporters of such initiatives believe the stakes are clear. Housing should be a source of safety and joy, they argue, not a driver of profit for the ultra-wealthy. Rejecting large-scale corporate homeownership and embracing alternatives like social housing, they say, is essential to restoring balance and fairness in the housing system.
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